Rethinking the Minnows

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I’ve long been a proponent of making the World Cup more competitive by getting rid of the bottom quartet of teams and playing four pools of four with the goal of eliminating the biggest mismatches and increasing the overall attractiveness of every tournament fixture.  Results at the 2007 RWC and an experience last night at Parc des Princes have caused me to rethink that position slightly so I’ll share with you an original alternative.

Like an idiot I forgot my media badge for the Portugal versus Italy match.  By the time I realized I didn’t have it we were just getting off the Metro and going back and getting it would have been impossible because we had to shoot the opening part of Brownie’s Rugby Bunker on World Cup Tour before kickoff.  Instead I had to scalp a ticket and ended up buying one for about half of face value.  The guy who sold it to me said that his wife was supposed to come to the match but that she had been unable to make it.  Since we spoke in English while conducting the transaction I didn’t have any inkling of what awaited me when I took my assigned seat.

I went into the stadium, navigated to my section and sat down right at the edge of a group of about a hundred Portugal supporters and settled in for the national anthems.  When the Portuguese anthem was played every one of the fans near me sang it at full volume as if trying to let their team down on the field feel their enthusiasm.  And it didn’t stop there.  They chanted POR-TU-GAL, sang, applauded, and generally enjoyed their national team’s brave effort against a disappointing Italy.
 
Okay, so I really do get the fact that seeing their countrymen compete at this level is immensely important and probably does help the development of the game back home by raising awareness about the sport, but does it actually make for good rugby?  The answer is, unfortunately, a resounding no.  Sure, the atmosphere was wonderful but the match itself was a snorer, filled more with mistakes and penalties than skill and tryscoring.

A different example is Georgia.  I haven’t been to any of their matches live but watching their effort against Ireland opened my eyes.  If you haven’t seen it yet I suggest that you go to www.rugbyworldcupvideo.com and check it out.  They played a forwards only style that flustered the Irish and came literally within a few meters of victory in the final minutes.  After getting crushed mercilessly in Australia in 2003, rebounding with that kind of performance in 2007 makes it impossible for me to say that the Lelos don’t belong in France.

Gerogia’s effort aside, the problem remains that most of the lesser nations are getting hammered by unattractive scorelines, so what can be done to fix it?  I initially was in favor of another sixteen team tourney to run at the same time as the World Cup with teams ranked 17 to 32 playing each other on the off days of the regular schedule.  I’d still like to see that happen but perhaps a more productive exercise would be to do away with the last rounds of qualifying for the final four spots and invite twelve teams to play in a RWC qualifying tournament instead. 

It could be held in the country that has been awarded the next World Cup – sort of a trial run – in smaller venues about a year before the RWC kicks off.  The four top sides that emerge from the process would then be given berths in the big show and the IRB development officers would have ample time to prepare the four qualifiers for the task ahead.  I think that a twelve months of intensive coaching and preparation would have a significant impact on these nations’ prospects and make the World Cup a more balanced and thus marketable commodity worldwide.

The tourney would take place in one of the two normal test windows – assuming that the global schedule isn’t in place by then – and would serve to bolster interest in the game in each of the countries that attend.  It’s one thing to try to generate enthusiasm for a qualifying match in some far corner of the world; it’s another entirely to highlight a tourney where they prize at the end is a slot in the next World Cup!

Let me know what you think about this idea by emailing me at mbrown@mediazone.com