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You can tell because the brumbies actually have a sponsor on that jerseyHe's also wearing 2 year old merchandise....
You can tell because the brumbies actually have a sponsor on that jerseyHe's also wearing 2 year old merchandise....
IMO SANZAR should be looking at forming a loose alliance with the PNC (Pacific Nations Cup) 6 for mutual benefit. Long term, SANZAR, Argentina and the PNC (Pacific Nations Cup) 6 could generate enough money to keep most players in their own country. But it's probably 15-20 years off if it happens at all.
I'm more optimistic. I think it could be less than that. 10 years.
If the Japanese and Argentinian Super Rugby teams are a success then I think we'd see more Japanese/Asian teams and more Argentinian teams pretty quickly. Then the tournament structure can become more sensible. And I'd like to hope that North American involvement in Super Rugby is possible too.
Either way I predict the Japanese and North American national teams will progress significantly in the next 5 years. To the point where all would be reasonably competitive in the rugby championship. Maybe it would take them time to be genuine threats, but they wouldn't be worse than Italy in the 6 Nations.
The PI nations are further away if at all, but IMO it's a worthy objective and not only would it benefit rugby, it would benefit those 3 nations (more than in just a rugby sense) and it's just the right thing to do.
US, Canada and Japan will be competitive with SANZAR nations within 5 years?
What is your definition of competitive?
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Argentina's level in the last 2-3 years. Occasionally hammered, more often than not a respectable loss and a win possible on a good day.
Follow the trends. The first decade or so after professionalism the gap between tier 1 and tier 2 increased. This is reflected in average win margins at RWC (peaking in 2003). Since then the gap has shrunk, and I expect it to decrease further.
I don't think this is really the case. Argentina have been consistently up there for a long while.
1999 RWC they beat Samoa and almost beat Wales. It was a different format then and they beat Ireland in a playoff to make the quarter finals.
2003 RWC they lost by 1 point to Ireland which meant they missed out on the quarters.
2007 they topped their group beating France and Ireland and then beat Scotland in the quarter finals.
2011 they beat Scotland to finish 2nd in their group and only lost to England by 4 points and again made the quarter finals.
He's also wearing 2 year old merchandise....
You can tell because the brumbies actually have a sponsor on that jersey
And who still wears BLK? That's so 2013.....
Japan? Competitive? I doubt it,
Strewthcobber said:Argentina consistently beat the likes of France Ireland and Australia through the 70s and 80s as well. Canada and USA have never been at their level
They've defeated Wales (minus their Lions) and Italy in the last 2 years. At full strength they're already competitive with the lower tier 1 nations.
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They might produce more than enough quality rugby players who have the ability to be professional rugby players but the economies don't support that in any way shape or form. That is where the idea falls down there.
It's like saying that there should be a professional marathon league in Kenya because it's the right thing to do because that country produces many of the great long distance runners.
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