Should there be a 2nd Tier RWC

[Quick Hands]

Perhaps you cut the Repechege, 2nd Americas Spot, and 2nd European Spot, then play the Secondary RWC the year beforehand, with 16 teams, the winner, 2nd place and 3rd place qualifying.

Or expansion could work too.

The problem wth playing the 2nd division RWC separate in either time or location is that you still have all the logistical costs and running costs, but you have very little opportunity to get any revenue.

Run the two in tandem at the same time and place and most if not all of your logistics and costs are already accounted for and there is a small opportunity to make some revenue from merchandise and possibly a bit more for broadcast rights as there will be more games to televise. Better for sponsors too.

 

[Ruggo]

I like the idea of a 2nd tier RWC. Have the exact amount of teams as the 1st tier RWC and play each game as the curtin raiser at the 1st tier RWC.

 

[Jagman]

Why not have 32 team in the RWC. split the top 16 and bottom 16 ranked teams so that each team only plays one game against another in a different 16. I.E four groups of 8 teams split into two divisions. A team would play all the teams in their division and one team in the other (4 games in total). They accrue points for the game but only toward their division.

 

[Quick Hands]

Why not have 32 team in the RWC. split the top 16 and bottom 16 ranked teams so that each team only plays one game against another in a different 16. I.E four groups of 8 teams split into two divisions. A team would play all the teams in their division and one team in the other (4 games in total). They accrue points for the game but only toward their division.

The problem I see with that is once a proposal comes up to reduce the main RWC from 20 to 16, you create reasons for people to oppose the plan straight away. You're going to have 4 losers out of the deal and another 4 potential losers - so you've essentially got 8 votes against it straightaway.

By keeping the current 20 in its current format - noone loses and if fact by having the next 12 teams you now create a reason for those teams to vote in favour because in the cycles when they just miss the top 20 qualifiers, they'll still be at the RWC, albeit in the 2nd division.