Six Nations can't cut the mustard on the world rugby stage

Eh? France have done more to spread the game then any other nation. Ever heard of FIRA? The RFU have done work with the Churchill Cup and other tournaments.

Eh? France have done more to spread the game then any other nation. Ever heard of FIRA? The RFU have done work with the Churchill Cup and other tournaments.

Here's a thought. Winning an away WC should not always be considered as winning as an away side. Why? Well in the 91 knockout stages the Wallabies had to beat Ireland in Ireland & England in England to win the WC. I would classify that as an away win because they had to beat two of the top teams at their home grounds. in 07, South Africa had to beat Fiji, Argentina, & England in France, so in reality they weren't the away side for a single one of their important matches so should it really be considered an away win in the sense that beating the home team at a WC would be a tough ask? Certainly not, more of a neutral WC win. So there in lies the difference. The other "away" winners?? England beat Australia in 03, an away win in the final so I would classify it as such but in 99 Australia only had to face Wales in Wales for the QF & in that era Wales couldn't really trouble any of the top sides so I wouldn't really classify that as an away triumph. So to make my point, RWC wins away from home aren't always as impressive as they seem, for the most part it is neutral territory,

Tane - I think the fair comparison is the 8 historic tier 1 Rugby nations. From the NH it's England, France, Ireland, Scotland, & Wales & from the SH it's South Africa, Australia, & New Zealand. They are the NH & SH teams that should be compared because they have the long history in the game & have regularly competed against each other in that time. Argentina & Italy are still developing tier 1 nations & should be given another 50 years or so to prove their worth. Italy have only been tier 1 / part of a major competition & thus had regular competition against the big boys for 13 years & Argentina for only 2. The fact of the matter is, not 1 tier 1 NH nation. "Not 1" has a winning record over the 3 historic tier 1 SH Rugby nations.

Sorry David but you've never been a big home & away believer? It's not about belief, it's fact. There's even been scientific studies that point out the physiological advantages of being a home side & vice versa, don't ask me to quote the studies but they'll be out there on the net if you can be bothered because I can't. You only really need to look at any long term team on the planet, no matter what the sport, they'll have a better home record than away record. It speaks for itself. The AB's are a very dominant team & they know how to win on the road but do you think they have a better away record than home record over the last decade? Nope, they still don't. They've lost 3 times at home in the last 10 years of international Rugby, I can coun't 3 away losses & 1 draw in the last 3 years. I'm betting average scores home & away would tell a similar story as well. Yes it's true that great teams can win anywhere but they do have to be a great team & there's usually only room for 1 great team at a time.

South Africa manages to sell out stadiums for Internationals, Super Rugby and Currie Cup. Theres huge following and TV coverage for Varsity league and even school boy rugby. Ellis Park SA vs NZ was a pretty unreal atmosphere.

I recall 1 loss to Ireland being where John Smit was told to speak to his team on the tryline, and whilst doing so the Irish were allowed to take a quick tap and score. I also recall SA's only loss to Wales being on the back of some major discourse in camp SA. Regardless, the stats are still heavy in favour of South Africa against all the celtic nations.

@ anopinion visit this site for all the quotes from Vince Lombardi , plz :P http://www.vincelombardi.com/quotes.html " Results/Winning : “Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…” “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.” “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.” “Success demands singleness of purpose.” “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?” “Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.” “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” “The objective is to win: fairly, squarely, decently, win by the rules, but still win.” “A team that thinks it’s going to lose is going to lose.” “To the winner, there is 100-percent elation, 100-percent fun, 100-percent laughter; and yet the only thing left to the loser is resolution and determination.” “Second place is meaningless. You can’t always be first, but you have to believe that you should have been – that you were never beaten – that time just ran out on you.”

The Six Nations while clearly not as talented as the Rugby Championship is by some considerable distance the better competition for the supporter. The Six Nations is played out to packed, seething stadiums, to knowledgeable passionate fans and steeped in history featuring countries where Rugby Union is absolutely thriving. The difference between watching Rugby in Europe and Rugby in Australia is totally different and I think most Australian fans would be shocked at how much better the experience is OS. 'Qantas' Wallabies games in particular are characterised by a bland, dull, over corporate experience where the game sometimes seems to only exist to keep the never ending list of blue chip sponsors happy. The Six Nations is fantastic and without it the sport would be much, much poorer and possibly dead. I enjoyed watching the Wallabies play to packed houses in Europe 10x more than a home game at ANZ. We talk a lot on here but the reality is that Rugby is a dying game in Australia and the ARU have no solution to the problem. One trip to Europe will bring home to you exactly how dead it is. I personally feel uncomfortable with the crowing David.

Why is that though? I have played local club rugby and I thought there was some very good quality. To grossly stereotype I would say rugby is a minority sport in England, played, mostly by ex-private schoolboys, who do it as a hobby and don't take it seriously. New Zealand, dare I say (at club level) take it very seriously.

Thanks David. When you put it like that it certainly looks like a very long term proposition. Shame - I have a soft spot for a few of the minnows; would be fantastic to see them becoming more competitive and broadening the base of competent rugby-playing nations globally.

Hmmm The oh-so-typical NH bashing article to appear on The Roar after the November Internationals. You could set your watch by it, year in, year out. I presume David Lord and Spiro Zavos must toss a coin to see who gets to write it. Comparing 3 Nations vs 6 Nations in a North South contest aint much fun. There are other SH nations that feature during the year - Samoa, Argentina, Tonga and Fiji come to mind. Why not compare the results of the SH 7 vs the NH 6? Or why include Italy in the Have nots, but put Argentina in the Never Wills? The records of the other teams make for just as interesting reading, if you can bother to come down from your ivory tower. Samoa have played Italy four times and won 3. Samoa played Ireland 6 times and won 1 Samoa have played Wales 9 times and won 4 Argentina played Ireland 13 times and won 5 Argentina played Wales 15 times and won 5 Tonga have played Scotland 3 times and won 1 Argentina have played Italy 19 times and won 13 Argentina have played France 47 times and won 12 It is incredibly smug articles such as these that perpetuate the dismissal and isolation of some of the lower ranked teams. Maybe SANZAR should look at how it might develop teams in the countries around them instead of taking pot-shots at the Six Nations all the time. Maybe SANZAR might decide to change its name since they're meant to be including Argentina in their annual 4 Nations, or do they find their record too embarrassing? No one in the NH game doubts the regular superiority of NZ, SA and Aus and you'd be hard pushed to find a group of people claiming otherwise. It is a constant myth that is rolled out whenever a NH/SH match up is on the cards. Any game involving the top 3 sides would normally have those 3 sides starting as favourites - and very few dispute that - wherever they live. Whether it's June Internationals or November Internationals, the SANZAR sides come more prepared, and with more belief, that they can win. I do, however, find both tour windows are not the ideal times of the year to have test matches that pit optimum prepared sides against each other - the RWC is really the only time this happens. June has both sides coming into test matches with little preparation time coming out of their club seasons - a break from Super Rugby or the end of the NH season, League finals and H Cup finals. November has the 4N sides already up and running from their championship straight into facing test sides of players that have been playing club rugby the previous weekend. The RWC is the only comp that carves out sufficient time for test sides to prepare and do battle and despite the seedings allowing for the top 3 teams to go with form and finish up contesting the finals, six of the seven finals have featured teams from both hemispheres. And yep - the SANZAR have resounding wins on the board in those.

OB, radical I know, but I'd love to have Steven Luatua learn the intricacies of No 8 play. Unlikely that JK will, but Luatua is a fantastic ball player and given the right education, I reckon he would make a great understudy to Kieran Read. And I say this with respect to all those others playing No 8

RT Agreed - do you think JK will try him as a No 8 rather than No 6 because IMO, he will have a helluva job trying to move Luatua in the Blues....and of course Messam in the AB's. But, I am well aware of his ability and if there's a chance, I'm sure Kaino will give it everything.

Is this really true? Give examples over the last 6 years when "too often" the Six Nations teams have sent second string squads on tour. I'm allowing for a RWC and Lions tour in the six years.

um SA did it 95 and 2007 hellooooo

It's actually 4th if you count the A-League

The Israelites' First XV: Samson at lock, Moses at prop, David at flyhalf, Joseph at fullback, and Zacheus at scrumhalf.

On the one hand I agree, playing in the RC will hugely benefit the Argies. On the other hand, look at how long the Italians have taken to reach their own level of mediocrity.

When you see the full stadiums, the passion of the teams, and consider the long tradition and history of the competition, I believe the Six Nations is the best annual rugby competition on the planet regardless of quality.