GEORGIA’S s head coach, Richard Cockerill, has called for his team to be given the chance to face Wales in a playoff for a place in next year’s Six Nations Championship.
Wales, who are currently on a record-extending 17-game losing streak, finished bottom of this year’s Six Nations, earning them the wooden spoon for the second consecutive year. This poor run of form also saw them overtaken by Georgia in the world rankings.
Cockerill believes Georgia deserves an opportunity to compete for a spot in the prestigious Six Nations tournament, suggesting a playoff would be a fitting solution.
“If you are finishing bottom of the Six Nations, why do you just get free rein to turn up next year and play?” he remarked. “We want the opportunity to prove that we can compete, so surely it’s logical we get the chance to have a playoff.”
Cockerill envisions a potential clash between Georgia and Wales as “the richest game in World Rugby,” offering both teams a chance to secure their place in the Six Nations for the following year.
“That would be a game people would want to watch,” he added. “Georgia versus Wales at some point in the near future to see who plays in the Six Nations for the next tournament. That’s jeopardy, isn’t it?”
The proposal to change the Six Nations format, which expanded to include Italy in 2000, would undoubtedly have significant financial implications. If such a playoff were introduced, the nation relegated from the competition would face major financial and rugby-related consequences.
“If you’re in the Six Nations, you wouldn’t want to be voting for that type of playoff, would you?” Cockerill said. “Because it might be you. The ramifications of not being in the Six Nations, both from a rugby and financial point of view, would be very, very difficult.”
He compared the situation to that of a Championship football club attempting to gain promotion to the Premiership, stressing the financial rewards and heightened profile that would come with a successful playoff.
“It would be the richest game in world rugby,” he stated. “That would be a game people would want to watch, and the money involved, the profile involved, would catapult Georgian rugby into a completely different sphere if we were good enough to beat whoever finishes bottom.”
However, Cockerill remains pragmatic about the potential outcome. “And if we lose, well, we re-group, we keep developing and we fight for the opportunity to do that again. I don’t see that as an unreasonable request.”
As the debate over the future of the Six Nations continues, Georgia’s calls for a playoff offer an intriguing possibility for the future of international rugby.
