IRB rebrands to World Rugby, hoping to increase global appeal

I see what you mean - but while our playing base is currently 8000 players I think we have other avenues to explore and the HKRFU agree as they made a decision not to bid for the team in this latest round of expansion.

nice conspiracy theory but not true at all. your eternal optimism about the popularity of rugby is quite entertaining

What on earth is with the new logo?! Nothing about it says anything close to "rugby" like the last one - if anything it looks like the logo for some cheap hotel.

I think they could be differentiated in the same way that the NZ Warriors are differentiated from the New Zealand Kiwis in Rugby League. They would have a number of different players, a different jersey, different focus etc. HK are quite a distance away from Super Rugby standard. A super rugby standard test team would be top 10 in the world - so that's not a bad medium term aim! If there was a HK team entered into Super Rugby, say for 2021, then initially the team would have to be made up primarily of imports and would be a lot stronger than the HK national team. In time more HK players would get opportunities and this gap would close. But by then some HK players would likely start playing for other teams as well - in Asia and elsewhere, while still representing the national team. Maybe you'd even have 2 teams in HK at some point, who knows.

I think we'll see what happens with the new Super team in Japan. If the side is a success (however that is judged) and the comp develops in a sustainable manner (I have some major reservations about its next incarnation). Then a more professional league based here and feeding a more professional set up is a possibility. I do have an issue with a place like HK having a stand alone Super team as how is that side differentiated from the National team. If they aren't differentiated then how does the national side develop beyond Super standard? The HKRFU have multi-pronged goals and I think its biggest and most important continues to be a focus on building the base. There are less than 8,000 registered players according to Wikipedia. That feels small when I look at the junior set ups but does seem reasonable when adult rugby is 49 men's teams and 16 women's (that doesn't consider the Uni, 20's and 18's which support younger adults and covers the group our colts cover). I see great strides in the juniors coming though and think the player numbers will continue to swell.

kpm, I agree with you that grassroots isn't enough. The way for rugby to develop quickly as a commercial sport in most new markets is through the national team. This is what is currently happening in North America for example. Test matches have to become events with big crowds, local broadcasting and sponsorship. That hopefully leads the way for professional domestic teams or leagues in future. For test matches to become commercially successful in emerging markets the national teams need to become more competitive and have some star players that the public know and identify with. Thus the developing nations, on top of strong grassroots and development, need opportunities for their best players to compete at a professional level. I think the IRB would get best bang for their buck by incentivising existing professional clubs and franchises to recruit players from tier 2 and 3 unions. But even if they don't I think more opportunities are going to present themselves in the next decade or so. A professional competition in North America is inevitable and I also think Super Rugby will expand further in Asia - and probably in South America (if not North America as well). But the IRB could certainly accelerate this process!

jeznez, where do you see rugby in HK in 10 years? Especially at the top level. Do you think Hong Kong will have professional rugby in some form (perhaps a HK based Super Rugby side in an Asian or Asia-Pacific conference, or a fully professional national team)? Their recent results against Russia show they're not too far off the RWC qualifying level. I assume that as Japan will have automatic qualification in 2019 that there'll be a 2nd Asian side at the tournament. Real opportunity for HK!

KPM - I can't help but think the primary driver has to be the local union. I see HK as a great example (although their financial strength through the HK 7's is something that not everyone can emulate). http://www.hkrugby.com/downloads/SR_E_final.pdf Check out the attached with regard to what they as a union are focussed on - they have very clear goals to grow the game and are having great success with player participation numbers increasing at 10% each year for the last decade. They are still a very small union with 49 men's club teams and 15 womens along with an ever growing number of juniors. I'm constantly amazed by what this Union is able to acheive and it is largely the Union and not the IRB/World Rugby that are driving it.

Lion's Down Under Disagree about Romania being admitted to the 6N'S. Italy has a much stronger economy than Romania, so can generate more money. Italian rugby has come a long way, in participation and revenue generation. Heck Italy beat Samoa 2 weeks ago. They have beaten France, and Scotland,Ireland at home.

Whilst I think that Romania should have been admitted to the then 5N in the 80s and I'm a strong advocate of promotion and relegation between the 6Ns and the ENC it is completely false to say that Romanian rugby went backwards due to non-admission to the top table. Romanian rugby collapsed overnight on 23 December 1989 when the only violent revolution in a Warsaw Pact state occurred. Their national captain was killed and other players were killed and wounded. Most of the national squad had been soldiers or policemen and rugby suffered in post-revolutionary Romania. It has, unfortunately, never reached the same levels but living in a free society is probably more important.

Or more commonly people will say "the World Cup, no not the soccer one the rugby one, no I dont mean the World Game cause thats the soccer one again, got it?" Simples.

Awww now its just getting all compl..... complicat.... hard.

Lions they may play in these tournaments, but what difference had it made?

Eddie I agree with regard to planning to add these countries to SANZAR. But I also wonder why countries with very large playing numbers like Sri Lanka and Malaysia are effectively getting nowhere. I'm not convinced grassroots is the only way in general. Often it has no effect if the game has no profile. If for example the IRB paid for Georgian and Romanian teams to join the Pro12 celtic league it might well do more to advance the game's following there than the grassroots work, whatever that is. In the two countries mentioned, rugby seems to be going backwards. I'm not sure that trying to grow the game in these countries while keeping them isolated from club and international competitions really works (I don't mean second level international competitions that mean little to anyone). In fact keeping them out may well hold them back. What if Italy had joined the six nations a decade earlier when they were strongest? Romania's great moment in the 80s/90s vanished as they were not invited to the six nations and the game dramatically declined as a result.

I'm waiting for the power monopoly of the five nations go and we have a one nation-one vote system and the never ending kow-towing to the AB's to end -everything else is cheap chintz window-dressing.

Very smart idea. Just because most other International Sporting Organisations use acronyms and have been doing so for the past 100 years or so, doesn't make it a bad idea. World Rugby is a contemporary name and much more recognisable within nations where Rugby has a smaller profile. I am more surprised that people are so protective of the IRB brand. In other notes: - only buffoons will be calling it the World Rugby Rugby World Cup. - the title World Rugby certainly diminishes Rugby League as a stand alone sport in markets both versions would like to expand to. South Africa Olympic Committee recently dictated that the national body for Rugby League must align itself to SARU as a sport of that national body. You can expect a similar reaction from African, Asian, Eastern European and South American who have even less of an understanding of the differences.

Maybe it will simply be the World Rugby Cup?

I completely agree with Eddard's point on the European clubs. Added to that 15 years ago the countries you mentioned didn't play in any yearly, organised tournaments. Now thanks to the IRB they all do. What has SANZAR done to spread the game?

I think it's probably fair for the IRB to focus on the grass roots primarily. You need that base to begin with. I don't think it should necessarily be funding professional clubs - though it could maybe incentivise existing professional competitions to open up spots for players from developing unions. I also think it could do more to help countries access top level competitions - as it did by subsidising SANZAR to help facilitate the inclusion of Argentina in the Rugby Championship. Don't see why it couldn't do the same thing with the likes of the Pacific Islands, Japan, USA and Canada and perhaps turn the Rugby Championship into a multi division tournament (I've actually written an article about this that I will probably submit after the November internationals).

its pretty typical of all the name changes we have seen over the last decade. basically pay some fancy marketing company for a re branding "ACB becomes cricket Australia, LTAA becomes tennis australia, the australian basketball federation etc etc etc) in the end t makes no difference except for the advertising suits with ponytails who walk away with the cash and the IRB executives have looked like they have done something