Emerging Nations: An Intro
Now that the dust has settled on the Rugby World Cup and the Springboks are probably only just at the other end of their hangovers, I’ve decided to crack open the laptop again and continue writing about rugby. After committing to writing each week during the RWC I knew the end was inevitable but also knew I wanted to keep creating content in someway about the game. Throughout the seven weeks of the RWC, no matter how exhilarating the matches were between the top ten teams, I found myself constantly getting drawn towards the emerging nations, not only on how they were performing but the drama and stories unfolding with their own history, culture and politics within the game.
Already this month we’ve had the start of the third iteration of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, a tournament established to build the player base and experience of eight European nations through franchise teams. This year they’ve welcomed Bohemia Rugby Warriors, a franchise based in Prague and representing Czechia, whilst also giving the layout of the tournament a shake-up. The two group’s will now be based on last years final rankings instead of geography, so the top four ranked teams will battle it out in Pool A with the lesser four ranked teams in Pool B. This years tournament will include the jeopardy of the last team in group A swapping with the top ranked team in Pool B after the three pool stage games, meaning that there will always be something to play for in the opening games and beyond for all teams involved. After all the pool stage games there will then be parallel knockouts with Semis and a grand final on the seventeenth of December.
Image Last years winners Black Lions.
Image: Rugby Europe
Currently all teams in Pool A have had two fixtures each with one to go until the knockout stages. Georgias Black Lions have pride of place at the moment sitting at the top with Tel Aviv Heat clipping at their heals also on the maximum amount of ten points, those two teams will be going head to head for the top spot this Saturday whilst on Sunday neighbours Lusitanos (Portugal) and Iberians (Spain) will be seeing who gets relegated for the Knockouts as they are both currently without points.
Image: Rugby Europe
Pool B was a mirror image of the top table until last night. Romania Wolves leading the pack alongside the Brussels Devils who are also both on ten points and will face each other this weekend only this fixture will have the incentive of promotion to the higher knockout competition. Newcomers Bohemia fell hard to Delta (The Netherlands) on Thursday night 0-74 which has condemned them to the bottom of Pool B and facing the last placed Pool A team in the Semifinals.
All games can be caught here: Rugby Europe Super Cup
Image World Rugby
This week we also find ourselves in the middle of the La Vila International Cup, a World Rugby competition set up to allow the teams that just missed out on the RWC to “get the chance to compete for silverware” as explained by WR. USA, Canada, Brazil and Spain will be competing in only two games each and as the competition begun there were only eight spots separating all four teams on the mens WR rankings. So far we’re half way through with USA demolishing Brazil 48-3 and Spain putting a similar 42 points on Canada’s more respectful 20. The two games left are Brazil versus Canada and USA versus Spain. The one thing that bothers me with this initiative is, why didn’t they just turn this into a full round robin? You only need one extra game per nation and it would get a truer gauge of every team involved and give each nation that extra experience while also making the travel worth while for the visiting teams. Playing a league style will also prime the teams better for competition rugby where bonus points can be vital for league/pool positioning, this is just a collection of test matches with a fancy name.
My goal here will be to shit one of these out around once a month, depending on the interest and what kind of news there is circulating the rugby world. One thing that will be for certain is it will be almost entirely shining a light on the emerging nations and their progress up the ranks to rugby royalty. For news on the All Blacks, Springboks and Six Nations, don’t look here!
If you have stories, experiences, insights or accounts into anything regarding the game of rugby progressing in your area I would love for you to get in contact with me via the contact details on this website.