World Rugby must reassess plans for global league

World Rugby reportedly intends to reshape the international calendar to introduce a 12-team World League starting next year. 

The sport’s international governing body seeks to create a schedule where the 12 teams (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, the United States and Japan) would play each other once a year with semi-finals and a final to be held in the northern hemisphere in December.

Although the competition would not be held during World Cup years, the plans have already been criticised by Lions stars Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton, who believe the additional games will be to the detriment of player welfare.

An additional concern is that World Rugby’s plans don’t include promotion or relegation. This prevents the likes of Georgia, Russia, Romania, Uruguay, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga having the opportunity to earn the right to compete regularly against Tier One nations. For an organisation that is seeking to grow the sport’s global appeal, this is a glaring error. Not only would these Tier Two nations have more to play for if they had the chance to compete regularly against the big boys, but the intended 12-team World League would be improved as a competition if the jeopardy of relegation existed.

In the UK, Premiership Rugby looks to be moving towards a decision that eliminates the threat of relegation. Many clubs believe the gap between the Premiership and the Championship is now too large for any club to realistically bridge. However, such a divide does not exist between the nations set to be included in the World League and the best of those who are likely to miss out. Fiji, for example, have defeated France, Scotland and Italy over the past two years alone.

The international rugby calendar could certainly benefit from some restructuring. Failure to improve player welfare and the ruling out of relegation would be two separate self-inflicted wounds. Committing errors on both issues would not only damage the planned competition, but also limit the sport’s wider appeal.