The call seems to be growing louder around the rugby community as the years go by. The call for a two tiered European competition is beginning to gather support. Prior to this years Six Nations I was in the traditionalist camp and in favour of no alterations to the competition that we all know and love.
The Six Nations has become not just an iconic rugby competition but a milestone in the calenders of people from all Six Nations. It fills the weekends early in the year to take us into Spring. Even non-rugby fans get sucked up in it because of the national appeal of the competition. These are valid reasons for not messing with something that isn't broken, however, as this years competition went on I found myself feeling that it could use a freshening up.
The European Nations Cup is becoming a strong competition in its own right. People will argue that there are a few good teams but also some very weak teams like Belgium and Spain. This is perhaps true but in this years Six Nations there has been a gulf between good teams and weaker teams.
Georgia are arguably as strong as Italy, beating Samoa and Canada this year and running Argentina close. In Western Europe Georgia are better known for their World Cup exploits because we only ever see them play once every four years. In 2011 they gave Scotland a scare in a highly competitive game. They are also now up to 16th in the IRB World Rankings, Italy are only 14th, the gap is not as big as it once was.
The reason I focus on Georgia is because they are the current holders of the European Nations Cup (ENC) and should this format come in it would likely be them to get promoted. What of those left in the ENC? Would they be able to cope with whichever team came down from the Six Nations? A popular argument is that last year it would have been France that got relegated and teams like Portugal would not have coped and France would have bounced straight back up. Italy and the Scots however, would face stern tests from Romania and Russia.
In the early years of the format being implemented the Italians and Scots probably would take a clean sweep and yo-yo between leagues but exposing the ENC teams to a higher quality of rugby will only improve them and push European rugby on as a whole. I have already said how good Georgia are, and most of their players play in the competitive French league. Yet how often have British supporters seen their nation play Georgia. Very rarely, which is stagnating the growth of rugby over there.
This argument works both ways. It is easy to say that if Ireland and the rest of the Six Nations sides went to Georgia to play then rugby would boom in the nation. However, when the boot is on the other foot, the team that drops into the ENC could see rugby lose popularity in Six Nations countries. In Italy rugby is booming at this moment in time, with record attendances and support. They would have been relegated this year, which could stop the support. This is something that we do not want to do. The case is similar in Scotland and Wales where the regional game is lacking spectators, if these were relegated then would fans go to watch the national team play either?
The fans obviously make the game and without them there would be no game to watch. So is there a positive in all of this for the fans? Yes, a great one. The committed fans who travel to the cities of the Six Nations every year, or perhaps go on one trip a year. They may have seen the sights and sounds of all the cities by now. This is where the league could be freshened up a touch. If Georgia came up then the historic city of Tbilisi would welcome Six Nations fans. If a team dropped down then they could could see whole new parts of Europe. Lisbon, Madrid and Moscow to name but a few.
This is a tempting thought for fans. It would also put a stop to the occasional dull atmosphere of the dead rubber games and make both leagues more competitive.
It is a topic that is bound to create argument and right now even the best ENC side are perhaps not quite good enough for the Six Nations. However, the gap is continually narrowing and if they were exposed to a higher quality that would be better for everyone. The threat of relegation could also get that little bit more out of current Six Nations players. Something to think about for the future, and the argument will certainly come up again if Georgia or Romania cause an upset in their World Cup pools next year.
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