Six Nations 2026
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Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
I think there are arguments for both viewpoints re the 6N inclusivity or lack thereof.. Firstly in that whilst Wales now and Scotland previously are/have been poor, they are and were, still above all the "lesser" European nations in the rankings. Secondly as we have seen with Scotland and no doubt will with Wales, these things are cyclical. I would fully expect Wales to improve at a rate greater than say Georgia over the next couple of years and would also expect their ceiling to be much higher.. There is also the popularity, tradition and financial aspect of the tournament. The 6N is so financially successful in the main due to the popularity and tradition. If you took any of the current teams out in favour of say Georgia or Spain, the tournament would likely lose a significant home gate and very likely a significant loss on the TV rights. I can't see any of the 6N putting up with that scenario without even considering a less selfish view of wishing the retain the status quo with their traditional foes. And here, you mention Wales and Scotland and the gravy train, but they are a full part of providing that gravy train. People pay a lot of money to go to Twickenham to see England v Wales and Scotland, They don't pay the same amount to see England play Argentina or Fiji, let alone Spain and the same is true of Dublin, Paris and Rome as well.
Against all that though is the need to grow the game world-wide and to bring other nations up to competitiveness. Not only is this a noble ambition, it is also beneficial for all rugby playing nations to have even greater numbers of competitive nations. Imagine having a World Cup where you had 7 or 8 possible finalists instead of the 2-4 that we have had since inception of the WRC.
However in building this stronger and larger base it has to be mangled in a way that doesn't damage the current game, which is already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. We also have to accept that rugby cannot follow the model of football in the number of games we ask the papers to play, there just aren't the number of players, nor the money to sustain the required fixture list if much more nations are included on a regular basis.
Something must and should be done to improve the competitiveness of the lower level nations but there is only so much to give from the current top tier sides and in truth the players are already giving too much.
I'm no expert on the SH situation but from an outside view we can see that there are some considerably more competitive teams in Fiji and Japan and sometimes Samoa, being a long way above say Georgia. Barring Japan though, the SH has probaly even worse financial issues in including these sides as well as the infrrastructure problems and the corruption of the governing bodies.
So I guess what I'm saying is that yes progress needs to be speeded up and there must be a genuine pathway at sometime for lesser nations to improve and compete, but it can't be done on a knee-jerk basis. The current International game is the goos that lays the golden egg - you kill that and you kill the game.
Oh and I know that Japan is not a SH team but, well, you know.
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Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
Jeepers, one win against Scotland and Italy escape your wrath.....
They've basically stunk out the Six Nations since 2000 when they joined.
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@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
Jeepers, one win against Scotland and Italy escape your wrath.....
They've basically stunk out the Six Nations since 2000 when they joined.
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@MN5 Who are higher in the world rankings at the moment: Scotland or Italy?
And dare I mention the word trajectory.
And yes, I can see Italy winning against the All Blacks in Wellington in July if the ABs take that game for granted.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@MN5 Who are higher in the world rankings at the moment: Scotland or Italy?
And dare I mention the word trajectory.
And yes, I can see Italy winning against the All Blacks in Wellington in July if the ABs take that game for granted.
Pffft. I can't see Italy sneaking up to 5th like Scotland did recently.
The victory over Scotland could well be their only one. Big game against Wales coming up, the other three teams should put them to the sword.
But.....Italy are a team heading in the right direction.
I see they got to 8th in the rankings in 2007 and 2024 ( that surprised me ! )
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@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
Unless Scotland and Wales get their act together and sort themselves out, Georgia and Spain will overhaul them in the world rankings in the next five years.
It will become faintly ridiculous if the 6 Nations isn't a competition between the best Rugby teams in Europe. The gravy train for Scotland and Wales won't necessarily last forever.
I think there are arguments for both viewpoints re the 6N inclusivity or lack thereof.. Firstly in that whilst Wales now and Scotland previously are/have been poor, they are and were, still above all the "lesser" European nations in the rankings. Secondly as we have seen with Scotland and no doubt will with Wales, these things are cyclical. I would fully expect Wales to improve at a rate greater than say Georgia over the next couple of years and would also expect their ceiling to be much higher.. There is also the popularity, tradition and financial aspect of the tournament. The 6N is so financially successful in the main due to the popularity and tradition. If you took any of the current teams out in favour of say Georgia or Spain, the tournament would likely lose a significant home gate and very likely a significant loss on the TV rights. I can't see any of the 6N putting up with that scenario without even considering a less selfish view of wishing the retain the status quo with their traditional foes. And here, you mention Wales and Scotland and the gravy train, but they are a full part of providing that gravy train. People pay a lot of money to go to Twickenham to see England v Wales and Scotland, They don't pay the same amount to see England play Argentina or Fiji, let alone Spain and the same is true of Dublin, Paris and Rome as well.
Against all that though is the need to grow the game world-wide and to bring other nations up to competitiveness. Not only is this a noble ambition, it is also beneficial for all rugby playing nations to have even greater numbers of competitive nations. Imagine having a World Cup where you had 7 or 8 possible finalists instead of the 2-4 that we have had since inception of the WRC.
However in building this stronger and larger base it has to be mangled in a way that doesn't damage the current game, which is already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. We also have to accept that rugby cannot follow the model of football in the number of games we ask the papers to play, there just aren't the number of players, nor the money to sustain the required fixture list if much more nations are included on a regular basis.
Something must and should be done to improve the competitiveness of the lower level nations but there is only so much to give from the current top tier sides and in truth the players are already giving too much.
I'm no expert on the SH situation but from an outside view we can see that there are some considerably more competitive teams in Fiji and Japan and sometimes Samoa, being a long way above say Georgia. Barring Japan though, the SH has probaly even worse financial issues in including these sides as well as the infrrastructure problems and the corruption of the governing bodies.
So I guess what I'm saying is that yes progress needs to be speeded up and there must be a genuine pathway at sometime for lesser nations to improve and compete, but it can't be done on a knee-jerk basis. The current International game is the goos that lays the golden egg - you kill that and you kill the game.
Oh and I know that Japan is not a SH team but, well, you know.
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
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@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
For sure Spain would sell out at home for a hypothetical 6N game but Twickenham, Murrayfield, SdF, Dublin or Cardiff would likely not, and certainly not at the same prices as the traditional games. TV rights would I feel be less as well. But in truth that’s irrelevant as Georgia are the next cab on the rank, Spain, as improved as they are, are still a long way off. And Georgia are not in the same league financially or as a draw. The numbers just do not stack up.
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@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
I agree with that, there needs to be some kind of incentive and the beauty of that is if Scotland get "relegated" they can beat up on some minnows to gain confidence to play in the Six Nations again.
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@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
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I think there are different starting points in this debate, the 6 nations is my favourite time of the year sport wise, coming out of a dark and miserable January, the 6N is like a burning beacon of sport, friends getting together, rivalries and the piss taking that goes with them established over lifetimes.
Whilst i have sympathy for the argument re growing the game, for involving teams from outside the current 6N concept, I am terrified of breaking what we have, of pointless games between England and Spain with no real rivalry to base celebration on. Beating Wales, as weird as it was to be in a stadium with no jeopardy will always be more fun than beating Georgia.
Growing the money in the game is important, growing participation is great, but ultimately, rugby is not going to be football, and I worry that spreading the cash that it generates today (largely from the world cup) between more nations means that we risk losing what we have. I am aware that for lots of the nations at the top tier, that risk is also real as we are, thinking Aus, Wales and even Ireland.
Breaking the 6N is a dangerous path to walk down. as a fan, it is the best rugby tournament in the world, whatever people think of the quality of individual teams or matches.
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If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
I don’t understand organisations tinkering with formats of existing competitions.
RWC going to 24 teams and making the pools irrelevant, super rugby every few year’s changing the format. Albeit enforced by teams leaving.
The Rugby Championship not happening this year.
Even the FIFA World Cup is now 48 teams.Sometimes ya just need to leave stuff alone.
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I think there are different starting points in this debate, the 6 nations is my favourite time of the year sport wise, coming out of a dark and miserable January, the 6N is like a burning beacon of sport, friends getting together, rivalries and the piss taking that goes with them established over lifetimes.
Whilst i have sympathy for the argument re growing the game, for involving teams from outside the current 6N concept, I am terrified of breaking what we have, of pointless games between England and Spain with no real rivalry to base celebration on. Beating Wales, as weird as it was to be in a stadium with no jeopardy will always be more fun than beating Georgia.
Growing the money in the game is important, growing participation is great, but ultimately, rugby is not going to be football, and I worry that spreading the cash that it generates today (largely from the world cup) between more nations means that we risk losing what we have. I am aware that for lots of the nations at the top tier, that risk is also real as we are, thinking Aus, Wales and even Ireland.
Breaking the 6N is a dangerous path to walk down. as a fan, it is the best rugby tournament in the world, whatever people think of the quality of individual teams or matches.
@Dodge said in Six Nations 2026:
I think there are different starting points in this debate, the 6 nations is my favourite time of the year sport wise, coming out of a dark and miserable January, the 6N is like a burning beacon of sport, friends getting together, rivalries and the piss taking that goes with them established over lifetimes.
Whilst i have sympathy for the argument re growing the game, for involving teams from outside the current 6N concept, I am terrified of breaking what we have, of pointless games between England and Spain with no real rivalry to base celebration on. Beating Wales, as weird as it was to be in a stadium with no jeopardy will always be more fun than beating Georgia.
Growing the money in the game is important, growing participation is great, but ultimately, rugby is not going to be football, and I worry that spreading the cash that it generates today (largely from the world cup) between more nations means that we risk losing what we have. I am aware that for lots of the nations at the top tier, that risk is also real as we are, thinking Aus, Wales and even Ireland.
Breaking the 6N is a dangerous path to walk down. as a fan, it is the best rugby tournament in the world, whatever people think of the quality of individual teams or matches.
I remember Clive Woodward said this years ago.
Possibly the only time in history he has been correct about something.
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@Catogrande said in Six Nations 2026:
However in building this stronger and larger base it has to be mangled in a way that doesn't damage the current game
Deliberate typo? Works even if unintentional.
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@mohikamo said in Six Nations 2026:
@MiketheSnow said in Six Nations 2026:
The 6N is much more than one rugby team versus another. It's centuries of nation v nation.
I actually attended an international rugby event on the weekend.
All the top countries in the world were there except . . .
No England
No Scotland
No Ireland
No Wales
Why? . . . because they are not even countries . . . they are anachronismsTell you who was there . . . Spain was there, and they were very very good.
They finished ahead of France, and another team . . . called . . . Great Britain!
Great Britain . . . a real country!
Who went on to finish last in both the M and the W.
Mmmm . . . might have been a bit harsh
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@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
@MiketheSnow said in Six Nations 2026:
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
The reason why is because it looks like they are about to become competitive at the high end of the international game.
The commercial potential for rugby worldwide is massive.
The Spanish RU should be getting all the support that WR can muster to get them up into the big league.
Especially as the 6N dont seem at all interested in the rest of European rugby.Spain are probably a more competitive unit right now than Italy were when they came in and made it a 6N comp.
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@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
@MiketheSnow said in Six Nations 2026:
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
Spanish rugby players get to star in Coen brothers films and marry Penelope Cruz?
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@MN5 Who are higher in the world rankings at the moment: Scotland or Italy?
And dare I mention the word trajectory.
And yes, I can see Italy winning against the All Blacks in Wellington in July if the ABs take that game for granted.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@MN5 Who are higher in the world rankings at the moment: Scotland or Italy?
And dare I mention the word trajectory.
Not for Scotland, no you cannot.
But traiettoria is ok. -
Roger Goodell would have barred-up for sure when he heard this years prospective No 1 draft choice, Fernando Mendoza, speaking in impeccable Spanish.
Which ever franchise drafts him will being playing a game in Mexico or Spain next season.
Other football codes look at things a bit more broadly than rugby (union). -
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@Catogrande Italy sell out the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Argentina get crowds of over 40,000 for home games in a soccer man country. So a successful Spanish Rugby team, ranked in the top 10, could sell out the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu.
But Georgia will have the drawback for a long time of being less financially attractive than Scotland or Wales.
I'd keep it as the Six Nations for now. But discussions about a playoff between the Six Nations wooden spoon and the winner of the next tier European competition shouldn't be off the table IMHO.
I'm really trying to work out why you have such a hard on for Spanish rugby
@MiketheSnow 51,000 registered players and rising (higher than Scotland, but lower than Wales) in a nation of 49 million players.
Football and Basketball are their main sports, but it's a nation where Rugby really could grow if they have a couple of world class players emerging.
