Japan and USA impress against rugby heavyweights

do you have evidence of this? ( the reason not the amount) i dont think its got anything to do with the olympics

economically more prosperous? i would have thought slightly lower?

Yes nos agree, get them over here it's fun . And the money Japanese tourists bring in is massive. Japan used to have the largest tourist numbers to Australia of any country. I'm not sure if they are anymore. So they will travel, like the Lion's supporter's and there much closer too. And the money from TV rights would be massive if Japan came into the RC. Heck the AB'S now likely gonna play a match vs Japan at end of year. So hopefully more stuff, Japan in the RC would be fantastic. And korean or Japan BBQ's are very good. Plenty of good ones, actually one in neutral bay down the road from all our rugby friends in Mosman lol a good Japanese BBQ house .

But Johnno, do we reallyyyyyyy want hordes of Hysterical and beautiful Japanese female supporters who dont know much about rugby and would like us to explain the rules, show them around etc, on our shores??! Well of course we do!! We want Japan in the RC and NOW!!!

Rugby player numbers in the USA has grown by 300% since 2004. This is mainly due to the fact that Rugby 7's is in the Olympics and colleges and the American Olypmic Comitee has given rugby so much more funding. So to all the naysayers that say rugby shouldn't be in the Olympics there's proof it should be.

Love to see Japan especially in the RC. Such a big economy and Japan has a good rivalry in sports with Australia, thanks to the soccer one. And in Japan the AB'S are big, so a good market there. Be good if Japan could come into the RC in 2016. Winning in Japan is not easy. And italy were given time to develop in the 6 nations. A few thrashing didn't hurt the 5 nations brand, the 6 nations strengthened it. USA/Canada too massive economies be great to see them in as well. I'm already bored of the RC 4 nations. I want more than just the Argies.

Sailosi, Well actually the current administration has been undertaking a process of simplifying that structure by effectively eliminating both the territorial and local area union and replacing them by progressively more professional geographical union. Basically it will take the current 40 odd Unions down to 16 sitting directly below the national office. There has been a great deal of criticism of those currently advancing (and they have advanced the game significantly) the game in the national office. Most of it fueled by an unfortunate degree of prejudice. They have improved the Unions bottom line, invested in programs to bring the game to children (Rookie Rugby) along with forming partnerships with organisations looking to do similar (PlayRugbyUSA) which has seen youth rugby reach over 400 teams of kids under 12 as of last season. That number is expected to triple in the next five years. Another development has been the growing crowd figures at Eagles tests. It's estimated that the Union made between $600-800,000 from last weekends test. A profit. Something never seen before. The game is progressing. It's never going to usurp the NFL but it can build a following that if they only every achieve 10% of the available population, they would be the largest Union of them all.

How about some constructive criticism, certainly appears as though you are not a rugby man!

Canada is bigger than Australia and economically more prosperous. Mind you they have their own sports, Canadian football, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, snow and ice sports. Really, if you could play hockey or rugby it is a pretty simple choice to make.

Not really great news. Apparently the USA match was one of the worst rugby games every played, it probably did more damage to rugby union than a good hiding would have. The feedback I have read is universal. Stop start, error strewn, with terrible pedantic refereeing. This game was a PR disaster.

The World Series (baseball) is so named as a paper called "The World" (or something similar) sponsored the original series. It is not meant to be a "world Championship". Leave the Yanks alone you negative wallys! AFL is far more parochial and insular then most American sports. Apart from American football all major US comps include the Canucks (that's canadians for the more simple among you!). And no, I am not American. Okay I've got that off my chest! We should all be pleased to see the "minnows" put up competitive results. Lets spread our great game.

ok top 10 in ten years then

Josh, the NCAA has nothing to do with college rugby. College rugby is governed by USA rugby, territorial unions and then local area unions. The whole thing is a basket case and trying to understand it is complicated, you need a degree to understand it. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.

It appears the NCAAand US Rugby are aligned.

It's a shame that Japan can't consistently get the job done against Tonga and Fiji though. You would think that the professionalism of Japanese rugby would allow them to overcome a Fijian team these days. I guess the weather was atrocious when they played but still....

Simon your logic is beggar’s belief. There’s been next to no push into the US market like there has been over the last decade. For the previous 75 odd years, rugby has just bubbled along as an elitist college sport. So to suggest that for that entire time the game has been trying to make inroads is just plain wrong. And because their national sport is effectively made for TV with numerous breaks in play, doesn’t mean that sports that don’t replicate this can’t make an impact. Our national sport is played over 5 days but our rugby codes are still played over two 40 minute halves. Rugby should be following the pathway that was trail blazed by soccer. A new, foreign sport that has a reasonable international appeal behind it. Soccer didn’t change its ways to crack the US market. We’re never going to reach anything close to the heights of American Football. As I said, if we could achieve half of what soccer has, it would be considered a success. And growth isn’t going to be achieved by trying to morph into something the more closely resembles their traditional football code.

Women's Soccer World Cups?

It will never be a powerhouse, largely due to the fact that they have no way of turning the positive grass roots development into something more substantial. To do this they would need somebody with huge nuts. Firstly their are too many competing interest within US rugby. A lot of the top rugby colleges want to do their own thing. Clubs, colleges etc come under so many jurisdictions, the entire setup is complete mess. Money, there's not enough of it, talent isn't an issue. There are a number of talented players that just never get scouted and nobody has heard of them. For example a young Tongan boy who moved to the US when he was young was signed by Aurilliac in the Pro D2 last year at the age of 19, nobody in USA rugby had ever heard of him until Jan this year.

Mania they are currently ranked 17th with no real threat below them.

1 in 20 million maybe stretching it a bit, more like 1 in 10,000.