International rugby is well structured. Its features are:
Conferences are well balanced and they make sense geographically.
Conferences results carry weight because the World Cup occurs only once every 4 years.
There are abundant interconference matches, both between top-tier teams and between top-tier and lesser teams.
Conferences are flexible. For example Argentina established itself by making the World Cup semifinal in 2007 and was invited to join the Tri Nations in 2011, now known as The Rugby Championship. Teams can take temporary leaves of absence from conferences.
Teams can play in multiple ocnferences, such as the USA, Canada, and Japan.
Teams can schedule games with whoever they want, and there is no limit to the number of times two two teams can play per year.
There are several national #2 teams, such as New Zealand #2 and Argentia #2.
There are subregional conferences such as Europe 6 Nations B and Asian Division 1.
There exist teams independent of nations, such as The Barbarians.
Each team plays around 12 games per year and these games are chosen wisely. Matches are almost always compelling because both conference and interconference results carry weight.
The top teams hisorically are:
New Zealand England Ireland Australia Wales France South Africa ScotlandTeams in the top tier rarely lose to teams outside the top tier.
For each team we list the number of games played against each conference. Data for 2017.
Total The Rugby Europe 6 Pacific Americas Asia Other Championship Nations Nations New Zealand 14 7 3 1 3 England 11 4 5 1 1 Ireland 11 2 5 1 1 2 Australia 14 7 5 2 France 11 5 5 1 Fiji 8 1 4 2 1 Japan 10 1 3 1 4 1
There are enough interconference games so that a world champion can be determined using games from the past 2 years.
Some teams play in multiple conferences. For this table we consider USA and Canada to be in the Americas conference and Japan to be in the Asian conference.
12 teams qualified from the 2015 World Cup by placing in the top three of their pool. The Oceana regional qualifier conributes 2 teams and the Americas regional qualifier contributes 2 teams. The best teams from regional qualifiers not yet already qualified then played a cross-regional qualifier to decide 4 more teams.
Qualified from Regional Cross-regional 2015 World Cup qualifier qualifier Oceana New Zealand Fiji Samoa Ausralia Tonga Tahiti Europe Scotland Wales Ireland France England Italy Georgia Americas Argentina USA Canada Uruguay Asia Japan Africa South Africa
New Zealand New Zealand France New Zealand South Africa Wales South Africa New Zealand Argenina Argenina Ireland Ausralia Ausralia Scotland Ausralia Rank Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D 1 Ausralia South Africa New Zealand Ireland 2 Wales Scotland Argentina France 3 England Japan Georgia Italy 4 Fiji Samoa Tonga Romania 5 Uruguay USA Namibia Canada
The 2015 World Cup has 20 teams. 12 qualified based on 2011 World Cup results, 7 qualifed based on regional tournaments, and 1 qualified based on a repechage tournament.
Oceana Europe Americas Africa Asia Qualified from New Zealand England Argentina S. Africa 2011 World Cup Australia France Samoa Wales Tonga Scotland Ireland Italy Regional Fiji Georgia Canada Namibia Japan qualifiers Romania USA Repechage Uruguay
Repechage bracket:
Uruguay Uruguay Hong Kong Uruguay Russia Zimbabwe Russia
Data since the formation of the World Cup in 1987.
20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 Win Final Semi Quar Pool 15 11 07 03 99 95 91 87 New Zealand 3 1 3 1 New Zealand 1 1 4 3 3 2 3 1 Australia 2 2 2 2 Australia 2 3 4 2 1 4 1 3 S. Africa 2 2 2 S. Africa 3 4 1 4 3 1 England 1 2 1 3 1 England 5 4 2 1 4 3 2 4 France 3 3 2 France 4 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 Wales 2 3 3 Wales 4 3 5 4 4 5 5 3 Argentina 2 2 4 Argentina 3 4 3 5 4 5 5 5 Scotland 1 6 1 Scotland 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 Ireland 6 2 Ireland 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 4 Canada 1 7 Canada 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 Italy 8 Italy 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Romania 8 Romania 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Samoa 2 5 Samoa 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 Fiji 2 5 Fiji 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 USA 7 USA 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Japan 7 Japan 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Tonga 7 Tonga 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Namibia 5 Namibia 5 5 5 5 5 Georgia 4 Georgia 5 5 5 5 Uruguay 3 Uruguay 5 5 5 Zimbabwe 2 Zimbabwe 5 5 Russia 1 Russia 5 Portugal 1 Portugal 5 Spain 1 Spain 5 Ivory Coast 1 Ivory Coast 5 1: Win 2: Final 3: Semifinal 4: Quarterfinal 5: Pool
The Rugby Championship has existed from 2012 until the present. It was previously known as The Tri Nations until Argentina joined in 2012.
1st 2nd 3rd 17 16 15 14 13 12 New Zealand 5 1 New Zealand 1 1 2 1 1 1 Australia 1 3 2 Australia 2 2 1 3 3 2 S. Africa 2 3 S. Africa 3 3 4 2 2 3 Argentina 1 Argentina 4 4 3 4 4 4
Tri Nations:
11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 99 98 97 96 New Zealand 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 3 1 1 Australia 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 S. Africa 3 3 1 3 3 3 2 1 3 3 3 3 3 1 2 2
For 2010-2017,
1st 2nd 3rd 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 England 3 4 1 England 1 1 2 2 2 1 3 2 Ireland 2 2 3 Ireland 2 3 1 5 3 3 2 1 Wales 2 1 1 Wales 5 2 3 1 1 4 4 4 France 1 1 2 France 3 5 4 6 4 2 1 3 Scotland 1 Scotland 4 4 6 3 6 5 5 5 Italy Italy 6 6 5 4 5 6 6 6
For 2010-2017,
1st 2nd 3rd 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Fiji 4 3 Fiji 1 1 1 2 1 2 4 2 Samoa 3 2 2 Samoa 3 2 2 1 1 3 1 Tonga 1 1 5 Tonga 2 3 3 3 3 3 1 4 Japan 1 1 1 Japan 4 1 4 4 2 3 Canada 1 1 Canada 6 3 2 USA 1 USA 5 2 5
For 2010-2017,
1st 2nd 3rd 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Japan 8 Japan 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Hong Kong 5 3 Hong Kong * 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 South Korea 2 4 South Korea * 3 3 3 3 2 2 5 Kazakhstan 1 Kazakhstan 5 4 2 UAE 1 UAE 5 4 3 Philippines Philippines 4 4 Arab Gulf Arab Gulf 4 Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 5 5 Malaysia *
Japan is not playing in the 2018 tournament because they have already qualified for the 2019 World Cup.
The Amricas Rugby Championship has existed in its present form from 2016 to the present.
17 16 USA 1 2 Argentina #2 2 1 Uruguay 3 4 Brazil 4 5 Canada 5 3 Chile 6 6
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 Georgia 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 Romania 1 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 4 Russia 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 3 2 Spain 3 4 3 4 6 2 5 5 5 Portugal 6 5 5 4 5 3 4 3 Germany 5 5 6 3 6 Belgium 6 6 5 Ukraine 6 6
1st 2nd 3rd 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Saxons 6 2 Saxons 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 2 1 Maori 2 1 Maori 2 1 1 Ireland 1 3 Ireland 1 3 3 3 Canada 2 3 Canada 2 2 4 5 5 5 3 3 3 Scotland 2 Scotland 2 4 2 Argentina 1 3 Argentina 3 4 2 USA 1 USA 5 4 5 6 6 6 4 4 2 Italy 3 Italy 3 France 1 France 3 Georgia 6 Tonga 4 Uruguay 6 Russia 6 5
1st 2nd 3rd 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 09 Namibia 5 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 Kenya 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 1 3 1 Zimbabwe 1 3 5 4 2 2 2 1 Uganda 1 3 3 3 4 2 3 Tunisia 2 4 4 4 2 2 Madagascar 1 4 3 Morocco 1 3 Ivory C. 1 3 Senegal 6
For 2016-2017, England and New Zealand dominated all other teams and they didn't play each other. Results for 2016-2017:
NZ Eng Ire Sco Aus SA Fra Wales N Zealand -+ + ++- ++ ++ + England - + ++++ + + + Ireland - + ++-- + - Scotland + - + Australia oo + ++ S. Africa + - France + Wales + Win - Loss o TieFor example, New Zealand defeated Scotland. Some teams played more than once.
The most historically successful teams are England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. We designate these as oligarch teams and the rest as plebe teams.
During 2016 and 2017 it almost never happened that a plebe team beat an oligarch team.
NZ Aus SA Eng Ire Scot Wales Fra Argentina -- -- ---- - - - +- Italy - - +- - - -- - - Japan - -- -- - o Fiji - - - + Samoa - - - - - Tonga - USA - Canada - Georgia - - + Win - Loss o Tie
Results for plebe teams for 2016-2017.
Arg Ita Jap Fij Sam Ton USA Can Uru Bra Chi Geo Rom Nam Argentina ++ + + + + Italy +- - + + Japan - + + + + Fiji ++ ++ - - Samoa -+ + -o - Tonga + - + USA +o+ + + + -- - Canada - - + -- -- Uruguay ++++ ++++ -- Brazil - - Chile Georgia -+ Romania +
Suppose a convention is held to create a new college sport and suppose someone proposes a sport with the following properties:
At least a dozen coaches are required, each with million dollar salaries.
There are a small number of glamorous positions and a large number of grunt positions.
Only elite players can participate in the program. There is no team for casual players.
There are patrician leagues and plebe leagues, with little upward mobility for the plebes. Patrician teams cannot be relegated and some teams have the status of eternal royalty.
The rulebook shall be as thick as The Lord of the Rings, it shall be full of kludges, and it shall require at least 6 referees and a set of replay cameras to enforce.
The positions shall be highly specialized, with a set of coaches for each position.
The fundamental structure of the sport will be inflexible because it is full of specialized players and coaches who don't want their niches destroyed by a rule change.
The sport consists of 10% action and 90% loafing, facilitating commercial breaks.
There is a single-elimination national championship that steals attention from the regular season and from non-contenders. Epic matchups that should happen don't happen.
Ball possession is critical, discouraging risk. All plays are set plays, discouraging personal initiative. Plays are called by the coaches.
The sport is institutionalized and petty infractions or poor grades can get you cut from the team.
If you lose you are vilified.
Players shall be forbidden from making money outside institutional channels.
An expensive stadium is required.
Expensive equipment is required.
A team with a lead can play conservatively and lock down a win.
The last quarter is often garbage time.
You might have the dream of playing for a particular college, but you have to go somewhere else because there is already a player there that is better than you at your position, and the first team gets most of the minutes.
Nobody outside your country knows anything about your sport.
The sport feeds into a professional league where there are only elite teams and no casual teams.
The professional sports league has a draft where the players have little say in who they end up playing for. Contracts are fixed by draft order.
Suppose someone else proposes a sport with the following properties:
The sport has diverse positions accommodating all athletic types and there is fluidity between the positions. A tank may on occasion find himself with the ball and space, and a fancy air superiority fighter may on occasion find himself at the center of a maul.
The rules shall be logical, elegant, and flexible, pithy, and require only one referee and no coaches. For example, two teams might negotiate a variation on the rules that enhances their team's styles.
There is an A team for serious players and there are B, C, and D teams for casual players.
Games can be scheduled anytime and with any opponent. For example, Hoffstra is renowned for being good hosts and so one offers to play a game at Hoffstra. If a rival team is full of jerks then you can ignore them.
You can play the sport without previous experience.
Any group of people can spontaneously form a team.
The team is outside the domain of the Athletic Director.
You don't need university facilities to practice or host games.
You are free to play for any professional sports team. Professional clubs exist worldwide at all salary levels.
The equipment consists of shoes and a ball.
What do you call a fast man that can't tackle? A wide receiver
What do you call a fast man that can't tackle or catch? A sprinter
What do you call a fast man that can tackle and catch? A rugby player
What do you call a slow man man that can't tackle or catch, but is badass in intangible ways? A rugby player