I kicked off this unofficial rankings system in late 2013, and it’s time for the 10 Nations International Rugby Championship to ramp up again.
With the initial phase involving only the Northern Hemisphere teams closely mirroring the Six Nations in its entirety, the world’s focus has been on the more established tournament.
We now move into the second phase, and June international window offers a range of match-ups for which the 10 Nations is the main prize on offer.
But first a confession – the scuttlebutt and rumours are true. The 2013 champions Iced Vo-Vos and runners-up Milk Arrowroots were never sent to the All Blacks and Springboks.
They were actually purchased and ready to go, but tournament organisers found themselves caught up in the busy Christmas period following the conclusion of last year’s tournament. After a significant time was lost to procrastination, it was decided to just eat the prize packs in house.
I can only apologise to the New Zealand Rugby Union and SARU on behalf of everyone involved in the tournament.
On to the more pleasant subject of the 2014 tournament. As usual, the teams contesting the tournament are the top 10 Nations in world rugby as of the first IRB ranking update of the year in January.
The teams gaining entry to this years tournament are therefore as follows:
New Zealand
South Africa
Australia
England
France
Wales
Ireland
Samoa
Scotland
Argentina
The line-up closely resembles that of the 2013 tournament, with the sole change being the Italians dropping out to be replaced by Scotland.
After the completion of the initial phase of the tournament, Six Nations champions Ireland are logically on top of the table with 24 points. England and Wales are equal second behind them on 20 points, with the Welsh benefiting from their additional simulated match this year. Their big 48-point win leaves them in good stead to get maximum benefit from this match.
This may hinder them in the latter stages of the tournament however with England having a benefit of an extra real-world match still to play allowing them to potential finish over the top. Remember folks, games in hand matter.
All will be looking over their shoulders at the sleeping giants of the Southern Hemisphere, who will commence their 2014 campaigns in the June internationals.
The tournament hits the ground running with a bumper “Super Saturday” of action on June 14 with England v New Zealand, France v Australia, Ireland v Argentina and South Africa v Wales. These games will go a long way towards deciding the Northern Hemisphere teams’ chances of taking some biscuits this year, with last year’s cut-off for the top two being only one loss through the year.
A final piece of housekeeping involves a slight adjustment to the way the simulated matches are awarded.
Firstly, the simulated matches will now be awarded based on a team’s average adjusted points differential, as the total adjusted points differential used last year gave too much advantage to teams playing more real-world matches.
The second is that a team may now only win and draw a combined maximum number of simulated matches equal to the number of real-world matches they have played.
This has been prompted by the fact that Samoa only plays one real world match in this year’s tournament, which would potentially allow them to rack up a big score and win eight simulated matches as a result. That clearly wouldn’t be a fair or sensible outcome.
This does make it very difficult for Samoa to do well this year, but they can’t expect to really make their mark on the tournament with so few real-world matches scheduled.
So let the fun begin. Can anyone loosen New Zealand’s grip on the goodies this year? Only time will tell, but anything can happen in tournament rugby.
Insominactor
Guest
Emery played a bit for highlanders last year, but he isn't the most intelligent player. ATM he is looking like a flop, well hyped up. Still young though. The problem with last years team besides the incredibly poor coaching was the half combination, the only time it worked was when the bench warming younger halves came on. The year before was maybe even worse for the coaching, no tactics or structure at all. So much better when Rennie was in charge. This year in the first game they looked pretty poor. Maybe that is mostly a B team? Hickey and a few others didn't start.
Chan Wee
Guest
2011 was an aberration. most countries had good U20 teams that year. NZ last won in 2011 this tournament which began in 2009 if i remember correct. before it was U21. i think the standard has slid a little since 2011. do not see the same caliber of young guys ... actually there were 4 NZ boys who stood out Ardie Savea, Patrick T, Joe Edwards (blindside flank) and Lolagi Visinia (Fullback). Jason Emery (center ) was also there but not sen much of him in super. Edwards i think was injured.
Insominactor
Guest
Not a big deal, check out the U20 NZ team from 2011 - Half of them are starters in Super Rugby... and around 8-10 are capped AB's if memeory serves me right. Yet they were not the most dominant team of all the winning teams. You look at some of the names on the other rosters and most the players didn't get anywhere. Last two teams were pretty average for NZ, but a couple good players popped out like Tuipulotu who is now in the AB setup after his first season of Super Rugby.
soapit
Guest
its relatively harder for minnows to be turning out a fresh set of 20 year olds each year than to just get a set of 23 decent players overall (which can be held for 10 years) so i'd kinda expect their youth teams to have wider margins than the seniors. not necessarily too much reason for concern (tho not a positive sign)
soapit
Guest
good stuff fin, enjoyment often beats understanding
soapit
Guest
no mate, matches against world xv or barbarians or teams out of the top ten at the start of the year arent in this tournament. indeed not even all of the SA matches against wales are in this tournament. only one match between each pair of nations from the top 10 is nominated as the 10nations fixture for the year. have a look at the website to see which matches are 10nations fixtures.
Johnno
Guest
While were at some of the JWC under-20 results in NZ, caught me by surprise. Like in the seniors Italy and Scotland have gone backwards. The baby boks beat flower of scotland 61-5 Aussies beat junior pumas by 20 France beat Ireland in a close game NZ hammered Samoa 48-12 Wales hammered Fiji 48-19 England spanked Italy by 60, 63-3. But must be a worry for rugby Italy and Scotland's crap under-20 sides.
AdamS
Roar Guru
Small point of order Soap, Boks are playing a World XV on Saturday, not Wales. How is a World XV different from Barbarians and does that match count?
soapit
Guest
mervyn, although i have nothing but goodwill for the people of tonga and their rugby team, after considering my current commitments i'm not prepared to commit to giving any time in moving tongan rugby forward i'm sorry.
Fin
Guest
Nice Website, particularly enjoyed the FAQs and Richie's photo. I now have more details but still don't know what the heck you are going on about. Mind you I don't understand rucks or scrums either- maybe I should become a referee. I definitely don't understand what the heck Mervyn Cuthbert is going on about either. Looking forward to the tournament though. Keep us updated.
Mervyn Cuthbert
Guest
Where is Tonga? I Several players of Tongan background are playing in other teams,or for pro rugby/league teams. With no professional leagues in many countries the whole assessment of countries' standings is flawed IMO. An inflated opinion of international rugby does nothing to develop the sport. Both NFL,AFL & the NRL SHOW HOW TO HAVE QUALITY STANDARDS ,WITHOUT PLAYING LOWER QUALITY INTER-COUNTRY GAMES!
moaman
Guest
Good stuff soap.
soapit
Guest
*tweaked, not added to be fair
soapit
Guest
oh, and if anyone needs more details or wants to know what the heck i'm going on about above the tournament website can be found here 10n-rugby.weebly.com cheers
soapit
Guest
just a correction to the above article, the editors made a change after submission and added the first paragraph. just to be clear THIS IS NOT A RANKINGS SYSTEM. its a tournament. the winner of this at the end of the year may well not be the best team overall for the year (say if they dominate outside tournament matches but choke in them). ed's if you're up for making that tweak above it might save a bit of confusion moving forward (judging by feedback from last year).
Johnno
Guest
Nice one soap!