Loose Pass: Anglo-Welsh league a ‘magical opportunity’, USA ‘perfect’ for ‘Long World Cup’ and Antoine Dupont GOAT debate
Is France star Antoine Dupont rugby's GOAT?
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Anglo-Welsh competition, the Long World Cup and the GOAT…
Following on…
Only last week did Loose Pass consider that it would be a great idea to have representation from the likes of Georgia, Spain and Portugal in club competitions, at the same time lamenting that the practicalities of slotting them into an already-overloaded United Rugby Championship would be difficult.
And lo and behold, the rumour mill hoved into view on the horizon, singing ‘here he comes to save the day’!
Take it all with a pinch of salt of course – with next to nothing on the agenda bar some RnR and fitness training for the coming month there’s a need for outlandish headlines to keep the readers engaged – but the Western Mail’s report about the discussions between Wales and England’s representatives about an Anglo-Welsh league from 2026 are not only intriguing in themselves, but also conjure up a magical opportunity.
It would mean that in 2026, although the tier two nations’ chances of getting some proper rugby against the best in the world are horribly curtailed because of the Long World Cup (more on that shortly), the opportunity to integrate franchises into the URC would be real.
Consider an Anglo-Welsh league, of 14-16 teams, including the four Welsh teams. That leaves the URC down to 12; but Black Lion and, for the sake of argument, Lisbon and Madrid, could also be accommodated to a least bring the number up to 15.
Formats etc blah blah – if the current and past European Champions Cup formats have been acceptable, there is absolutely a way to sort these out right. Given that the overlords of World Rugby have now shut the door on the minnows just as the foot in it was wiggling, it would be great if the club competition administrators could do the same; what exposure that would be for Europe’s up-and-coming nations and players.
Qatar no longer stuck in the throat
Also only a dead-time news report, but then of course what better time for the suits to whip up a clandestine meeting replete with prawn sandwiches and wines to discuss the future of the game than the time in which everybody else is somewhere else?
That somewhere else seems for now not to include, nor indeed to be scheduled to include, Qatar, with the Finals of the inaugural Long World Cup now likely to head to the USA somewhere else.
The potential for ‘reputational damage’ was set to be the reason, which is probably true, but in all honesty was there ever really any chance of the final being the big spectacular that World Rugby surely wants? An expensive flight away in a small and expensive country where beers are not exactly free-flowing and the climate is rarely conducive to breathless, fast-paced rugby? Travel-weary players coming off yet another long trip?
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We’re all aware of the need for cash and of rugby to break new markets, but we’d like to hope that the latter is more important than the former. Certainly we’d prefer the former not to come at the cost of making games pure cash cows, which is what taking it to Qatar would have been.
EPCR are currently doing things the right way in this regard. Bilbao is not a leading rugby market but it is a part of an emerging one in Spain and has already once dazzled as a venue for the European Final weekend double-header.
Word on the street is that the Final of the Long World Cup will now be looked at as a possible appetizer to the Rugby World Cup heading to the USA in 2031. Perfect. The USA is not short on fans, the ability to whip up a little razzle-dazzle, stadia or friendly climactic conditions. Nor, happily, is it short on cash. And leaving aside the potential for a Trump dictatorship, nor is it short on things like democracy, tolerance, employee rights and civil liberty. Or, take note, beer.
Not that the Long World Cup is a particularly good thing, ring-fencing as it does the interests of the tier one nations, but if we’re going to have one, and if we’re going to have a final, we may as well use it as an opportunity to expand, rather than to just exploit.
The GOAT debate
Having this in rugby is so difficult, not least considering the minutiae of each position, the different requirements, skill-sets and profiles.
Yet there has never been a player who managed to dominate so many facets of the game as Antoine Dupont. Sevens, scrum-half, part-time openside flanker (he wins an extraordinary number of turnovers), part-time fly-half, tackler, ball-carrier (his Champions Cup stats here were freakish), try-poacher, captain… and we’ve not yet delved too deeply into his highlights reel. There’s no stat there, just the fun of watching a truly unique player.
Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O’Driscoll, John Eales, Barry John, Willie John McBride… all magnificent players, all with either minor flaws or niches in which they excelled. This is a limitation which seems not to apply to Dupont. He won’t shore up a scrum soon, but you’d not bet against him having the ability to gain an extra 20kg and do so if it were asked of him.
No, this is special. This is quite probably the GOAT of rugby. A new benchmark is being set and we should enjoy the coming years of peak Dupont putting this debate to bed.
