SDHoneymonster wrote:I'd love a Churchill Cup style competition with the likes of Georgia and Spain competing against England A and the Irish Wolfhounds. You could run it alongside the summer tours so the clubs aren't completely gutted during the season (although ideally you'd find a way to stop the Prem clashing with international games too). Not only do Europe's developing sides get exposure to high quality rugby, but it actually provides a use for the second teams who've not played games in forever.
Yup, and I loved the Churchill Cup itself as well.
But I suspect it would run into the same problems as the Churchill Cup did - the tier 2 teams wanted to play our firsts, not second XVs, despite not doing well enough against the seconds to "earn" it.
What about somehow doing the reverse? I.e. get a "best of the rest" competing in the 6N? Not sure if that would achieve the target of improving the game in tier 2, but maybe (big maybe) if the fans really adopted the team it could increase interest in these nations? Perhaps a tier 2 6N style tournament where the best players join in a lion's style team to play in the 6N proper.
No idea, but perhaps split across several countries you'd get a competitive team against T2, I don't know.
Georgia beat Spain 41 v 3. In their three matches so far this year they’ve scored 156 pts and conceded 23. Not sure what the answer is but they need a better standard of competition.