That has sod all to do with rugby
Lol, yes it does. It's a clear indication that there isn't the money in Madagascar to pump into the infrastructure schools, clubs and the NZRU have to produce the players it does. It shows that many people in Madagascar will struggle to provide themselves with adequate nutrition, let alone the nutrition required to build a World Class rugby player.
It would be good if you actually knew what strawman is
I do, and you've just presented another one...
Of course, I understand Madagascar is an outlier case, that was my point. You can't simply statements like a sport being No. 1 and with high player numbers is an automatic ticket to world domination. It simple does not work like that. The Kangaroos dominate the world in RL, they have high player numbers too, but RL is a long, long war from being the No. 1 sport in Australia; its 3rd in attendance and not even in the top 10 for participation.
This would prove your point if any country had league as it's national sport, inb4 Papua New Guinea with their tiny GDP and dispersed population, but no country with the capabilities of consistently producing top class athletes has league as their national sport. Australia is also a bloody large country with areas as populous as New Zealand that are league strongholds.
Sooo, in conclusion, you appear to be refuting ncurd's point but your use of countries where the majority of the population live in poverty and sports that have a fraction of the popularity rugby boasts are fallacies.
Now, it may just have been you wanting to show how knowledgeable you are knowing about Madagascar's rugby culture but it was presented in such a way that it was rebutting the original point while any reasonable person knows that it doesn't come close to that.
And as to the bolded you are correct, you can't. However in this case it's pretty damn obvious that it does considering the one country where people can adequately feed themselves and that has rugby as their main sport with no political interference dominates the thing. I don't know why you'd bother disputing this, it doesn't make NZ any more or less impressive in rugby terms, they have their advantages and are exploiting them. I readily accept that the IRFU's control over their players and the high concentration of rich fee paying, rugby focused schools is the reason Ireland and Leinster punch above their weight. The popularity of rugby, and all the advantages that come with that is where NZ get and exploit their advantages, there's no magic to it...
