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One of the lessons of Rugby World Cup 2023 was given by Pablo Lemoine. Following Chile’s 71-0 defeat against England the Uruguayan hit out at World Rugby’s handling of Tier 2. Lemoine described how hard it was playing a vastly superior team.
Chile went from playing Brazil in qualifiers in 2021 to facing 2003 World Champions England at the World Cup in 2023. Lemoine described it as:
“It is very unfair because they don’t know the attack speed of nor the destructive capabilities of the other teams, and well, there we are in the middle, trying to look like something but being something else.”
Lemoine also pointed out that he has been asking for the same thing for many years now. He wants Tier 2 teams to play Tier 1 teams before the World Cup. He is not alone; Uruguay, Namibia, Samoa, Tonga and Georgia are all instances of teams asking for opportunities.
Uruguay earned praise against France and led Italy at half-time. Tier 1 side Italy had opened with a big win over Namibia bit followed up beating Uruguay by being humiliated by New Zealand in the biggest loss of the tournament.
Namibia qualified for the World Cup as Africa 1. This involved beating Burkina Faso 71-5 in the Quarter Final, Zimbabwe 34-19 in the Semi Final and Kenya 36-0 in the African Final. Runners-up Kenya entered repechage which was won by Portugal.
Portugal defeated Kenya 85-0 in repechage in 2022. The Portuguese entered repechage in place of Romania who replaced the disqualified Spain as Europe 2 at Rugby World Cup 2023. Portugal’s performances against Tier 1 sides Wales And Australia showed grit and courage. Os Lobos lost 28-8 and 34-14.
England, New Zealand and South Africa all played 13 matches in 2022. Japan was the All Blacks’ one non-Tier 1 fixture. England played against eleven Tier 1 teams in addition to facing Japan and the Barbarians. South Africa’s opponents were all Tier 1. Australia’s 14 test matches in 2022 were exclusively against Tier 1 opponents.
The non-Six Nations and Rugby Championship matches were not tournaments; rather, they were a combination of tours and friendlies. This is no small part of the problem.
Options for additional available dates are limited. Scotland added a match to their three-test tour of Argentina in 2022. It saw Scotland ‘A’ playing against Chile. Such a match with test match status is what Tier 2 teams require and would attend to the problem in part.
How else then can Tier 2 teams have the opportunity of playing against Tier 1? The model I suggest is to require all teams to qualify for Rugby World Cups. At present 60% do not qualify – the top three from each pool at one World Cup automatically qualify for the next. I would end this rule with only the hosts qualifying.
Uruguay played one Tier 1 test match in between Rugby World Cups 2019 and 2023. Namibia played none. The British & Irish Lions do not compete at Rugby World Cups but played against South Africa three times in 2021.
This is not to say that British & Irish Lions tours should end. The tours can continue, but move them to the year after World Cups. The month of July 2025 could see a European Cup which would double as World Cup qualifying. The Six Nations could be joined by up to four teams who earned their spots by qualifying in 2024 and 2025.
This would mean Wales supporters could travel to Lisbon to see their team face Portugal. Georgia could play host to France in Tbilisi and Spain could host Ireland. A European Champion would be crowned and placings used as seedings for the World Cup. Such a tournament could have two pools of four with the winners playing in a final. All teams could thus access every one of their players.
To ensure this could get off the ground to begin I would have Tier 1 sides qualify for the finals of their regional competitions. For the Americas this means Argentina. Los Pumas would not compete in earlier rounds of qualifiers.
Five South and North American teams would join Los Pumas in a new Americas Rugby Championship (ARC). As in Europe, qualifiers would begin the year after a World Cup. It could be round-robin; thus, a re-birth of the Americas Rugby Championship. With it Uruguay and Chile would be able to have home World Cup qualifiers against Los Pumas.
Such a scenario could see Brazil or Paraguay joining Chile, Uruguay, Argentina Canada and the USA in the ARC. For Argentina the matches could see Los Pumas playing Uruguay in Montevideo, Chile in Santiago. This would help attend to what Lemoine has requested. Matches could be in the July International release window.
Rugby World Cup Qualifiers in Africa does not mean South Africa would be required to face Zimbabwe or Kenya. However, the Africa Cup champion could earn a home test match against South Africa. In other words, Namibia could get a home test match against the Springboks in Windhoek. The winner would qualify for the World Cup as Africa 1 and runner-up as Africa 2. Africa 3 would enter repechage.
Asia has only had Japan at Rugby World Cups. There is no conclusive reasoning to suggest this may change over the coming years. However, an Asian Final should go ahead with Japan facing the winner from earlier qualifiers and subsequently entering an Oceania Cup. The loser of Japan vs Asia 1 would enter repechage.
A Six Nations Oceania Cup with Japan joining Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga could determine World Cup seedings. It could be preceded by qualifiers with the bottom ranked of the five aforementioned countries facing the winner of a South Pacific qualifying series.
