Euro Championships

Chazz Michael Michaels

Do you think such a championship, held every four years (six nations takes a break) would be a good idea?

I'm not sure myself, only because I'm not a huge follower of rugby, although I do love to watch the sport. So I'm just not sure what obstacles there are.

Im interested to hear opinions. Would it raise the profile of rugby in other "lesser" European nations? Also, would it help these nations develop their game?

LeinsterDub

Hammering them doesn't raise the profile. We beat Scotland by 20 odd points this year.

Chazz Michael Michaels

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Hammering them doesn't raise the profile. We beat Scotland by 20 odd points this year.

I might be wrong, but I recall Ireland taking a fair few hammering and wooden spoons during the 90s?

errlloyd

I'd love to see teams running something similar to South Africa#s quadrangular tournament during their November windows, it'd be cool.

To be fair to the saffers they were willing to host a show that probably had limited development benefit for their players.

thebaz

I think if would be great , but the sad thing is apart from Georgia not sure who else would be competetive - thought Russia might improve , but the reality is rugby has been very slow to grow internationally , far too slow for my liking -

Spain, Russia, Portugal etc are nowhere near the standard set at the 6 nations, why is a very good question

Winters

One interim solution to including the next rung down in European rugby unions would be a warm up game before the autumn internationals akin to the Saxons Wolfhounds game before the 6 Nations.

In the week before the autumn internationals the team that finished 1st in the previous 6 Nations would send their A team to play the team that finished 1st in the European Nations Cup 1st Division and 2nd would play 2nd and so on.

desertcircus

I'd like to see a reward system implemented for the winners of Europe's second-tier tournament, whereby the 2014 winner would play autumn tests against England, Ireland and Scotland, while the 2015 winner gets France, Wales and Italy. I know that would realistically mean Georgia nine years out of ten, but if that's the case so be it. There have been varying efforts to pull countries up, but few have worked: we should identify strong teams and give them tough games. Georgia would be favourites to lose every game, but not forever, and Ireland of all teams know that a bad day at the office can be punished by them. The first couple of years would probably be ugly, but after three or four years you'd see the Georgians really putting it to the Scots and Italians and fancying their chances against any team foolish enough to rest their big names.

It's a big reward for a team that needs a new challenge, a huge development opportunity for rugby, and it would come at the cost of one major Test every two years for each Six Nations side. If the IRB backed it, the losses could be absorbed, and the cost of it would decrease each year.

Podge_irl

I would agree with the general consensus. I don't think a European championship would be useful or relevant. However all the 6N teams should have to play another European second tier team during the AIs. We used to do it a lot more.

bilston

I think we are playing Georgia this November. What I'd like to see is Georgia and Romania play three games each November against the Six Nations, so for example in 2014 Georgia would play Ireland, Scotland and Wales and Romania would play England, France and Italy and then in 2016 (next year being a WC year) you switch it around.

The problem though with tinkering with the Six Nations is the money involved. I was reading an article on the BBC website yesterday saying that RBS reckon the 6Ns is worth over £300m a year to the six economies (combined) of the participating countries. I'd say there would be a lot opposition to changing that.

Podge_irl

I doubt the 6N will be changing any time in the next 20 years. Adding a 7th team is impractical as it would massively lengthen the tournament and return bye weeks for teams that no one really likes. Adding promotion/relegation would just see teams yo-yoing up and down and I wouldn't like to see Italy or Scotland be out of the 6N anyway (the two most likely). Italy just got in and are obviously improving and it would be stupid to hinder that. Scotland are one of the original 4 home nations and there is too much history there.

I think what we have is going to stay as is for the foreseeable so the key is to involve Russia, Georgia, Romania etc more heavily in the autumn. I'd love to see greater coverage of the ENC too. I, for one, would definitely watch it.

wp_rathead

Podge_irl wrote: »

I think what we have is going to stay as is for the foreseeable so the key is to involve Russia, Georgia, Romania etc more heavily in the autumn. I'd love to see greater coverage of the ENC too. I, for one, would definitely watch it.

Exactly, should be 1 game in November series that is against a developing European nation.. Both Georgia and Romania have shown in recent RWC that they can cause sides problems

Also agree the ENC should be shown, it is something that you would expect Eurosport to snap up

Chazz Michael Michaels

enc?

Podge_irl

European Nations Cup -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Nations_Cup_(rugby_union)

Chazz Michael Michaels

Some good points made here. I think including teams in the autumn international is a good one.

Perhaps they could also play the Wolfhounds, Saxons, etc.

irishbucsfan

Bringing the 6 Nations under FIRA is the first step.

LeinsterDub

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Bringing the 6 Nations under FIRA is the first step.

What would that do? How would it improve the game in say Germany?