Should there be a plate competition?

[Auckland4ever]

Thats the end of the WC for Japan, losing in a great game to the USA.
Most of the games I've enjoyed so far have been between the lesser nations & Japan has figured a number of times. Now theyre gone & without a win to their name after competing with & testing the likes of France & Fiji.

Whilst the one-sided nature of many of the games has been farcical, I still think its important to have the lower ranked sides playing the superpowers & competing for the same cup.

However, why send them packing after 4 games? I'd still enjoy watching the minnows & mid-ranked teams fighting it out for a plate or second tier cup, which could tie in with the quarters & semis. Its gives them a chance for redemption & further incentives could be given, like prizemoney(IRB need to get there sh*t sorted out on this issue) & automatic entry into the next WC.

 

[Rustay]

Yes, i think that would be a good idea for the next World Cup. There is probably reasons why this cant be done, but i would enjoy watching a "plate" final between say a Japan v US or Samoa or wateva.

 

[salivor]

A little off topic I know but a quick question. Are they still going to have the farcical playoff for 3rd place in this current tournament?

 

[weasel]

Salivor- yep, watch for it November 20th.

On topic- I've tried to enjoy some of the game's between lesser nations but a lot of them have just ended up highlighting the lack of skill in those teams. So many of those games have been full of dropped ball and amateur mistakes just when the game is starting to look exciting. Also how many of these games have been lit up by ex-australian league or union players, like the canadian bloke against Italy and the yank last night. I don't like the idea of a plate series, it just attracts attention away from the more important play-off games, it's fine at sevens to pad out the event and add extra bang for the buck for spectators, but at the real thing it would just be a gimmick.

 

[dimitri]

yes there should be a plate

it should be called an emerging nations tournament

it should have about 12 teams

and the other 8 should play in the WC proper

 

[Marcus]

The only thing I don't like about a plate competition is that no one will hear about it because the real important matches like 1/4, 1/2, and finals will be on.

What should be done is countries like Australia and NZ should send their U21 sides to tour places like Georgia, Romania, Uruguay, USA etc so that they can give good competition without feeling the effects of being totally dominated. That would do lots of good, and give minnows more experience on how to play union.

 

[The Observer]

Marcus is right - a plate competition will get little publicity when the RWC Finals are taking place, the competition will cost a lot and

England offered to stage a 16 team RWC in 2007 with a 16 team Emerging Nations tournament. This would have been great for Rugby. The downside to their proposal was that they wanted to stage the Cup in the European Summer - i.e. June-August, which would have been inconvenient for the SH nations and other nations like USA & Canada.

 

[Twizzle]

I think there should be a plate comp.

These teams need more Rugby, and getting beaten by 100 every game is not the help that they need.

More games against teams at their own level may help, and if they can win a plate or even a KFC voucher, they can take something away from the World Cup.