Spectators at this Rugby World Cup have had the privilege of ringside seats at a revolution, bearing witness to a seismic five weeks that have turned most major assumptions about the game on their head.
If there is one overarching conclusion to be drawn from the emergence of Argentina and the Pacific Islanders into major powers, not to mention the progress of supposed minnows such as Georgia, Canada and even Portugal, it is that the shape of international rugby between the quadrennial tournaments cannot stay the same.
Australia’s coach, John Connolly, was the first to argue that the major tournaments in the two hemispheres had to be shaken up.
Connolly has been involved in the top end of the game as a coach for 20 years. He believes the sport changed more at this World Cup than it has in the previous 12 years of professionalism.
And it was not only at semifinal level: Fiji reached the last eight for the first time since 1987, Georgia almost beat Ireland, Tonga got within five points of the Springboks, the United States pushed England, Romania came within six points of Italy and Canada were leading Wales with 25 minutes to go.
”The game is never going to be the same again and those running it have to accept that,” said Connolly. ”The priority for Australia, South Africa and New Zealand has to be to get Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, all three of them and not as the Pacific Islanders, into the Super 14; and Argentina have made an unanswerable case to be included in the Six Nations.
”This is an issue which has to be addressed today, not tomorrow. The first thing that needs to happen is that the idea of reducing the number of finalists from 20 to 16 in 2011 must be thrown in the bin.
”What you have seen in France is the improvement emerging countries are able to make when they are together for a sustained period of time. They need more international competition, not less, and the International Rugby Board has to recognise that this is a great opportunity for the game.”
But, no final decision will be taken until April on whether the 2011 World Cup will be cut from 20 to 16 teams.
”It would be a wrong to make a knee-jerk decision,” said the board’s chairperson, Syd Millar. – Â