It seems that there will be no World Cup in 2004, instead there are plans
for a one off 8 club world championship.
And it looks like 2003 will see a full Kangaroo tour of the UK.

That's all fine but where does it leave the World Cup exactly? No country
seems to want to host it, worried by the huge losses suffered by the 2000
event.

But we need something. I put forward an idea a while ago for a World Series.
I still like that idea. But I've got another suggestion for you to think
over. How about going back to the (fairly successful) 5 nation world cup
format of 1988 and 1992?
That's GB, France, PNG, Australia and NZ.

But the competition this time should stand on it's own, rather than being
incorporated into test series, like it was before. It should be something
like the 6 Nations in rugby union.

But with 5 teams involved, it means 4 games for each country, 2 at home and
2 away. The top two teams then meeting in a grand final (something the 6
nations doesn't have).
The bottom team should have to play a relegation/promotion play off with the
top ranked emerging nation, so all countries have a chance to play with the
big boys, but only if they are good enough to qualify.

You could make it an annual tournament, but maybe every two years would be
better, allowing space for test series.

The advantages being that such a tournament would be cheap to stage, with no
one country having to bear the brunt of hosting it, and the risk of cricket
score games would be reduced. Plus the matches should be fairly easy to fit
into the preferred October/November slot. Plus it would be better than both
the 6 Nations and the Tri-Nations. Plus it would give us something to do in
2005!


Andy Savage
http://www.andysav.free-online.co.uk/rugby.htm