Canadian Rugby Forums » Men's National Teams

National Team Infrastructure

(3 posts)

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    Posted 10 months ago

  2. Hollywood
    Member

    This is my first post. I am not sure if this should be elsewhere. But I read several threads about something else switch into talks about infrastructure so I decided to put my thoughts in a brand new thread.

    IMO the National Team has played fairly well in the last two Churchill Cups. They have not played too many other games and so it is hard to gauge whether they are now better than before. I am somewhat optimistic about how the team has progressed. IAE, we rate about where we always have. We could still win or lose any game we have against the likes of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Italy, etc. We are still likely to lose to Wales or Ireland and we are still likely to beat the USA or Romania.

    What has happened is that professionalism has given the countries just above us a boost so that we seem further away from the top 8 than before.

    The Euro leagues have import restrictions and generally want to use those spots for southern hemisphere upgrades over what they have available locally. So we will not likely ever get 22 spaces for national team players on foreign pro rosters.

    Basically, we need our own league. (Duh!) Easier said than done.

    But when I look at Ireland before professionalism they had a 4 team provincial tournament that played in small, empty stadiums. But once they went pro and joined the Celtic League (I still call it that because I hate corporate names) they sold tickets, paid players, and competed well against the best teams in Europe.

    I think we need to follow their example. Canada and the USA together could form 4 decent teams capable of developing world cup players. We need to put them within a reasonable geographic area and give each team a full schedule of opponents to whom fans could be drawn. I would also have an under-23/university team for each country that would play for a month or two each summer.

    I would not do away with any existing leagues or competitions. After all, they have developed us to where we are right now.

    I would also develop the university game in the prairies. I will leave it to others to state what should happen in their regions. But in the west you could generate a lot of players if they offered rugby
    scholarships at the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It would also generate media attention for the game.

    To start, the pro league should be Vancouver, Victoria, San Francisco, and Denver. Each team would have two home and two away games against the others. The national U-23/university teams would also play each of the four teams. They should also play a partial interlocking schedule foreign teams.

    IMO, the Celtic League would fit well. They have 12 teams. If each Celtic team plays 2 games (home one year and away the next) that would give each NA team 6 games (3 home and 3 away).

    I don't keep up on Argentine rugby but it seems they could be involved at some level as well. (Remember CANZ?)

    How would this look? If you were a fan in Vancouver or Victoria you could have a schedule like this:

    Home (11):
    Vancouver/Victoria – 2 games
    Denver – 2 games
    San Francisco – 2 games
    Canada U-23/University
    USA U-23/University
    Celtic 1
    Celtic 2
    Celtic 3

    Away (9)
    Vancouver/Victoria – 2 games
    Denver – 2 games
    San Francisco – 2 games
    Celtic 4
    Celtic 5
    Celtic 6

    The US-based teams would play Celtic 7-12. The teams which play home/away and against Canada/US would rotate on a 4 year cycle.

    I know there are a million arguments against this. But a four season commitment like this is absolutely necessary for Canada and the USA to develop a base of pro players.

    I also know that most of NA is excluded from the league by geography, but I see no other way. Of course, one would hope that after 4 years they could add a team in each country. And international matches could be scheduled in other cities.

    Posted 10 months ago #

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    Posted 10 months ago

  4. Sparly
    Member

    H'wood,

    I agree with you, our national teams need more experience as a national squad. With the demise of the Churchill Cup, I wonder what IRB has in store for us in the terms of International test matches and how many of these tests can our Canadian team see in a year.

    The Churchill Cup came but once a year and offered a great challenge for our Canadian squad over the few weeks it is played.

    Will Canada get more opportunity now to play top test-playing teams and will they all be away or will we have home games?

    Will these tests happen only in summer as well?

    I hope someone can answer some of my questions. I would like to know the future! :>

    Posted 10 months ago #

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    Posted 10 months ago

  6. BCLock
    Member

    http://www.churchillcuprugby.net/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientid=3731&leagueid=0&page=53572

    There ya go

    Posted 10 months ago #

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