Sir, – World Rugby’s expansion of the tournament to 24 teams makes me wonder if the game’s administrators have bothered following the action (“World Rugby announce expanded 24-team World Cup and new 12-team Nations League”, Sport, October 24th).
The litany of walkover results this year makes it obvious the tournament is too big already. Of the 20 teams that participated, seven or eight should never have been there.
There are enough top-quality rugby teams in the world for a world cup involving about 12-14 teams. Even then, we’d still have to endure the dull spectacle of some of the top teams wiping the floor with opposition from the second flight.
The presence of teams from the third and fourth flights, and even more hidings-to-nothing, surely won’t be good for the sport. – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN McCAFFERTY,
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