What must be done to halt the decline in the quality of international rugby?

Question

Given that countries seem to be concentrating all resources on the world cup every four years. Also the poor showing of teams travelling north or south during the international window(all blacks excluded) due to the clash of seasons, and the conflict between club and country in the northern hemisphere

Answer 1

I don't believe there is a decline. South Africa have their best team for years, All Blacks are always there, Wallabies have their moments. Don't be fooled by it being a world cup year. The British unions have traditionally always sent undermanned squads down under for one reason or another, so don't read too much into the recent Welsh tour. France have always been inconsistent & Argentina are a much better outfit than you might think, so no, there's no decline.

Admittedly England aren't the team that won the World Cup, but that's just a cyclical thing and they'll come again.

Answer 2

~ Definitely needs to be better planning by the IRB in conjunction with all the relative stake holders and perhaps in November at the post World Cup meet designed to address these sorts of problems this issue will be addressed.

At the end of the day it is a Club versus Country/National problem and I think ultimately the player should be released by the Club to represent their country.  Problem is the Club game now in the Northern Hemisphere is becoming more & more like Football and the appeal to plays for ones country doesn't compare to the appeal of the almighty dollar! ~

Answer 3

have a global caleneder where club tournaments are played at the same time likewise tri-nations(soon to be five)  and six-nations then just before the start of the season northern hemisphere tours southern hemisphere and the the next year southern hemisphere tours north. i think thats the best way to do it

Answer 4

Decline. What decline?