Minnows still only make up the numbers

It all started so promisingly for the minnows. A tenacious Japanese team battled from 20-3 down against France to bring the score to 25-21, only to fall away in the final twenty minutes; Scotland were made to work very hard for their victories against Romania and Georgia; the Americans put up a strong defensive effort against Ireland. For a moment the thrashings and hundred-point margins of previous World Cups seemed but a faint memory.

However, that early optimism was short-lived. Georgia and then Romania failed to live up to their early promise, succumbing to heavy defeats against England. Japan were torn apart by the All Blacks, losing 83-7. Yet the most telling signs of the chasm that still separates the top-tier teams from the minnows were the twelve-try, back-to-back defeats, suffered by Namibia against South Africa and then Wales. This concluded Namibia’s campaign and they were sent home without a win, leaving them winless in four consecutive World Cups.

Other nations have scarcely better records; Georgia have won just two games in the past three World Cups (and one of those was against Namibia); Japan have only ever won against Zimbabwe in 1991, despite qualifying for every World Cup since the competition began in 1987. That teams can repeatedly qualify for the World Cup yet be so consistently uncompetitive is a poor reflection of the state of global rugby. For all its pretensions of being a global sport, exemplified through the World Cup theme song of “World in Union”, rugby is still dominated by the usual suspects.

The underlying issue is that the IRB and the top-tier rugby unions are more concerned with financial gain than the global development of the sport. Chasing lucrative broadcast deals, the IRB is a slave to the whims of television companies, who want the big names filling those prime weekend slots. The World Cup has been scheduled accordingly, with the minnows often made to play twice a week to accommodate the top-tier nations’ week-long breaks between weekend games. Denying them the chance to properly recuperate and prepare for the next match completely stifles the minnows’ potential and places them at a further disadvantage when facing the big boys.

Yet when Namibia lost to Wales just four days after their loss to South Africa, their coach, Johan Diergaardt, chose instead to focus on the fact that they hadn’t played top-tier opposition since the last World Cup. Four years between competitions is a long time; seventeen Namibian players were playing in their first ever World Cup. Adapting to teams that play at a much higher intensity than they are used to, in addition to the punishing schedule gives the minnows absolutely no chance.

Italy have shown that regular test matches against stronger nations works wonders for smaller teams’ competitiveness. Regularly thrashed in the early years of the Six Nations, they have managed to become a competitive outfit in less than a decade, even beating France earlier this year.

Unfortunately, playing sides like Namibia isn’t lucrative enough for the top nations to even consider it. Even their neighbours, South Africa have only played them once outside of a World Cup. Spectators and television viewers just aren’t interested in inevitably one-sided contests, and until the IRB and the top-tier unions choose to prioritise the development of global rugby over short term financial gain, these matches will only ever be one-sided. The minnows have shown in the opening stages of this World Cup that they can put in good performances. It is now time for the IRB and the top-tier unions to allow them to build on that promise.