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To quote Peal Jam "I'm still alive", this could infact be rugby unions catch cry over the coming years if this week past volume of matches can be used as a benchmark.
This has what has been on offer to the rugby lover in the past week alone... ASIAD, in SRI LANKA 5 NOV 2007
Chinese Taipei v Thailand
Malaysia v China 6 NOV 2007
Iran v Pakistan 7 NOV 2007
Kazakhstan v Chinese Taipei
Sri Lanka v Malaysia 8 NOV 2007
Iran v India 10 NOV 2007 ASIAD
A1 winners v A2 winners - Cup final
A1 second v A2 second - Bowl final
A1 third v A2 third - Plate final CONSUR DIV B
07 NOV 2007
Brasil v Venezuela, Lima
Peru v Colombia, Lima 10 NOV 2007
Brasil v Colombia, Lima
Peru v Venezuela, Lima ENC
10 NOV 2007
Georgia v Portugal, Tblissi
Ukraine v Netherlands, Kiev
Belgium v Germany, Brussels
Croatia v Malta, Makarska So we have active Test matches on 3 continents, that is before the professional European leagues are taken into account and lets not leave the Japanese Top league out of that list either. Whilst ASIAD has probably been a little below the standard of what was expected due to the Asian region’s best teams such as Japan, Korea and Hong Kong withdrawing from the tournament and other teams taking development squads. The fact remains that this region is in a healthy state. The South American CONSUR is in full swing in Peru and in Europe we have the ENC championships kicking along nicely. Portugal and Georgia do battle fresh from their world cup exploits. All the above goes to prove how strong a position the game is in, take a look at the national websites of some of the countries listed above read about the number of players they have involved. The numbers are phenomenal, the Belgium v Germany match above drew a crowd of 5,500. These are significant numbers. The game is alive and kicking (quote courtesy of Simple Minds this time!), it is growing and it is growing stronger. The gap in standard to the established countries is closing and closing very very quickly. Take a look at the Rugby League world cup which is being held somewhere next year.... Composite teams made up of players from Australia, GB and NZ. The crowds will be nowhere near the 46,000 average in RWC 07. Our game is in a very healthy state despite what is written in a lot of the established nations press. Long may it continue. |
