Rugby World Cup 13 - signups/OOC

[Kelssek]

It's time for the luckiest edition of the world's biggest prize in rugby (union), don't you think? Signup away.

I'm also going to put in a hosting bid; I will use xkoranate and the existing world rankings, and would start in early August.

SIGN-UPS (27, as of 3 Aug)
Kelssek
Palmouth
Anti-Mod Duck
Somewhereistonia
Sorthern Northland (HOST)
Quintessence of Dust
Taeshan
Iglesian Archipelago
Peisandros
Septentrionia
Oreington Canada
West Zirconia
Swartaz
Candelaria And Marquez
Lovisa
Molested Sock
Harlesburg
SarahRed-n-BarryBlue
The Pythonlands (puppet)
Estus
Krytenia
Esperantolando
Seathen
Kulverint
Darclad
Finland6
Valipac

[Palmouth]

We will take part, if we are allowed, is this rugby union?

[Anti-Mod Duck]

Anti-Mod Duck, the oh-so-evil (in Sirocco's opinion) anarchy, would like a bid to host and a chance to sign up.

[Somewhereistonia]

I sign up, maybe I can get somewhere this time.

Palmouth: Yes this is rugby union.

Anti-mod duck, I suggest you withdraw your host bid. You need to know what you are doing before you host anything. Do you have a scorinator? If not then you can't do much of the hosting part anyway.

[Sorthern Northland]

Sorthern Northland in for the less favoured of the two codes.

I may also offer up a hosting bid, probably using Starblaydia's scorinator (as used in the RLWC) and of course the current world rankings. Would probably look to start it sometime in the latter half of July.

[Quintessence of Dust]

We'll enter.

[Taeshan]

well be back.

[Iglesian Archipelago]

We will enter for the very first time!

[Peisandros]

We'll come back.

[Septentrionia]

That bunch of Frenchies will enter this Coupe du Monde de Rugby thingy

[Oreington Canada]

I will play this for the first time.

[Palmouth]

We are definatley taking part then.

[West Zirconia]

Ooh, yes please.

[Swartaz]

Swartaz would like to enter

[Candelaria And Marquez]

Yus.

[Lovisa]

im in

[Molested Sock]

W'ell enter.

[Harlesburg]

Harlesburg a once mighty Rugby nation wishes to enter.

[Somewhereistonia]

Well we have 16+ sign-ups now so it might be time to put up some formal hosting bids etc? Just so the rest of us can look over them in detail before the vote starts.

Currently both Kelssek and SN have shown their interest in hosting. IMO both could run the tournament well so I would be willing to stay out to count votes if people feel it necessary.

I'm glad my world rankings have caught on in both rugby codes; this may have something to do with them being the only ones around but we can ignore that.

[Kelssek]

THE BID

I've made a file for CH's xkoranate (which has been used for the Olympics, in particular, as well as the football World Cups) which gives rugby scores. I will not post score breakdowns as the scorinator won't be spitting them out - it has, in any case, been my opinion that leaving more room for RP by not doing so allows better RP in general.

The proposed format is a group stage, with each team playing each other once, followed by single-elimination knockout rounds.

I will get started by 3 August. It can't really start sooner if I were to host as I'm currently travelling and I can't be sure that I'll be able to sit down, read RPs, and scorinate regularly until that date. However, given that I've successfully hosted 2 previous RWCs, a Winter Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey, co-hosted World Cup 46... so there's the experience.

[SarahRed-n-BarryBlue]

Why not? We're in.

[Sorthern Northland]

I'm glad my world rankings have caught on in both rugby codes; this may have something to do with them being the only ones around but we can ignore that.

Speaking of which do you have RLWC4 ranks I could use on the RLWC NSwiki article? Anyways:

l'offre!

I propose to run the competition using Starblaydia's rugby scorinator. This has been used in the Rugby League World Cup three times (once by me, once by Lurikastan, and once by Somewhereistonia), as well as I believe in previous editions of the Union World Cup, although admittedly a good while ago as far as I know. Score breakdowns are produced by the scorinator though I'll just be posting the final points totals without the score breakdowns, as this should leave RPers with more RPing freedom.

The proposed format would start with a group stage with groups of equal numbers. Overall numbers are 17 at the moment if I've counted correctly, the next ideal number would be 32, though this would be unlikely. Should the numbers remain as they are, the most recent sign up may be dropped if there are no CtE's. A clearer picture on how exactly the group stage will be would be given once sign up numbers are final. The group stage would be followed by a single elimination knockout stage, most likely starting with a quarter final (ie: eight nations will go through from the group stage). All matchdays will last two RL days to provide ample time to RP.

The ranking system used will Somewhereistonia's (assuming of course he is able and willing to do them, if not I will be able to do some similar to footballs KPB rankings). The ranking points given in these will be divided by ten, the reason for this is that the scorinator tends to give massively one sided results if there is a large difference between two teams rp/ranking points. RP's will be scored on a three tier scale between 0.1 and 0.5 with 0.25 being the in-between. 0.1 will be given for RPs in which little effort, thought or quality has gone into, 0.25 for decent rps and 0.5 for very good rps. Any nation posting a squad/roster will get a 0.5 bonus for that.

Probably start date should I host would be the last week of July. Previous experience is relatively minor with the first Rugby League World Cup being the only international tournament that I've hosted.

[Starblaydia]

The ranking points given in these will be divided by ten, the reason for this is that the scorinator tends to give massively one sided results if there is a large difference between two teams rp/ranking points.

That was partly my intent with the scorinator in the first place (and the reason it transfers fairly well to a minor, rankless, RP=TehWin Under-21 football tourney), as a quick look at the Japan national rugby union team will show:

Largest win: Japan 159 - 3 Chinese Taipei
Worst defeat: New Zealand 145 - 17 Japan

When there's a gulf in the perceived class of two rugby teams, it's usually reflected in the scoreline. Upsets are still possible, of course! Having said that, once the tournament is well under way a series of 0.5 RPs in a Group Stage would likely end up in the beating of a team with none or several 0.1 scores.

[Sorthern Northland]

It's basically a countermeasure to stop the top ranked teams who would have between 20 and 30 ranking points to start with from being able to beat new nations by scores of 200+ points without doing anything which isn't an uncommon experiment in testing the differences between rp bonus/rank points between nations.

[Somewhereistonia]

The new RLWC rankings have been done, just not uploaded. You are top of them SN and yes I am able and willing to continue to do them for both league and union (I should have full broadband by the time of the cup anyway).