Pumas in Six Nations?

Paulw

I see that the pumas have officially requested to enter in to the Six Nations. I guess in some ways it makes sense since most of their players play in Europe.

What do you think? Good or bad idea?

zAbbo

Good for those who watch 6n, probably not so good for the game in Argentina.

Slow Motion

I have been saying to the mates that this should happen for a good while now, they have been largely snubbed in the suthern hemisphere even though they have been playing quality rugby for a while now.

Killme00

This is great for the 6 Nations but potentially bad for Argentian rugby.

Spud83

I dont think any of the 6 nations teams would fancy having to go to Argentina for an away game.

thewing

Is it at the expense of Italy?

Inquitus

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

I dont think any of the 6 nations teams would fancy having to go to Argentina for an away game.

They would base themselves in Spain.

Spud83

Inquitus wrote: »

They would base themselves in Spain.

Well that would make sense allright. I wouldn't mind seeing them in it. They need some form of regular competive matches, and they do have a habit of beating the french.

padser

It would be great for the 6N but I really really can't see why they are not let into the 3N.

MAkes more sense since they are in fact a southern hemisphere country.

zAbbo

Their RU are dicks... and probably don't deserve to be let into the 6N on that basis, but hey I'm sure they'll make some money here, without having to pay their high earning players in Europe.

This will do wonders for the game at grassroots in Argentina... :rolleyes: where the fans can't get to see their team on home soil and the only way to get into the team will be to move to Europe

Blisterman

I think it's a bad idea for several reasons.

A) Their players all play in Europe now, but that might not always be the case, depending on how the sport in their country evolves.

It actually encourages their team to move to Europe, rather than encouraging home grown talent, to stay in Argentina. In fact, it almost forces them.

C) It doesn't make much sense, for them to play from Spain. If their team is called Argentina, they should play in Argentina.

D) Even if they were to play in Argentina, it would involve a lot of travelling to and from matches, for both the teams and the supporters.

E) The six nations is a European tournament, representing all the countries in Europe, with a high standard of Rugby. Argentina aren't in Europe. They're not even close to Europe.

pd101

It would make more sense for them to join the tri nations because

a) they're in the SH

and

b) 4 teams would be better fixture-wise

John_C

They should play in Argentina. If there are 7 teams in the championship, one team will be without a game each weekend. Let that weekend fall before their Argentina game and the team has 2 weeks to get over an airplane journey to Argentina.
Let Argentina play 3 at home in a row and then 3 away and each team has to travel only once.

This isn't rocket science, any official who cites travel as a reason to not let Argentina in has another motive.

davmi

John_C wrote: »

They should play in Argentina. If there are 7 teams in the championship, one team will be without a game each weekend. Let that weekend fall before their Argentina game and the team has 2 weeks to get over an airplane journey to Argentina.
Let Argentina play 3 at home in a row and then 3 away and each team has to travel only once.

This isn't rocket science, any official who cites travel as a reason to not let Argentina in has another motive.

I agree completely, its not that far to travel when you think about it, SA to NZ is a good distance too and theres no problems there even for super 14. Soccer teams regularly travel as far as Russia or the Middle East for a Wednesday game after Playing on a Saturday and expected to play again the following saturday. These are professional players and could be given at least in Argentina to acclimatise as john_C points out. It would be a major benefit to Argentinian and World rugby, and an encouragement to other countries that they too could be accepted to major competitions if they raise their standard.

It could be maintained as a 6 nation tournament if promotion/relegation was introduced, i don't think it would do any harm Italy and Scotland spending alternate years playing the likes of Georgia and romania in the European Nations Cup.

barrymufc7

they should go into the 4N because it makes more sense for a southern hemisphere country.

Pinetree Boy

The problem with them entering the tri-nations is player availability. Would the European clubs release them? I think it would be great for the 3N which has become boring but the Argie RFU needs a complete plan not just "let us in to one of the tournaments". They need a way to develop the whole game. Sending understrength teams to the 3N would do no good. They would be better to start by trying to get a Super 14 franchise in Argie- the travel arguments are crap. No reason why they couldn't travel to NZ and play 2-3 games and no reason NZ tems couldn't carry on from SA to Argie for a game.

It is a bit scary to think what they could do if they had a core of players playing together regularly in super14 and available for regular tests as opposed to pulling guys from clubs all over Europe on short notice for infrequent tests.

hardCopy

Don't forget the problem that we'll probably never win a Grand Slam if Argentina play in Europe.

High&Low

thewing wrote: »

Is it at the expense of Italy?

Hopefully it will be at the expense of the Scots...

Let them have their cake and eat it. Argentina "A" can play in the tri-nations, with the full team playing in the six nations. Take a wait and see approach, see which one the players and the Argentinian RFU prefer and take that option. Im so smart

toomevara

Inquitus wrote: »

They would base themselves in Spain.

Strangely enough the Pumas are considering basing themselves in Belgium if they get the go ahead....

Snarler

They've done fine on the margins of international rugby for years so why change things now.

Their probelm is one of geography and something that can't be changed.

bill_ashmount

High&Low wrote: »

Hopefully it will be at the expense of the Scots...

It might be at the expense of Ireland

imalegend

it won't be at the expense of anyone...it will be the 7 nations if they get in.i think it would be great for the tourney and hopefully some of their style would rub off on the irish.

i defo think they should be based in europe to play in it and i dont think it would affect home grown talent for them at all as they still would have the youth programme in operation....i understand how you think it will be affected but i just don't think it will.

Pride Fighter

Pinetree Boy wrote: »

The problem with them entering the tri-nations is player availability. Would the European clubs release them?

The tri-nations is at the end of our season so yes, they would be released. In fact the have a greater chance being released for the tri-nations as domestic leagues continue during 6 nations and a lot of the French clubs better players for that time are Argentinian and Leinster's best player at that time does be Felipe Contepomi.

Being in the tri-nations will yield long term benefits. It would force the ARU to implement a pro league in Argentina eventually. Why stop at Argentina, the pacific islanders could be included and that would make it a 5-7 nations, they would have to scale back to playing each team once, no problem there IMO. The natural place for them is in the southern hemisphere, it would make them a genuine rugby power and world cup contenders time after time.

daniel3982

I agree, a 6 nations from the southern hemisphere with the pacific islands and argentina thrown in. Then the 2 winners play each other ever year, lovely.

Pride Fighter

I am a bit unsure of its makeup though. Would it be the tri-nations plus Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Argentina. That would make 7 nations and IMO 6 games is too many to play, with player burnout being my reason. So could a united pacific islands team plus the Argies and the tri-nations would make 5 nations and 4 games, the same they play in the tri-nations now anyway. I am not sure you could permanently unite them (the south sea islanders) as the people are quite different so one could be left out. I would then have a a 4 nations, with Japan, the US, Canada and the left out pacific island team lets say Tonga. You could then have a relegation from the 6 nations with the winners from the 4 nations going up. If rugby were to take off in Canada/US/Japan they could play the best teams in the world, although that would take a decade or 2 realistically. I dont think any of the big rugby nations want this, they have their own vested interests. This could be a huge game globally. All that is needed is a bit of foresight and ingenuity.

AlphaMale 3OO

to eliminate all these bogus travel concerns, why not choose one country to host this new 4 nations competition and play it over the course of a month? Rotate the host country every year.