Should Georgia, Romania and possibly Russia join the Six Nations (rugby)?

The only way this would work, if there was two tiers in the 6N's. IE, 2 divisions, too many countries in one competition means more games! Hence, there would be too many games played causing many problems between the club v country and fixture problems! There is only so many matches a player can play in a season and only so many games a club can do without his international players! I agree it would be great to develop these countries in rugby, but it is not always realistic. I, myself, was very impressed with Georgia in the last RWC!

I agree with Welshchick. Two divisions of five teams each. Div 1 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. Div 2 Italy, Roumania, Georgia, Russia and Spain. Also have promotion and relegation. Bottom team in Div i goes down and top team in Div 2 goes up.

blm wrote "...Italy included. Even Italy A handed Georgia a solid thrashing in this years IRB Cup..." But Georgia were also with A team! They just wore the name of the Senior side, but the line-up was as for A. As for my answer, I think the only thing, that should be done is promotion-relegation system between 6N and ENC. But it seems to me that IRB are afraid that if a team like Scotland being relegated, they will lose some sponsors. The same money problem prevents Russian clubs participation in Amlin Cup - it's too far to travel to Russia.

Not yetbut I would like to see more friendlies between these teams and the six nations teams so we can tell when they are good enough to be considered. The only european team outside of the six nations that ever seem to tour are Romania. They had a very good team in the 80s and regularly used to beat the old five nations teams and probably should have been given a chance before Italy. With the amount of Georgians playing in the French leagues, I can see them getting up to the level of the six nations but as we only ever see them at world cups it's difficult to judge whether they will cope against the big European teams.

Well in my opinion if they're going to put them in a competition I say that they should have a qualifying competition between Georgia,Romania & Russia too become the 7th team to compete in the 7 Nations with the other 6 Nations (England,France,Ireland,Wales,Scotland,I… every year.

yes they should, however it wouldn't be the 6 nations would it? it would be the 8 or 9 nations.

Theres a good few reasons why it won't happen. One point the others havent covered is to do with money. The Six Nations currently holds the title of the oldest international rugby competition in the world - steeped in history and great rugby. They will be reluctant to let in 2/3 sides that play a much more lower quality brand of rugby. It could damage the Six nations image and make it look like a second rate competition. That could seriously hamper coverage and viewing figures - costing the Unions a fairly large chunk of cash. Theres also the issue of making the Six Nations boring. Nearly every game, bar Scotland Vs Italy, is exciting to watch given its implications and the quality of rugby played. Would you bother watching your side play against Georgia or another Eastern European team? No offense to them - its just to put my point into context about the difference in quality. Theres no easy way to get a nation to develope into a 'top 10' nation. The best way to do so is to let the country's rugby union develope itself, and get the IRB to invest into the infrastructure regularly to try and improve the countrys facilaties and increase rugbys image in the country. It would probably be worse to put them in the Six Nations and watch teams rack up 70+ points on them a game.