2011 World Cup format in question

About this time, it's often said that 'we've reached the business end of the tournament,' and so it is that the test schedule and indeed the 2011 World Cup are making headlines.

The biggest question surrounding rugby's commercial engine is whether to reduce the competition to 20 teams. IRB chair Syd Millar has shown signs of retreating from his declared position , in part because the so-called minnows (i.e., minor nations like Fiji, Tonga, and Georgia) have done well in France.

"No decision has been made. We will review it and make sure to get it right. Every world cup should improve on the last one and this one has. New Zealand tendered on the basis that there would be 20 teams. We will review it after the world cup. No decision has been made," Millar said.

Further, Bernard Lapasset of France, who is expected to succeed Millar, has given an interview to the Sydney Morning Herald supporting the 20-team format. But respected columnist Roy Masters says the New Zealanders would prefer 16 teams. Earlier this year, New Zealand's 2011 World Cup chair said otherwise.

The IRB depends on the World Cup hosts to generate outsized profit that make up the world body's principal revenue for the next four years.

America's stake goes beyond the question of qualifying for the 2011 championship. Participating the World Cup finals is a major marketing lever for USA Rugby, which recently declared its intention to increase its revenue more than fivefold, to $20 million. That kind of growth would be difficult to achieve and sustain without the carat of worldwide exposure.

Separately, the successes of Fiji and Tonga (if not Samoa) apparently have not persuaded the IRB to review the so-called master tours calendar which controls when and where the big guns play. The so-called Tier 1 countries prefer to schedule one another, creating more lucrative home games, and to avoid Tier 2 countries like the Pacific Islanders or the United States.

"The first aim of the Pacific Islands must be to beat teams like New Zealand Maori and Australia A in the Pacific Nations Cup on a consistent basis to show that their development is sustainable," IRB communications director Greg Thomas told the Fiji Times.

"This will make the SANZAR unions (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) take notice as it is fair to say recent results between the Pacific Islands and Australia and New Zealand have not been close."

The inference is that USA Rugby cannot reasonably expect to lure major opponents to the States, beyond those teams coming for the Churchill Cup or according to the tour calendar as determined by the IRB council. While the summertime tournament, which USA Rugby helped launch in 2003, has quickly expanded and thus blossomed into a potential money maker for the union, the union's strategic plan calls for a significantly expanded home test program.

The Nigel Melville-led adminstration said it swung to a modest profit on August's World Cup warmup match, in a welcome contrast to Doug Arnot's tenure, when USA Rugby made debilitating losses on home internationals in Hartford as well as the USA 7s tournament, wiping out the union's reserve and forcing it to sell the 7s to private owners.

Also of interest is what to do about Argentina, which has outstripped its American rivals and would like to compete in either the Six Nations or the Tri Series. That would help the often-cash-strapped Union Argentina de Rugby maximize the revenue potential of the Pumas, which do not have a regular schedule.

Neither tournament is keen to admit Argentina. The UAR has not publicly stated its strategy, although many of its internationals apparently would prefer to play in Europe because they compete for pro clubs in Britain or France, and therefore would worry less about gaining release from their employers or competing in the off-season.

Comments

[old beaver]

You don't need to be Chuch Norris to see the cutback would be bad news for all.

[Fred]

at USA Rugby website, there is a link to a Setanta promo featuring Ngwenya's 2 RWC tries. Kinda nice. Per Z's own admission he says he doesn't believe he outpaced Habana, just made him stop then got by him. Nice to see such character, even though I gotta bet the two are pretty equal in speed.

Or I could be totally wrong...