NS Rugby Discussion Thread (v.2)

[The Fair Republic]

When's RUWC24 going to happen? I'm happy with my finish for a first time and can't wait for the next one.

We have to do the League Cup First, usually its 6-7 months until the next RUWC.

Also, Congrats to The Royal Barangay for winning and hosting a great Cup.

[Darmen]

We have to do the League Cup First, usually its 6-7 months until the next RUWC.

Actually, IIRC, we're trying to speed that up.

[Riysa]

Just to chime in, this match felt odd. Like, a lot of what happened seemed statistically improbable, particularly after the Group matches. I don't want to point any fingers, but I wouldn't want to calculate the chances of this happening. I'm fine with where I got, but...

[Ceni]

Not involved with rugby, but sometimes Maggie produces some weird results.

As for "apply home advantage", the first team in any pairing got a bonus. It wasn't just the OOC host of the tournament who got home advantage; it was the first team in every pairing. The way you set it up, it looks like you had home advantage for the entire knockout rounds.

[Saintland]

Not involved with rugby, but sometimes Maggie produces some weird results.

As for "apply home advantage", the first team in any pairing got a bonus. It wasn't just the OOC host of the tournament who got home advantage; it was the first team in every pairing. The way you set it up, it looks like you had home advantage for the entire knockout rounds.

If the host's matches were scorinated separately from the other matches, home advantage wouldn't have been on for them.

Applying home advantage to the host, generally, isn't a good idea because home advantage has a much larger effect than you probably think it does. If you want to provide some sort of home advantage to the host, it makes more sense to do so by directly adding the host advantage to the RP bonus since you can control exactly how much advantage the host has that way.

The results of the knockout rounds definitely seemed a little unusual for this edition, but that was also the case last time. My 3rd place finish in RUWC 22 always seemed like a fluke to me. As long as every team has the potential to lose on every matchday regardless of rank+bonus, some upsets are inevitable.

With regard to speeding up the cycles, I wouldn't be opposed to running the RLWC immediately after the RUWC, so both events could run 3-4 times a year rather than twice a year.

[Neu Engollon]

Not involved with rugby, but sometimes Maggie produces some weird results.

As for "apply home advantage", the first team in any pairing got a bonus. It wasn't just the OOC host of the tournament who got home advantage; it was the first team in every pairing. The way you set it up, it looks like you had home advantage for the entire knockout rounds.

If the host's matches were scorinated separately from the other matches, home advantage wouldn't have been on for them.

Applying home advantage to the host, generally, isn't a good idea because home advantage has a much larger effect than you probably think it does. If you want to provide some sort of home advantage to the host, it makes more sense to do so by directly adding the host advantage to the RP bonus since you can control exactly how much advantage the host has that way.

The results of the knockout rounds definitely seemed a little unusual for this edition, but that was also the case last time. My 3rd place finish in RUWC 22 always seemed like a fluke to me. As long as every team has the potential to lose on every matchday regardless of rank+bonus, some upsets are inevitable.

With regard to speeding up the cycles, I wouldn't be opposed to running the RLWC immediately after the RUWC, so both events could run 3-4 times a year rather than twice a year.

I think the point that it is statistically possible for an upset is understood. Statistically likely to happen as much as it did throughout the playoffs...meh. I have copies of Barangay's files and will go over them after work. Unfortunately, Semarland immediately deleted his scoring files, which would involve the host bonus from quarter finals on. So all we have to go on is word and pre-round of 16 for that particular case.

[Neu Engollon]

Also, I believe the plan was to have our sanctioned series of sevens tournaments before the RLWC. There will be at least three, all with different hosts.

[The Fair Republic]

Also, I believe the plan was to have our sanctioned series of sevens tournaments before the RLWC. There will be at least three, all with different hosts.

I thought we voted to remove sevens a while back

[Ontorisa]

Also, I believe the plan was to have our sanctioned series of sevens tournaments before the RLWC. There will be at least three, all with different hosts.

I thought we voted to remove sevens a while back

Sevens suck. Period.

[Neu Engollon]

I thought we voted to remove sevens a while back

Sevens suck. Period.

Thanks for sharing. We voted to do away with a World Cup for sevens, these are not WC level tourneys and would be briefer in duration.

[Ontorisa]

Sevens suck. Period.

Thanks for sharing. We voted to do away with a World Cup for sevens, these are not WC level tourneys and would be briefer in duration.

Hahaha

I meant that as a joking comment.

But in reality, I'm not a big fan of sevens. Probably because it's different.

[Green Jello Salad]

Congratulations to the champion, commiserations to those who didn't quite make it, and thank you to all.

Neu Engollon and I had been discussing off-thread how to speed up the rugby cycle; we are in agreement that it is too slow. We also agree that we would like to see organized sevens as well, not necessarily a World Cup and certainly nothing to slow the cycles of the union and league codes. The balance of this post leaves the sevens question aside.

My proposal is to institute a regular RL calendar for the main events. Something like this:

• 15th of month X: Open signup thread, allow 7-10 days for host bids with a deadline fixed at the start.
• 22nd to 25th of month X: Close host bidding and vote. Allow 3 days if there is one bid, 5-7 otherwise.
• After vote is finished (and revotes if needed) the winning bidder takes control. Signups can then end at any point.
• The goal is to have the tournament start with MD1 some time in the first 10 days of month Y.
• Start Union cycles in March, July, and November. Start League cycles in May, September, and January.

This would allow three union and three league World Cups each calendar year, a solid improvement over the recent past. I have never been a big fan of the mindset that avoids possible conflicts with other events, RL or SL. If you start the avoidance game, you'll never run. There is always something pulling from the outside. Better, I think, to have some predictability.

If this were to meet with general approval, I would open signups for RLWC 15 on May 15, with host bidding closing on May 25 and the vote announced not later than June 1.
RWC 24 would open signups on July 15, with the goal of having voting done by August 1.
RLWC 16 would open signups on September 15, with the goal of having voting done by October 2.

That takes us up to the end of the current Executive Council terms, and by then we'll have a handle on what needs tweaking (including the Council!!)

What say you?

[Zhenherribae]

FYI, sevens people, there are still three spots left in rugby sevens at the first City of Zhenherribae Sports Festival. Four other sports are on offer, too, but this is a rugby thread.

[The Fair Republic]

Congratulations to the champion, commiserations to those who didn't quite make it, and thank you to all.

Neu Engollon and I had been discussing off-thread how to speed up the rugby cycle; we are in agreement that it is too slow. We also agree that we would like to see organized sevens as well, not necessarily a World Cup and certainly nothing to slow the cycles of the union and league codes. The balance of this post leaves the sevens question aside.

My proposal is to institute a regular RL calendar for the main events. Something like this:

• 15th of month X: Open signup thread, allow 7-10 days for host bids with a deadline fixed at the start.
• 22nd to 25th of month X: Close host bidding and vote. Allow 3 days if there is one bid, 5-7 otherwise.
• After vote is finished (and revotes if needed) the winning bidder takes control. Signups can then end at any point.
• The goal is to have the tournament start with MD1 some time in the first 10 days of month Y.
• Start Union cycles in March, July, and November. Start League cycles in May, September, and January.

This would allow three union and three league World Cups each calendar year, a solid improvement over the recent past. I have never been a big fan of the mindset that avoids possible conflicts with other events, RL or SL. If you start the avoidance game, you'll never run. There is always something pulling from the outside. Better, I think, to have some predictability.

If this were to meet with general approval, I would open signups for RLWC 15 on May 15, with host bidding closing on May 25 and the vote announced not later than June 1.
RWC 24 would open signups on July 15, with the goal of having voting done by August 1.
RLWC 16 would open signups on September 15, with the goal of having voting done by October 2.

That takes us up to the end of the current Executive Council terms, and by then we'll have a handle on what needs tweaking (including the Council!!)

What say you?

I like it, I think it also will help keep new participants since the time to the next cycle will be lowered dramaticly

[Apox]

Congratulations to the champion, commiserations to those who didn't quite make it, and thank you to all.

Neu Engollon and I had been discussing off-thread how to speed up the rugby cycle; we are in agreement that it is too slow. We also agree that we would like to see organized sevens as well, not necessarily a World Cup and certainly nothing to slow the cycles of the union and league codes. The balance of this post leaves the sevens question aside.

My proposal is to institute a regular RL calendar for the main events. Something like this:

• 15th of month X: Open signup thread, allow 7-10 days for host bids with a deadline fixed at the start.
• 22nd to 25th of month X: Close host bidding and vote. Allow 3 days if there is one bid, 5-7 otherwise.
• After vote is finished (and revotes if needed) the winning bidder takes control. Signups can then end at any point.
• The goal is to have the tournament start with MD1 some time in the first 10 days of month Y.
• Start Union cycles in March, July, and November. Start League cycles in May, September, and January.

This would allow three union and three league World Cups each calendar year, a solid improvement over the recent past. I have never been a big fan of the mindset that avoids possible conflicts with other events, RL or SL. If you start the avoidance game, you'll never run. There is always something pulling from the outside. Better, I think, to have some predictability.

If this were to meet with general approval, I would open signups for RLWC 15 on May 15, with host bidding closing on May 25 and the vote announced not later than June 1.
RWC 24 would open signups on July 15, with the goal of having voting done by August 1.
RLWC 16 would open signups on September 15, with the goal of having voting done by October 2.

That takes us up to the end of the current Executive Council terms, and by then we'll have a handle on what needs tweaking (including the Council!!)

What say you?

I can only approve of this motion.

[Green Jello Salad]

Heads up: In accordance with the proposal above, the Rugby League World Cup signups will open in just over 72 hours. This post is also made to pop the rugby discussion thread back into the public consciousness.

[Kaboomlandia]

Heads up: In accordance with the proposal above, the Rugby League World Cup signups will open in just over 72 hours. This post is also made to pop the rugby discussion thread back into the public consciousness.

Hopefully my guys are as good in rugby league as they are in rugby union. Making it into the Round of 24 in the 24th seed on my first tournament was great

[Kaboomlandia]

Do rugby union and rugby league rankings remain separate, or are they combined?

[Saintland]

Do rugby union and rugby league rankings remain separate, or are they combined?

They're separate, since rugby union and rugby league are separate sports.

[Kaboomlandia]

Do rugby union and rugby league rankings remain separate, or are they combined?

They're separate, since rugby union and rugby league are separate sports.

Okay, then.

[Kaboomlandia]

Bit late, but...

Were there rankings released after RUWC 23?

[Neu Engollon]

Bit late, but...

Were there rankings released after RUWC 23?

Not as far as I know.

[The Jeckish Union]

What happened to the NSRB council? Shouldn't the current vote be for the League Council only?

[Saintland]

What happened to the NSRB council? Shouldn't the current vote be for the League Council only?

It certainly shouldn't be for all nations signed up, according to the Governing Document (emphasis mine):

NS Rugby Board Governing Document

The NSRB as a whole select the hosts of each RWC, RLWC, and R7WC. The NSRB Sections also elect a Vice President periodically, after a cycle of four or more World Cups including at least one of each of the three types has been completed. All NSRB members entered into the tournament may vote on host bids, but only the members of a Section may vote for that section's Vice President.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

What happened to the NSRB council? Shouldn't the current vote be for the League Council only?

It certainly shouldn't be for all nations signed up, according to the Governing Document (emphasis mine):

NS Rugby Board Governing Document

The NSRB as a whole select the hosts of each RWC, RLWC, and R7WC. The NSRB Sections also elect a Vice President periodically, after a cycle of four or more World Cups including at least one of each of the three types has been completed. All NSRB members entered into the tournament may vote on host bids, but only the members of a Section may vote for that section's Vice President.

I don't think it's up to date. It's been updated in Rugby Union section, but not for Rugby League section. Or at least that's what this discussion thread is telling me right now...