Canada's rugby team coach Ric Suggitt. Photo / Reuters
BORDEAUX - Canada coach Ric Suggitt has reiterated calls for the International Rugby Board (IRB) to abandon plans to reduce the number of World Cup teams from 20 to 16 for the next edition in New Zealand.
Suggitt has been championing the cause of the little teams throughout
the tournament, pointing to packed houses and some entertaining matches as reasons to keep the tournament at its current number.
And he has branded the IRB incompetent in their planning for the future.
"The left hand's got to know what the right hand's doing, if they're giving us money to prepare for the World Cup then why are they taking four teams away?" he asked after his team's 37-6 loss to Australia in their final Pool B game here on Saturday.
"They need to go back to the drawing board and see what they're doing. When you look at what Tonga's doing they've been competitive in every game and we've put out a competitive team in every game, as have the United States.
"We haven't been shy about our aspirations, we came here too to get to the quarter-finals. We were a second away (to winning) against Fiji and a second away against Japan and other than that we would've been battling for a quarter-final spot rather than going home with a big zero (no wins)."
"Rugby is truly a global game now. Let's get it taking off in North America and in Asia and instead of dropping it down to 16 teams let's get 64 teams in the World Cup," he quipped.
- AFP
