World League: 'Rugby must be honest with itself' if the game is to develop, South American Rugby boss says

The apparent lack of opportunities for lower tier nations in the proposed World League rugby competition has been met with heavy criticism from South American Rugby boss Sebastián Piñeyrúa.

The Herald revealed on Thursday the proposed structure of the new competition, which would see Japan and the USA join the Rugby Championship to make up half of the competition, which the other six teams would be those that contest the Six Nations.

Speaking to the Herald, Piñeyrúa said the lack of presence of emerging nations spoke volumes to the state of international rugby.

"Rugby must be honest with itself and decide if it wants to grow and work seriously with its regions in order to conquest and develop big new markets in Europe, such as Spain and Germany, in Latin America with Brazil and Mexico, and Asia with China as an example; or if it wants to continue playing the same eight teams in the finals at the Rugby World Cup," he said.

Among the notable omissions to the proposed competition were world No.9 ranked Fiji, and No.12 ranked Georgia, while there didn't appear to be a pathway for lower tier nations to progress into the competition in the future.

Piñeyrúa said he was aware that the idea of putting together a competition of this sort was being discussed, but lamented the need for a change in the League's structure.

"Having a tournament with two tiers, with promotion and relegation, is crucial moving forward towards a global game whilst motivating rugby fans all over the world."

New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew spoke of the lack of a lower tier draw, and said it was something the union would want to see implemented if the proposal were to be signed off.

"We've made it very clear that our position is promotion/relegation in the medium and long term is certainly going to have to be on the table, it's clearly an issue with the Six Nations and that is one of the stumbling blocks we are currently dealing with.

"There must be a pathway for the countries around us to get into the big competitions when they are ready."

The International Rugby Players Association also voiced their concerns over the competition and the issues it raises about player welfare. The same concerns were raised by former All Black Grant Fox.

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"I think, at a broad brush level, we've got to look after [the players]. I understand there are some commercial imperatives around the game because it's a professional game. So anything that involves commerce has the commercial imperatives," Fox said.

"But you've also got to marry that up with your player welfare. And sometimes they don't necessarily align. And maybe this is the case here where at a high level it looks like it hasn't necessarily aligned from a players point of view with their welfare, you know, looking after our athletes. Because what we actually want for our guys is to be able to perform at their best as often as possible.

"There are a lot of factors that go into that - travel, game time, training - all of those things are all part of that factor. I'll watch with interest with the outcome but I'm not going to worry myself in the detail because as I said it's other people charged with making those decisions."

World Rugby addressed the concerns, and said playing load and emerging nation opportunities were topics at the heart of constructive dialogue on the overall concept.

"As instructed by our executive committee and the unions, we remain committed to a process of constructive dialogue with all stakeholders, including the International Rugby Players Association, to deliver a model that ensures the best-possible competition and commercial outcomes for all and a truly exciting and meaningful annual international competition structure that is great for players, clubs, fans and unions."