Tier 2 nations Closing The Gap

[Canadian_Rugger]

I have been watching this tournament intensely and almost all the games have been exciting in their own way. As expected all the favorite teams have won so far; however, their wins have not been the blowouts everyone thought they would. The GAP between the tier 1 and tier 2 nations appears to have narrowed and this can only be positive for world rugby.

What are the reasons for this? IMO I believe it all boils down to superior coaching expertise being employed by the tier 2 nations and the influx of money being pumped into their programs. I will use Canada as an example. In 2007 our head coach was a Canadian (Rick Suggitt) with no professional coaching experience to speak of, we also had john tait who was a recently retired canadian pro, other than that we have nothing. We have since hired Kieran Crowley as head coach who coached Taranaki for 5 years, and also caoched the NZ U19 team to a world championship. We also have hired Clive Griffiths as a defensive coach, Clive was responsible for Wales defense during the 2005 grand slam and has coached at Newport Gwent Dragons, Worcester, Doncaster, Swansea, and most recently is in charge of RGC 1404 in North Wales. We have also hired, former leeds Tykes and England "A" prop to coach us on scrummaging, and in all honesty he has brought us ahead leapsand bounds to where we were before in a very short period of time, he also doubles as a coach for the Prairie Wolf Pack in the Canadian Rugby Championship. Coaching our Fowards is former Taranaki assistant coach Neil Barnes, and coaching our back is ex-Cardiff Blues assistant coach Geraint John.

Canada has also improved the development path-way for players immensely, with regional academies now set up in Newfoundland, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, and a new multi-million dollar academy being built in Langford, BC. Funding is set to increase in further with rugby now included as an Olympic Sport, Rugby Canada is gaining access to thousands, if not millions of dollars in Olympic funding from the own the podium program. This is true for most other Tier 2 unions as well with countries such as Georgia, and Romania constructing their own national academies and high performance programs.

 

[Siva Tau]

Too early to tell although results too date are encouraging

 

[Sam Owen]

Your exactly right Rugger, all that funding, hiring of good coaches and development base is leading to good things for those second tier nations Rugby.

I agree the improvement of a lot of these teams is due to that. Another thing is having players from the 2nd tier nations securing overseas contracts to play Rugby where they gain valuable experience, learn and improve. Another reason is modern day sports training and knowledge.

There is no doubt, 2nd tier nations have improved because of many factors you've pointed out, including my own country and yes its a postive for Rugby as it'll mean more people around the world will get into it.

 

[Seaton]

Hopefully they can keep it up, should wait before the end of the pool stages before anyone starts making wild claims like "Drop Scotland and Italy from 6 Nations, automatic delegation blah, blah blah"

Maybe by 2015 we will have another one or two 1st Tier nations in the ranks, maybe we should have a vBookie on whom that might be?

 

[erwanseb]

I would beg to differ, no coaching program can replace playing weeks in and out in the best club competition.
A lot teams have now a 20+ strong professional player base that provide the bulk of the national team thanks to professional club competition in France, England, Japan.
The French top 14 and pro D2 provide the spine of France, Argentina (17 players), Romania (8), Georgia (14), Tonga(6), Samoa (7), Fiji (8).
Italian used to play in France but now went back to their newly opened franchise.
The English premiership is hosting quite a few islanders too.
In addition more respect from IRB and new competitions have allowed these player to have some game time together.