Even Argentina get a look-in

Reuters

STUNNER: Argentina's Ignacio Corleto celebrates his try that paved the way for the Pumas' shock 17-12 victory over hosts France to open the Rugby World Cup in spectacular fashion in Paris.

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Greg Ford

No summer loving for summer footy Even Argentina get a look-in Henry to show his card, but it's marked Henry hears no evil, sees no evil, speaks no evil Ted sends Dingo to the doghouse ABs match against Samoa will be a farce Fiddling with finals won't cure sickness Sell our national game? It really could happen Good on Tew, and Benny too, for saying it straight Heinekens all round and let's buy a Pom club

It had been labelled a talkfest; a waste of time.

However, rugby's notoriously conservative stakeholders have taken the game and given it a damn good shake during a meeting of minds in Woking, England.

The good and great, including players, unions, employers and paymasters, were involved in a lock-in.

The aim was to heal a few rifts and gain consensus on how to shape the future of the game.

Most were expecting the game's authority figures to revert to type backslap each other mad flat for three days, swill a few reds on the expense account and change squat.

But progress has won sway over pessimism.

Possibly the most heartening tit-bit to materialise from the meeting relates to Argentina. In Woking the Pumas were told to bury their ambition of admission into the Six Nations. Instead, the International Rugby Board will pump enough cash into Argentine rugby to nurse its domestic game back to full health and, when enough of its players have returned home from playing stints in Europe, launch them into a yet to be specified competition in the southern hemisphere.

The good news is that in all likelihood that will be the Tri Nations. The bad news is that won't be for about four years. There's a lot of detail still to be worked through, not least financial. But in the interim the Pumas have been allocated more test matches against the best teams in the world ending their perplexing period of isolation.

Closer to home, it was decided 20 teams, not 16 as the IRB had earlier indicated, will play in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The minnows earned themselves a stay of execution by performing so courageously at this year's tournament and, interestingly, it was New Zealand's new IRB councillor Graham Mourie who proposed the motion and sealed the deal.

While this may do nothing for the quality of rugby in pool play, there is renewed hope that the quality of tests between world cups will be preserved.

France and others have sent touring sides minus their top players here because their clubs wouldn't release them for national duty. Tests were becoming a joke.

But the steady march towards friendlies looks to have been arrested.

Clubs from England and France have agreed to wind up their season no later than May 31 meaning players will be available for tours Down Under. In return the northern hemisphere rugby unions have agreed they will play no more than 11 tests per year.

On the back of that the IRB wants to award points for inter-hemisphere tests and stage a biennial playoff every two years to find the top team between world cups.

This would give renewed meaning to what can at times be pretty uninspiring fixtures between the likes of the All Blacks and Wales or for that matter France, Scotland and Ireland.

It also appears the professional players, represented by Richie McCaw, have won an important concession; a 10-week rest and reconditioning window at the end of their playing season.

New Zealand's delegation at Woking was in transit back to New Zealand and unavailable for comment yesterday. But IRB chief executive Mike Miller had a detectable strain of satisfaction in his voice when he discussed the changes with the Star-Times. As well he might have.

Change in rugby circles generally happens at glacial speed. While the latest batch of reforms are not perfect the naysayers will find gratification in a couple of obvious holes it certainly marks a step in the right direction. The IRB's decision to label the forum historic may well be borne out in the coming years. Let's hope so.

- © Fairfax NZ News