Samoa need a regular competition

As the title says like Argentina before Samoa are ready to break through and I see a real prospect of them beating both Scotland and South Africa to win their pool, just as Argentina did in 2007. At present they are ranked 7th, 2 ahead of Argentina who are in the Rugby Championship. Maybe a 2 tier Southern Hemisphere tournament is the way forward with promotion and relegation? I don't know but it is going to be interesting how the old guard respond to once perceived "lower" teams challenging them and their cosy bubble.

Why a tier 2 SH tournament? That would be a bit disrespectful to these nations that have broken into tier 1. I'd be offended by your suggestion if I was from Samoa or Argentina. Samoa's inclusion in a tier one tournament is clearly the way forward.

Also, I think perhaps it is time to stop this 'helping out the pacific islanders' theme that the IRB is pushing - they're doing fine without the help. Time to focus on African nations instead perhaps.

How is it offensive to Arg and Samoa? I think you misunderstand, I mean a 2nd tournament with promotion and relation. Ideally I'd see Samoa added to the Rugby Championship, but am aware that an already crowded calendar could make this difficult, so the next best option would be a league structure. I'm broadly in favour of this for the 6 nations but don't believe other nations in Europe are ready for the step up yet.

I only mentioned Samoa as they are currently ranked above Argentina in the rankings and have had some strong performances against supposed "tier 1" nations (although i don't think the irb use that phrase anymore).

As for encouraging and strengthening African nations, I totally agree but from what I can see most if not all would be even less well placed to enter the rugby championship than the European teams in the 6n B entering the 6n (Georgia, Romania, Russia.)

I am not arguing for special treatment for pacific island nations but if the argument for Argentina needing regular competition against top nations was due to results against top nations and world ranking position then Samoa needs to be considered in the same way.

NZ/AUS need to do more to include other LOCAL nations.. So do SA..

At least we have added france and italy in to ours however we are still not doing enough.

We need regional cups held every two years instead of the RC or 6N

Why not regional cups alongside the 6n? Didn't that happen in football for several years, the euros and home nations comp? Eventually the 6n may go but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water!

I am not suggesting getting rid of the 6n's-

just getting rid of them 1 in 2 years.

Sorry, when you said 2 tier I thought you meant 2nd tier as in Tier 2, which they've proved they're above. I always thought Samoa were a better fit for the 4N then Argentina to be honest, but I don't think they bought enough money to the table.

Fair enough Griff.

The problem with integrating Samoa in a regular competition is their players are based in NZ and Europe predominantly. That makes it hard to draw their players together. In a way Argentina showed it can be done with their players involved in the RC. If you involve Samoa though, do you also involve Tonga and Fiji who have similar logistical problems?

I'd love it if all involved found solutions to these problems as they definitely warrant inclusion. Do you play their games outside their countries because of the heat and infrastructure make it hard to hold home games? It comes down to money at the end of the day.