June International Test: Fiji vs. Georgia (24/06/2016)

[Canadian_Rugger]

I didn't know about the European Challenge Cup Qualifiers until recently, but I think that is a very positive step and it's really good to see rugby giving up two Challenge Cup slots to teams in that competition. I think that shows a genuine effort to expand rugby into new territories and to raise the standard in existing areas with half decent club sides (Romania & Russia). It looks like it has grown year on year (I don't know the setup for next season if it will be still two pools of four teams each with playoff winners facing 2015/16 Challenge Cup teams). Hopefully in 2016/17 when Georgia gets a team in it they'll expand maybe to three pools of four based on geography to reduce travel costs. Hard to think of how it'd look but something like:

West (four clubs in total from Spain, Italy, Portugal (possibly Belgium, although their team seemed very poor and could be replaced))

Mid (four clubs in total from Italy, Romania, Germany)

East (four clubs in total from Georgia, Russia, maybe another Romania depending on strength of their respective leagues)

The winner of each group plus best second place team face off in playoffs (two legs) then winners face last years Challenge Cup teams (two legged playoff).

It'd give each club between three and seven games depending on how far they progressed and gives the good prize of playing in next season's Challenge Cup. It'd also probably spice up domestic competition in places like Georgia as you'd know you have a chance to play European rugby if you win your domestic league.

The fact is the Challenge Cup qualifiers exist and are approved and encouraged by rugby authorities in Europe. So I think it'd be best to feed into that process just now rather than plan an independent pan-European league before the game has really grown in these countries. Maybe in 5-10 years if club rugby takes off in Eastern Europe it'd become feasible financially, but that is far from guaranteed.

Sorry Bruce but club rugby has already taken off in Eastern Europe it's just nobody from the Tier 1 countries has paid attention. Romania has quietly gone about putting together a pretty good professional rugby competition that's been steadily improving in quality and popularity over the past couple of years with a number of Southern Hemisphere players plying their trade in the league. Ditto for Russia as well. With this in mind, I don't see your proposal as a very good option for Georgia, Russia or Romania.

Both Romania and Russia already have professional rugby competitions so why lower the number of teams able to play in the competition? Romania has seven professional clubs while Russia has ten. The Georgians can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe four of the ten clubs in their top division are also professional.

The top Romanian and Russian clubs are already better than the Italian clubs in Excellenza so why even bother combining? I would be interested to see how a team like Baie Mare, Timisoara, Krasny Yar, VVA or Enisei would fare against Pro12 outfits like Newport, Zebre or Treviso as I don't think they're far off in terms of quality.

What's really needed is an expanded challenge cup with a proper third division qualifying competition. With that, the Six Nations also needs promotion relegation.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Sorry, I was meaning retaining the domestic leagues in those countries and having a hopefully expanded Challenge Cup qualifiers tournament as a on additional contest (as it is now) to incorporate the best teams from those leagues. Obviously if those teams from those leagues that qualify for the Challenge Cup do as well as Enisei last year (two wins out of six fixtures) then that would provide the evidence that these clubs would merit being better integrated into European rugby (e.g. More Challenge cup slots or a place in Pro 12). I'll be rooting for them!