Welsh Irish Failure is World Cup Success

Ok. I'm not Welsh or Irish and I will not pretend to hide behind some Home Nations unity and come out in sympathy for these great rugby nations going out of the World Cup Rugby in France this weekend. Bad news for them especially for the Welsh Coach Jenkins who was today sacked. I am not particularly a partizan rugby fan - I love my country - England; and want them to do well but it is not the end of my day when they lose. However one of the critisisms of tornaments like this one is that only 20 or so countries across the globe can truely say they have a National team worthy of any level of competition. Why bother with a world cup where 20 of these teams compete when only 3 or possibly 4 of them really stand a chance of winning ? Fiji , Argentina, Italy and Tonga have all turned up expecting very little but a token win over other 'also rans' in their group but they have challenged England, Wales, Ireland, France and Scotland to either knock them out or give them a real battle. The fact that Wales and Ireland wont be running out to play quarter finals is great news for the game in the fact that it will encourage and promote the development of the game in other countries as well as those at this world cup. The US rugby team also gave a good account of themselves against the reigning world champions. There is hope that emerging nations can now move on and spread the game still further. The tornament is therefore already a success for the game and fans. And in a world where sport at the highest level is increasingly predicatable it makes a refreshing change to see the underdogs making a real go of it.