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<\/p>\nUruguay gave hosts France a scare during the World Cup pool stages but may now be denied regular opportunities against major rugby nations <\/p>\n
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World Rugby have insisted their new plans for a \u201cNations Championship or Cup\u201d are \u201cfor the many, not the few\u201d despite critics suggesting that it will block the progress of emerging nations.<\/p>\n
The sport\u2019s governing body have unveiled a new global calendar that will include the creation of a new, two-tier competition in 2026. <\/p>\n
The top tier will include the four Rugby Championship teams, the Six Nations and two more sides yet to be confirmed but expected to be Japan and Fiji.<\/p>\n
Below this will sit a second tier of a further 12 teams, with the earliest that one of those dozen could feature in the top tier being 2032.<\/p>\n
And World Rugby insist that the \u201ccertainty and opportunity\u201d that regular fixtures against peers will provide is where the real opportunities for development exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf rugby is to become a truly global sport, we simply have to make it more relevant and more accessible to more people around the world,\u201d said Bill Beaumont, chairman of World Rugby. <\/p>\n
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Bill Beaumont and Alan Gilpin have defended World Rugby\u2019s plans <\/p>\n
\u201cA new era is about to begin for our sport. An era that will bring certainty and opportunity for all. An era that will support the many, not the few and an era that will supercharge the development of the sport beyond its traditional and often self-imposed boundaries. All boats will rise together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alan Gilpin, chief executive, added: \u201cThere is more certainty for more nations as a result of today\u2019s decisions than there has ever been. It is not perfect. Would we all like relegation and promotion and pathways in these competitions to start sooner in some cases than they are? Absolutely. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut those compromises allow for that type of pathway, that type of relegation to take place in the foreseeable future, rather than not in the foreseeable future, which is what the status quo provides. Is it perfect? Probably not. Is it a hell of a lot better than the current situation? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The revamped calendar will not include a \u201cNations Championship\u201d in years in which a men\u2019s World Cup or British & Irish Lions tour will occur, in theory providing room for increased \u201ccrossover\u201d fixtures.<\/p>\n
World Rugby could not provide any clarity on what these fixtures will be, and admitted that no agreements had yet been put in place, though insisted that there will be a 50 per cent aggregate increase.<\/p>\n
That would mean a rise from 18 to 27 games for the 12 teams, though it is unclear how these fixtures will be allocated or arranged. <\/p>\n
Gilpin said: \u201cI think what we say to the teams \u2013 Portugal, Chile, others that have had fantastic tournaments here \u2013 is this competition structure from 2026 will provide them with guaranteed certain schedules, particularly against their peers, which is actually the type of teams they need to be playing against, in July and November on an annual basis.<\/p>\n
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Portugal upset Fiji to secure their first Rugby World Cup win <\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, the package that was agreed today provides for more crossover fixtures for what we used to call tier one and tier two fixtures in the years when this championship isn\u2019t being played than is currently the case. So, 50 per cent more guaranteed crossover fixtures in those other years than is currently the case, in addition to guaranteed fixtures against their peers that they don\u2019t currently have. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about looking at other years \u2013 traditionally what we have called \u2018Lions years\u2019 and the Rugby World Cup years \u2013 and populating those periods with fixtures that allow those possibilities and that the high-performance unions agreeing that some of their Rugby World Cup warm-up matches have to be against those other teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of England\u2019s Rugby Football Union (RFU), was later unclear on whether England would be open to touring or playing fixtures against emerging nations.<\/p>\n
He did, however, confirm that talks were underway over a fixture between a resurrected England \u2018A\u2019 and Portugal after a standout tournament for Os Lobos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all interested in growing the game globally,\u201d Sweeney explained. \u201cWe saw Portugal here and Chile, they were great competitors. So we\u2019re fully supportive of that. I think there\u2019s a number of factors here that people should feel encouraged about in terms of emerging nations.\u201d<\/p>\n