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I don't give Canada any real chance of beating South Africa. Even if it's South Africa's 2nd XV. I don't think they're at the level Japan were at in 2014/15. But if they beat Italy and Namibia they'd come third in the group which means automatic qualification for 2023. I think that will be their...

Canada beat Hong Kong 27-10 to confirm their qualification. Hopefully their squad continues to improve leading up to the world cup - having the Toronto team in the MLR should help somewhat. They actually have quite a good draw (they're definitely in a better pool than the US and possibly also...

I don't think the world league necessarily needs to include the 6 Nations and Rugby Championship results towards it. It could be entirely separate. You could just have 2 Groups of 6 that only play each team in the other group. Each group winner would be determined by who performs best against...

I suspect the format would change / expand the moment a traditional power of the game looked like being relegated. I don't think it's very likely in the short term though. Italy could be in danger, and maybe Argentina, but either of those countries being relegated probably wouldn't force any...

Fiji don't have to have all their best players based domestically. Their very best players will always be elsewhere. And that's fine as long as they can still represent Fiji. The fact they now have a local professional team will probably increase the number of players who get overseas contracts...

It feels like there's a growing sort of tier 1.5. They have some tier 1 level star players, high enough participation levels and a professional domestic base creating depth. Just not quite at the level of the tier 1 teams, but certainly above where the tier 2 teams have been in recent years...

I hope Namibia have a few of their better players missing on this tour because those results are pretty worrying. I thought the days of seeing 100+ on the scoreboard at the world cup were over, but they're in the All Blacks pool next year. I'm surprised Uruguay got hammered so badly by Fiji...

Canada were too strong in the end. I think Germany were treated very harshly by the ref at times, but there was still a gulf in class. I expected Germany to have some dominance at the scrum and maul but they didn't at all. It was actually a miracle that Germany were still only 3 points behind at...

Apparently the team is meant to represent the 'Greater Bay Area' which according to the internet refers to a Chinese government scheme to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and...

I'm interested to see the 40/22 rule in action, as I think it could create some space out wide as teams will need to defend it with wingers back. I'm not as enthused about taking away the mark inside the 22. I think it'll just lead to teams putting up bombs all the time. But I'm all for...

Interesting that the Hong Kong team will be called the South China Tigers (at least according to that video). Perhaps they'll play some games in Shenzhen or Guangzhou.

Those in the video are: 2 x 35 minute halves No kicking the ball directly out from inside the 22 9 Point power try awarded without the conversion 2 point penalty goals Rolling Subs (10 in total) Defence back another 5m at scrums Retain possession with kick from own 40m that bounces out in...

Haha yes, although I'm not sure how many of them are born and bred Germans. It'd be nice to see them pull off the upset. I like the way Canada play (or try to play) and I hope they get back to the level they should be at sooner than later, but it'd be good to see a new team in the tournament...

Canada won their game easily in the end but I wasn't very impressed by them. Kenya have some good athletes and plenty of potential, but lack any kind of structure and a lot of their players have pretty poor basic skills for this level. The fact that they were still in the match early in the 2nd...

Do you think they're looking to move the franchise from Austin to Pittsburgh? I remember not that long ago you thought Austin may not survive. Whatever the case I think they really need to change their name.

Yeah I think it could be quite exciting. I'm surprised there aren't some more pros in France, England and elsewhere (maybe even Australia and NZ) with a German parent or grandparent putting their hand up to play for Germany. I'd be shocked if there aren't several top level players who'd be...

Seems like a win/win either way. If he makes the All Blacks it'd generate some publicity for rugby in Germany. And if he doesn't make it he can play for and strengthen the German national team. On a related note, how do you think Germany will go in the world cup repechage?

That's good to hear. They certainly had an impressive win over Canada this year. Not sure what their potential is at the world cup though. Do they have any players in the top European leagues? You'd think with a fully professional domestic league that some of the top players would be recruited...

And Russia are fully pro right? Or more semi-pro? Surprises me that they haven't been better over the last few years if their league is fully professional. They're a bit of a mystery.

As for the fully professional world cup, wouldn't Namibia still have quite a lot of semi-pro players? And obviously it depends who qualifies from the repechage. Canada will probably win and they will be pretty much fully professional from 2019. But as far as I know Hong Kong are semi-pro...