Six Nations 2026
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When France or England play a game in Murrayfield, Cardiff or Dublin, more than 15,000 of their fans make the trip. Does Tbilissi has the required hotel capacity ? Travelling to Edinburgh or Dublin is OK, but to Tbilissi ?
@cgrant said in Six Nations 2026:
When France or England play a game in Murrayfield, Cardiff or Dublin, more than 15,000 of their fans make the trip. Does Tbilissi has the required hotel capacity ? Travelling to Edinburgh or Dublin is OK, but to Tbilissi ?
Heading there tomorrow
I'll find out
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@cgrant said in Six Nations 2026:
When France or England play a game in Murrayfield, Cardiff or Dublin, more than 15,000 of their fans make the trip. Does Tbilissi has the required hotel capacity ? Travelling to Edinburgh or Dublin is OK, but to Tbilissi ?
Heading there tomorrow
I'll find out
@MiketheSnow said in Six Nations 2026:
@cgrant said in Six Nations 2026:
When France or England play a game in Murrayfield, Cardiff or Dublin, more than 15,000 of their fans make the trip. Does Tbilissi has the required hotel capacity ? Travelling to Edinburgh or Dublin is OK, but to Tbilissi ?
Heading there tomorrow
I'll find out
Report back Mike. Minimum 800 words.
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Hate to be proven right.
But I told you this comp was a poor standard this year.
Even a Razor Robertson-coached ABs team put Scotland away.
@game_film said in Six Nations 2026:
Hate to be proven right.
But I told you this comp was a poor standard this year.
Even a Razor Robertson-coached ABs team put Scotland away.
Don’t fucking watch then
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Hate to be proven right.
But I told you this comp was a poor standard this year.
Even a Razor Robertson-coached ABs team put Scotland away.
@game_film said in Six Nations 2026:
Hate to be proven right.
But I told you this comp was a poor standard this year.
Even a Razor Robertson-coached ABs team put Scotland away.
Well thats a good thing because you’re not.
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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 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,
Probably why World Rugby gave Mark Robinson the Chief of Rugby role.
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I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
@scribe said in Six Nations 2026:
I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
South Africa, England and New Zealand are all probably better in the front five at set piece. But the French skills around the park are crazy. Jalibert, Dupont and LBB were outstanding today.
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@scribe said in Six Nations 2026:
I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
South Africa, England and New Zealand are all probably better in the front five at set piece. But the French skills around the park are crazy. Jalibert, Dupont and LBB were outstanding today.
@sparky said in Six Nations 2026:
@scribe said in Six Nations 2026:
I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
South Africa, England and New Zealand are all probably better in the front five at set piece. But the French skills around the park are crazy. Jalibert, Dupont and LBB were outstanding today.
Yeah, the French pack was quite lightweight today, two back rowers (albeit quite big buggers) in the engine room. Made for good athleticism, handling and footwork, not sure they'd make that selection for SA though.
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I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
@scribe said in Six Nations 2026:
I know it was only Wales (sorry Mike), but France. Wow. Ominous. Their U20 programme has certainly borne some decent fruit.
They had to dig deep to beat our U20s on Saturday
We’re not looking too bad going forward
