KEY POINTS:
Two things occurred in the unlikely venue of Woking in Surrey this week. First, a three-day brainstorming forum, attended by a liberal sprinkling of the great and good, discussed how rugby should progress over the next 10 years. Then a special meeting of the International Rugby Board council discussed the format of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
As expected, the council abandoned the idea of downsizing the tournament by cutting the competing nations from 20 to 16. Happily, a full complement of teams will now play - a decision primarily driven by the huge improvements shown by the likes of Tonga and Georgia at the recent World Cup in France.
RNZ 2011 chairman Martin Snedden welcomed the decision, which provided certainty for planning of the next tournament.
"We are delighted with this outcome, which will allow more teams and their fans to experience a Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, and will also give us the opportunity to take the tournament further around the country than would have been possible if the tournament had been reduced," he said.
He had earlier expressed a preference for 16 teams but also said organisers would live with whatever the IRB decided.
"The developing nations at Rugby World Cup 2007 have produced significantly enhanced performances since RWC 2003," said IRB chairman Syd Millar. "This is a direct result of the global £30 million ($80.5 million) IRB strategic investment programme that was established in 2005."
He said the successful New Zealand tender bid for 2011 was based on 20 teams. At the Council meeting, the motion maintaining the number of teams at 20 was proposed by New Zealand council member Graham Mourie.
"The IRB is very confident that the tournament will be a huge success," Millar said.
Less predictably, the IRB threw its full weight behind the development of Argentine rugby by guaranteeing the Pumas, third in France, a significant increase in major test fixtures in the coming seasons - a move that will underpin long-overdue professionalisation of elite rugby in that country and, it is now confidently expected, result in admission to the Tri Nations tournament, alongside New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
"The forum agreed that the Pumas' future lies in the Southern Hemisphere," the board said in a statement. "However, in the short term, there are major hurdles to the integration of Argentina into the southern playing structure, because the majority of their top players are based in Europe."
It is a major step forward, especially as the diehard traditionalists of the Argentine Rugby Union, at daggers drawn with Europe-based professionals like Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi in recent years, have tacitly accepted the need for change.
Pichot, however, added a cautionary note.
"When we entered into the details, it became obvious that there's a very marked conflict between the northern and southern hemispheres, and Argentina is stuck in the middle of this 'fight' because their players are playing in Europe. The truth is I see this matter as long term, a process that will take a lot longer than looked the case after the World Cup," he told an Argentine website.
The union is now committed to luring the majority of front-line players back to Argentina by 2012. This can only be achieved by improving competition structures and putting the best talent on a decent salary. Few union aficionados ever described the IRB as visionary, but the outcome of this week's deliberations is radical indeed.
Starting in 2009, the annual June and November international programmes will be given greater meaning with the launch of a world series involving the top echelon of test-playing countries - maybe 10, perhaps 12. Details remain sketchy: it is not yet clear whether Six Nations and Tri Nations fixtures will play a part, or whether the new competition will be restricted to one-off tour matches.
This much is clear, though: by persuading the leading English and French clubs to concede the principle that domestic seasons should end on May 31 at the latest, the chances of European teams travelling south with full-strength squads are far higher than previously.
Twelve teams have already claimed places at the 2011 World Cup: the four major southern hemisphere powers - yes, Argentina have earned inclusion - and the Six Nations plus Fiji and Tonga. The likes of Samoa, Japan, Georgia, Romania, Canada and the United States will have to take their chances in a revamped qualifying tournament, whose opening rounds begin next year.
- INDEPENDENT
