Competitions : Improvements at Elite level require changes at youth level

02/12/1988 - 22/12/1988

In his introduction to the meeting devoted to competitions (Men’s and Women’s) Michel Arpaillange stated that “seven World Cups have been played since 1987. Six have been won by countries from the southern hemisphere with only one being won by the northern hemisphere (England in 2003). We therefore need to improve our standard. Any significant improvement will require a new approach at youth level”.

We are not going to go into every detail of the various competitions from the Camps U16/U17 (35 nations) to the Seniors, the tournaments U17 CB (8 nations), the U18 (32 nations), the U19 category (which is very dear to the IRB, and in which Portugal and Italy will participate in the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Chile), U20 (8 nations), Senior 7s and XVs. With regard to Sevens rugby, however, it is worth noting the involvement of Société Générale in the organisation of an U19s tournament in April 2013. This event will take place over two days and plans for a similar competition for women in 2014 are underway. For the Women’s World Cup 2014, a qualifying tournament will be put in place following visits to the countries concerned. The first two countries in the Madrid tournament will be added to the first four from the 6 Nations. France is the host nation for the event. A plan to improve all competitions (over one year rather than two) will be examined and implemented by the new Board.

As the IRB world rankings of 96 nations impacted unfavourably on European nations, Jean-Claude Baqué and Michel Arpaillange encouraged the European nations to take up the gauntlet in order to progress and improve their rankings. They are advocating the creation of inter-hemisphere tournaments which could have the knock-on benefit of leading to commercial opportunities. Another way to improve could be to organise matches at club level (cross border competitions) based on geographical zones. The first step in this direction has already been taken with the event won by the Germans from Heidelberg. The Black Sea initiative is also already up and running. Jean-Claude Baqué encouraged countries to set up their own initiatives stating that, “we can help you with ideas, structures and referees. We will give you as much help as we can with regard to making contacts”.