XV-a-Side: Developing nations are showing great progress - why are they being excluded?

WEEKLY ANSWERS

Last week’s mystery player was the late Doddie Weir. And it is true – rugby was an Olympic sport back in 1900.

WORLD CUP UPDATE

Friday night saw Argentina face the All Blacks and the one-sided encounter confirmed the folly of the original pool allocations. If it had been a boxing match, the referee would have stepped in to avoid further punishment. England took on the Springboks on Saturday night and at times it was reminiscent of the Kirkwall Ba’ Game. England surprised many by their performance, but you’d have to say that the All Blacks will be the fresher side on Saturday.

One of the big talking points which came out of the tournament was the progress of some of the developing nations. It seems a bit harsh that teams like Georgia, Samoa, Portugal and Tonga will be excluded from the proposed Nations Championship. The new twelve-team tournament is due to start in 2026 and promotion and relegation won’t be introduced until 2030. Apart from the Six Nations teams and the four Rugby Championship sides, the only two “other” countries that might be included are likely to be Fiji and Japan. It is debatable whether these excluded countries could survive in the intervening period without games against top tier teams. Is there a case for three groupings - the Six Nations, the four Rugby Championship teams and a Tier Two competition? Italy and Argentina improved by playing games against stronger teams.

RUGBY MEMORIES

The Fijian team earned a lot of respect in the World Cup, and it reminded me of a great story told by a well-known former Falkirk surgeon who had done part of his National Service on the Pacific Island. He recounted a game when he “tackled” a giant Fijian forward. The player took off on a fifty-yard run to score under the posts with our doctor friend still clinging to his waist.

FALKIRK RUGBY CLUB

Falkirk faced Stirling County and recorded an impressive 31-20 win which took them into second place in the league. Not surprisingly, there were lots of postponements.

GRANGEMOUTH STAGS

The game at Glensburgh was one of only two in the league that survived the atrocious weather and the home side beat Hillfoots 50-7 to move into third place in Caledonia Region League Division 1 and within chasing distance of Dundee second XV in second place. The seconds’ scheduled game was off.

BO’NESS RUGBY CLUB

The scheduled game against Crieff and Strathearn was another weather casualty.

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Grangemouth Women faced another stern challenge with a visit from Corstorphine and gave a gutsy performance despite going down 29-17.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Falkirk travel over to Fife to take on Kirkcaldy, while Grangemouth visit Kinross. Bo’ness play Strathmore at home (3pm kick-offs). Grangemouth Women face Howe of Fife in Cupar on Sunday (2pm start).

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