Italy in the 6 nations is time for a rethink

bear66 said:
How often have Brazil been pre-tournament favourites at the WC? They've won it twice since 1970.

New Zealand have been top 3 of 7 of the 9 tournaments. They have won 455 out of 588 tests. Only 6 sides have ever beaten them. They have only lost 7 out of 41 games against the Lions. You'd expect them to be bookies favourites for most tournaments but they don't win every game. Their biggest loss ever was to Australia last season.
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They would have been favourites in 1974-82 I imagine. But then it all changed. They weren't favourites in 1994 (Germany were) when they won it, obviously they were in 1998 but since then they haven't been again until 2014 because it was in their home country. France were favourites in 2002.

They were probably favourites in 2006 come to think of it, though of course England were heavily fancied for that tournament too.

I really don't think its comparable though.
 
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atypical_boro said:
I find that hard to believe but I'm not questioning you. Very surprising. I bet PL football is bigger at the very least.

I'm not surprised about the 6m figure that much, but I bet almost all England football matches beat this.

I'm not saying Rugby isn't 'popular' here btw. I was saying globally its not very popular. Its basically the British Isles, a few other nations in the Anglosphere, plus a few latin-based nations who don't take it very seriously. And a few small pacific islands.
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Premier League has a limit of about 7million for a game. Last season only 16 games had more than 2 million and that was twice the number the previous season.
 
BoroBen92 said:
Using rugby's lack of popularity in other parts of the world as an argument to just shut up shop is just baffling in my eyes.

It's got to grow somehow.
Allowing a country like Georgia or Romania to come in would bring consistent top level rugby to another part of the world and would only help to improve its popularity.
Inviting an established "big" team keeps it insular and removes some of the novelty of playing a Southern Hemisphere team.
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Not saying shut up shop, but have a tier below the top 12 nations and let some of them in some of the time.

Rugby is a boring sport to watch when its one-sided. At least in football, if a team is being outplayed, they can sometimes sneak a smash and grab equaliser or whatever.

My point is they should focus on stimulating top level competition between the competitive nations.
 
atypical_boro said:
My point is they should focus on stimulating top level competition between the competitive nations.
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They already do, it's called the World Cup.
Then you've got the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship and just general tours.

There are plenty of games between the top sides already, they're not rare, and increasing them would just make them dull run of the mill affairs after a while.
The weaker sides are never going to grow if the top sides just play amongst themselves.
 
BoroBen92 said:
They already do, it's called the World Cup.
Then you've got the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship and just general tours.

There are plenty of games between the top sides already, they're not rare, and increasing them would just make them dull run of the mill affairs after a while.
The weaker sides are never going to grow if the top sides just play amongst themselves.
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WC is too big imho. 20 teams is over-playing it. Some of those countries barely even know rugby exists.
 
In
SmallTown said:
I disagree. It's practically inconceivable that, if the tournament stays as is, Scotland won't have a chance of winning it again. Not that long ago France looked garbage, they could well win the tournament this year.
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You’d be surprised at this but actually Scotland have never won the 6 Natuons! You have to go back 21 years and the last year it was a 5 nations event that Scotland did come out on top. France on the other hand have won it 5 times as a 6 Nation tournament.

So you can justify saying that it’s difficult to compare the strengths of Scotland with France. Scotland are so weak domestically that it has a huge effect on their performance as a national team.
 
atypical_boro said:
Do viewing figures factor in people watching in pubs on Saturday/Sunday afternoons?
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No. They're based on a survey of 5,300 households viewing at home. Although pub watching isn't monitored it's estimated that only about 6% of TV watching takes place outside the home. I would suspect much of this would be disproportionally sports-based though. Here's an explanation if you're interested BARB ratings
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
In

You’d be surprised at this but actually Scotland have never won the 6 Natuons! You have to go back 21 years and the last year it was a 5 nations event that Scotland did come out on top. France on the other hand have won it 5 times as a 6 Nation tournament.

So you can justify saying that it’s difficult to compare the strengths of Scotland with France. Scotland are so weak domestically that it has a huge effect on their performance as a national team.
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No I knew that, and agree their domestic game is essentially one team. My point was they have been the top northern hemisphere more than once in the past. It's folly to suggest that could NEVER happen again. I'll repeat my point that if they had a player that can score a quick try on a whim they could easily have beaten both Ireland and us. Ireland because they were knocking on the door anyway and us because that game could have gone either way based on a single try. They HAVE that player. He's just currently on the naughty step.
 
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