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LONDON - Wallabies great David Campese accused rugby bosses of damaging the sport by leaving its minnows open to humiliation at next month's World Cup.
Campese spoke out in support of an idea proposed by England's Rugby Football Union in their unsuccessful bid to host the event, in which the main World Cup would run parallel to a tournament for smaller rugby nations.
"You have to ask the question: Why are amateur teams playing in the World Cup in the professional era?" Campese told The Evening Standard.
"I think it's pathetic and the IRB (International Rugby Board) should have gone with England's idea of two tournaments running at the same time.
"The IRB haven't thought about where the World Cup is heading and I do not see how it is going to help the sport in Namibia, Georgia and Portugal to have these teams hammered in every game.
"How are you helping spread the game of rugby by showing those teams being badly beaten on a regular basis?"
The IRB are considering cutting the number of teams competing at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand from 20 to 16.
But Campese said he could see a good argument for the World Cup going straight into a quarter-final format for the teams ranked in the top eight.
"This isn't like the cricket World Cup where we saw Ireland and Bangladesh making it into the knock-out stages," he told the newspaper.
"In rugby, the winner will come from the same five or six countries. End of story."
Campese, who scored 64 tries in 101 Tests, recently completed a two-year posting as skills coach with South African Super 14 team the Sharks.
He spent time this week working with students at Wellington College in Berkshire, England.
And the former Australian wing did not give England's national side any chance of defending the title they won in Australia in 2003.
"You have a great wing in Jason Robinson and England never give him the ball," Campese said.
"Sure, Jonny Wilkinson is going to kick some goals, but he isn't going to produce the kind of game we know Dan Carter can offer for New Zealand at No.10."
- AAP
