Bigger and better? RWC can give us more of a good thing

Seven weeks from start to finish. Even the most ardent of supporters would agree that the Rugby World Cup is a lengthy commitment.

Spare a thought for little old Namibia though. While the likes of Ireland or hosts France get their pool campaigns padded out nicely across four weeks, the perennial African minnows have already packed their bags.

In 18 days Namibia have filled their lot for this World Cup. Four games, four defeats, four yellow cards and two reds. See you in four years!

The Rugby World Cup is at a crossroads. The game has become so physical it's only fair that each team gets a break somewhere in between, as Ireland have this week. For some, like Namibia and Chile, they're bye-week is scheduled after they've completed their run of games. The break won't be much use to them now.

World Rugby have a lot of work to do to make sure the smaller Tier 2 nations get better exposure across a World Cup cycle, although the prospect of that happening in the near future looks slim with the game’s gatekeepers intent on pushing through with their World League format, a competition which only Japan and Fiji will likely see a real benefit from, outside of the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides.

The Test rugby calendar would need major surgery to ensure the playing field is levelled, but this World Cup has highlighted the scope for improvement that could be made to the tournament itself.

In terms of a global reach, the game of rugby is still in its infancy, and the only way to get rid of the one-sided scorelines we’ve seen in the course of the last three weeks would be to make a serious cull in the number of teams in the competition. New Zealand’s savaging of Italy on Friday night shows that even in an eight or ten-team