Pumas bid to join Six Nations fails

ARGENTINA will not be admitted into the Six Nations after being told by the International Rugby Board their future lies in the southern hemisphere.

The IRB held their global rugby forum in Woking this week with the Pumas’ future near the top of the agenda following their remarkable third-place finish at the World Cup.

Argentina, ranked third in the world, are marginalised by a lack of inclusion in a major annual tournament and formally applied to join the Six Nations earlier this month.

The IRB have devised a four-year plan which will integrate them into the international calendar – with the Tri-Nations their ultimate destination.

“The forum agreed that the Pumas’ future lies in the southern hemisphere,” said an IRB statement.

Television rights to the Tri-Nations are to be renegotiated in 2010 and the combined Australia, New Zealand and South African unions are considering plans to expand.

Major logistical problems would arise from Argentina’s involvement in a beefed-up Tri-Nations with the main stumbling block being that most Pumas are based in Europe.

But it is planned that this obstacle will be removed by the introduction of a competitive professional structure in Argentina.

“In the short term there are major hurdles to the integration of Argentina into the southern playing structure,” continued the statement. “However, the Argentinian Rugby Union (UAR) have made a commitment to have their players contracted to the union and for the majority of their players to be based in Argentina by 2012.

Argentina’s development will be assisted by their expected admission into the Churchill Cup and the number of Test matches the Pumas play per year will have increased from six to nine by 2010.

This will include two internationals during the Six Nations following the agreement of English and French clubs to release Pumas for the matches.

The forum, which was attended by 90 delegates from all rugby stakeholders, decided the existing rugby calendar would be preserved, save for minor modifications.

Moves are also underway to safeguard the integrity of Test matches in November and June, which have become increasingly devalued by weakened touring teams.

Two suggestions are under consideration to address this issue – the introduction of a ‘world series’ that would give ranking points to existing matches and would culminate in a grand final, and a 12-team pool format run over two years between World Cups.

A cap on the number of Tests played each year to 11 and the agreement of English and French clubs to end their season on May 31 would provide space for any change and enhance the prestige of the November and June internationals.

A stand-down period of at least 10 weeks for players was also agreed to ensure suitable time for rest and pre-season conditioning.

The Rugby World Cup will maintain its existing 20-team format in 2011. Said IRB chairman Dr Syd Millar said: “Prior to the 2007 World Cup, the IRB stated that it would review the number of participating teams for future tournaments.

“The reason for this review was to ensure that the tournament remains competitive and commercially attractive. The developing nations at this year’s World Cup have produced significantly enhanced performances on four years ago.

“This is a direct result of the global £30 million IRB strategic investment programme that was established in 2005.

“Based on this, plus the likelihood that surplus revenue from this year’s World Cup will provide further funds for future investment in developing nations, the council had no hesitation in approving the recommendation from the RWCL Board that 20 teams participate in 2011.”

New Zealand will stage the next World Cup and Millar insisted the decision to persevere with 20 teams received full backing from the hosts.

The playing window for the 2011 World Cup will be September to October 2011 with the final taking place on the weekend of October 22-23.

The number of automatic qualifiers has been increased from eight to 12. As the top three teams in their 2007 pools, South Africa, England, Argentina, France, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Fiji, Wales, Ireland, Tonga and Italy have thus automatically qualified.

The qualification system for the remaining eight places is currently being reviewed with regional qualification starting in 2008.