We might have forgotten how important this 6 Nations is!

[bushytop]

So what with the changes of Head Coaches at 4 of the 6 nations involved, as well as changed to the coaching teams at England and Scotland too... together with the fact that this is the start of a new cycle, you would think that now would be the best time for things to be tinkered with... without any real detriment. I'd forgotten though, that the World Cup draw is later this year in November. Therefore it's a time when World Rankings are pivotal, otherwise a group of death like the one involving Australia, England and Wales in 2015 is possible.

All of a sudden, results have a little bit more riding on them.

 

[Alanx7]

Good point 'bushytop' a point newspapers seem to have overlooked?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Is top 4 much of an advantage over top 8? Important for Scotland and France but I doubt the rest are massively fussed in light of the last couple RWCs.

 

[bushytop]

Is top 4 much of an advantage over top 8? Important for Scotland and France but I doubt the rest are massively fussed in light of the last couple RWCs.

Not so much top 4 and 8 but in 2012 Wales went from winning a GS (taking them to 5th) in the spring to 9th at the end of the Autumn and being a third pick. Pretty rare occurrence I'm sure but possible.

 

[saulan]

Not so much top 4 and 8 but in 2012 Wales went from winning a GS (taking them to 5th) in the spring to 9th at the end of the Autumn and being a third pick. Pretty rare occurrence I'm sure but possible.

Dropping out of the top 8 is the biggest concern. Remember there was a pool that had South Africa and New Zealand in the same pool at the last World Cup, Italy was the unlucky 9-12 that drew that straw. There was also France, England and Argentina, granted Argentina didn't pitch up in the end really. (Also Scotland, Ireland, Japan)

The other side of the coin is that you could get top 4 and then one other high performing team has a bad year now and puts you in a group of death. Nothing you can do about that. You can just improve your odds of not having a group of death by getting top 8.

 

[bushytop]

Dropping out of the top 8 is the biggest concern. Remember there was a pool that had South Africa and New Zealand in the same pool at the last World Cup, Italy was the unlucky 9-12 that drew that straw. There was also France, England and Argentina, granted Argentina didn't pitch up in the end really. (Also Scotland, Ireland, Japan)

The other side of the coin is that you could get top 4 and then one other high performing team has a bad year now and puts you in a group of death. Nothing you can do about that. You can just improve your odds of not having a group of death by getting top 8.

Yeah I suppose what with the two major annual competitions (6N and RC) having 10 teams combined (therefore 2 will always be third tier seeds)... together with Fiji and Japan being pretty awesome lately, the teams from 9 to 12 are always going to be reasonably strong these days, which is obviously a good thing for the game.

 

[Nudger]

Am i the only one that us not worried about 4yrs time the 6 nations is important in its own right its not trials for the world cup

 

[Not Eddie Jones]

Am i the only one that us not worried about 4yrs time the 6 nations is important in its own right its not trials for the world cup

No, you're not the only one. I feel like a lot of posters, and quite a few pundits, would be happy to see their team chuck their chances of winning this 6 Nations in order to blood new talent for 2023. I'd rather we just got on with trying to win this 6N. And the next one and the one after that. A habit of winning tournaments and big games is what England should be aiming for. In fact, there's no better prep for the WC than that.

 

[Johnny Storm]

Am i the only one that us not worried about 4yrs time the 6 nations is important in its own right its not trials for the world cup

I agree that the 6N should be treated as it's own tournament, but the WC is now casting a shadow over it.

I think Wales, Scotland and Ireland are really starting to worry about ever winning a WC. SH teams have dominated, and now that Japan has entered the mix, the focus has shifted towards building your next WC squad - even when it's still four years away.

I also think that the WC should be held every three years because the four year cycle does seem a bit long and people do forget who the champions are after about two years anyway. The same for football, Cricket and the Olympics etc, everything should switch to a three year cycle, but that is a different matter I know.