No 6 Nations in the World Cup years

[sigesige00]

Now 6 Nations is held every year. However, in the World Cup years, the schedule is too tight.
I suggest that 6 Nations in World Cup years should be abolished.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

This is your best idea yet - it actually is worth discussing, to some extent.

 

[TRF_heineken]

It shouldn't! It's the only time a coach can get a team together before the world as final preparation. Picking a team that played together the previous year will be a big mistake.

 

[Seaton]

I remember this guy...

 

[Peat]

Abolishing a team's main source of income and match practice in a World Cup year = Awful idea which will never happen.

 

[William18]

I think this is actually a good idea. In an ideal world you should do it. I would be really happy if The Rugby Championship was only every two years. Why is it every year though? Money.

 

[Big Ewis]

^ thank God it's every year !!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Strong but wrong Sige. You're still in contention for my best poster nomination though, you're a breath of fresh air in this forum.

 

[SelimNiai]

Strong but wrong Sige. You're still in contention for my best poster nomination though, you're a breath of fresh air in this forum.

On that basis I'd rather feckin suffocate

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

On that basis I'd rather feckin suffocate

Ah come on. Sige is awesome, I rep him for every post he makes because he makes me laugh every time he posts.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Awful. Just awful.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

What Peat said.

What I'd like to see abandoned are pre-World Cup warm ups against fellow 6 Nations teams. Fans felt cheated by seeing Ireland play Scotland, England and twice against France in the weeks before New Zealand 2011. Stada were only half full and it devalues the 6 Nations in my opinion by leading to over-familiarity. It would be more beneficial for the growth of the sport for these fixtures to be against tier 2 teams.

 

[norcalbuff]

What Peat said.

What I'd like to see abandoned are pre-World Cup warm ups against fellow 6 Nations teams. Fans felt cheated by seeing Ireland play Scotland, England and twice against France in the weeks before New Zealand 2011. Stada were only half full and it devalues the 6 Nations in my opinion by leading to over-familiarity. It would be more beneficial for the growth of the sport for these fixtures to be against tier 2 teams.

Yep this pretty much. The other thing that would be cool to see would be a Barbarians team of Tier 3 countries not qualified for the RWC to give those guys some exposure and give fans something fresh too.

 

[Ospreylian]

Would England have won the world cup in 2003 if they didn't win a Grand Slam prior to it? Interesting. If there hadn't been a 6 Nations before that tournament perhaps England wouldn't have had the platform to work from to build towards the world trophy. They built on the success of that championship and it gave them time to mold into the style of play they needed to beat the bigger, southern hemisphere teams.

So no, I wouldn't abolish the six nations in world cup years. Definitely not.

 

[psychic duck]

What Peat said.

What I'd like to see abandoned are pre-World Cup warm ups against fellow 6 Nations teams. Fans felt cheated by seeing Ireland play Scotland, England and twice against France in the weeks before New Zealand 2011. Stada were only half full and it devalues the 6 Nations in my opinion by leading to over-familiarity. It would be more beneficial for the growth of the sport for these fixtures to be against tier 2 teams.

+1

World Cup warm ups where experimental teams are fielded are the perfect opportunity to play matches with fresh opposition, instead of repeating 6 Nations fixtures.

This is what used to happen. For example, Italy before they got into the 6 Nations got over 20 odd fixtures against Tier 1 opposition between 1995 and 1999 RWC's. The notable couple of wins they got over France and Ireland were actually when they were used as a warm up opposition for 5 Nations teams in the tournament. All the teams apart from England played Italy regularly before the 6 Nations.

Failing that, I would also like to see World Cup warm ups against English club sides similar to the warm ups the Lions play. Say if Romania were to play a warm up fixture at Cornish Pirates for example, or Wales to play Northampton, then it would be a good way of building interest in places in the country not hosting matches, and make them feel part of the RWC more. However the same old 6 Nations repeat fixtures are already confirmed so it doesn't matter.