Welcome to the Tier 3 Rugby blog. This blog is dedicated to the nations of rugby's 3rd tier; the news, the players, the games and especially the development strategies that are enacted to bring these fledgling rugby countries closer to the forefront of world rugby.
Inspired by the brave showing put up by the so-called 'minnow' teams at World Cup 2011 against rugby's heavyweight nations, this blog aims to bring the 3rd tier into the spotlight and track the progress of the players, coaches, administrators, events and tournaments that piece by piece, little by little bring Rugby Union closer to being a truly global game.
The Tier System
The International Rugby Board (IRB), world rugby's governing body, used to categorise member nations into a tier system. Tier 1, composed of rugby's northern and southern superpowers that play in the 6 Nations and , from 2012, the Rugby Championship respectively.
Tier 2 includes the North American teams, Japan, Romania and the major Pacific Island sides: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. In comparison to the Tier 1 teams, the Tier 2 nations are still referred to as minnows, especially in a World Cup context, but continue to have the wood on the teams that make up the next tier of international rugby.
Tier 3 teams are considered to be all other nations outside the top two tiers, but to lump them together would be a grave mistake. Tier 3 teams range from Georgia, currently (Jan 2012) ranked ahead of Tier 2 Japan and , all the way down to Finland, and can be separated into those teams with World Cup experience, such as: Georgia, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Uruguay, Portugal and Spain; and the rest.
The Band System
In 2008 the IRB reclassified its member unions into different bands. The four bands are: "High Performance", "Performance", "Targeted" and "Development".
High Performance:
The 6 Nations
The Rugby Championship
The International Rugby Board (IRB), world rugby's governing body, used to categorise member nations into a tier system. Tier 1, composed of rugby's northern and southern superpowers that play in the 6 Nations and , from 2012, the Rugby Championship respectively.
Tier 3 teams are considered to be all other nations outside the top two tiers, but to lump them together would be a grave mistake. Tier 3 teams range from Georgia, currently (Jan 2012) ranked ahead of Tier 2 Japan and , all the way down to Finland, and can be separated into those teams with World Cup experience, such as: Georgia, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Uruguay, Portugal and Spain; and the rest.
The Band System
In 2008 the IRB reclassified its member unions into different bands. The four bands are: "High Performance", "Performance", "Targeted" and "Development".
High Performance:
The 6 Nations
- England
- France
- Ireland
- Italy
- Scotland
- Wales
- Australia,
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Argentina
- Fiji
- Japan
- Samoa
- Tonga
- Canada
- Romania
- the United States
Performance: Georgia, Namibia, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Uruguay.
A comprehensive list of Targeted nations is unavailable, but they include: China, Germany, India and Mexico.
All other member unions are deemed Developmental.
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