I was going to matches before the internet existed! For the France trip, the cheapest and most infamous way was the Killer, a coach leaving Wales on the Friday, driving all night and arriving in Paris on Saturday. I never did this. I wasn’t yet a bloated plutocrat but could afford South Wales transport and the shared room in a dubious hotel in the red light district which their trip provided! I think, on every such trip, we met. on the Sunday morning, a sad lost Cymro who had missed the return Killer the night before, because it did, indeed, return on the Saturday after the game! At least once we had a spare seat and took the poor chap home! Would the Killer run nowadays? I doubt it!
Would rugby fans now sit in a quiet flat with the radio turned low listening to a match between Lions and All Blacks at 2.00 am and forcing themselves not to cheer because of waking those in flats above and below in Harrogate!
Things have changed. Progressed. But a system of promotion would not be as brutal as all that, surely? Just give a chance to top 2nd tier team against bottom first tier team.
I understand completely. It’s something that has happened to both rugby and football. Where once anyone could just go to a game and take the family for a couple of quid and go to every game if they wanted to, it is now too expensive. These days it’s saving up for an annual trip. £60 is 2 days works disposable income for most people , it’s mad. We used to get the coach down form Builth for the day, I only went on Sunday because a/ I live in Cardiff and b/ I got an almost reasonably priced restricted views ticket.
A league of only 6 teams, with a 1 in 6 chance of finishing in the relegation spot every season, would have a massive impact on games, teams would change how they play to avoid finishing last. TMOs would take hours as they become million pound decisions. In Football you have 3 spots out of 24 teams (1 in 8) which isn’t that far off 1 in 6, but it’s over 46 matches which means one yellow card decision doesn’t make such a difference. The drop between the 1st and 2nd division is huge, but not as massive as between Tier 1 and 2 in rugby
Italy are not a bad team, if the current team was playing in the 6 nations 10 years ago, they would be title contenders and they are part of the 6 nations family now. Expanding to 7 nations would extend the international season too much.
You’ve always got accommodation within walking distance of the stadium with friendly Welsh speaking owners for no charge at all 
Diolch gyfaill, that’s very kind of you. 
Not really a 1 in 6 chance. It’s not random.
I suspect that any promotion/relegation would have to be confirmed by home and away play-offs between the bottom team of 6 Nations 1 and the top team of 6 Nations 2 - this would have the advantage of giving those teams extra competitive matches which would only lead to improvement. It would also tend to lead to fewer ‘dead’ games at the end of tournaments at teams towards the bottom of the table fight for their lives. Hands up if you’re at all interested in Italy vs. Scotland this Saturday lunchtime.
That is exactly what I meant, although I was thinking of only doing that every 4 years or so, but as you describe it, every year would add an extra dimension and give impetus to team 5 to improve! Italy v Scotland interests me currently in the same way as Harrogate 4th 15 v a.n.other village when all the other teams were playing away and it was the only thing to watch! (And I live in Scotland!)
hand
Your asking the wrong person, Hands up!, but I get your point.
It’s fairly random, you could easily have 2 or even 3 teams on 2 wins and points difference could be affected by so many factors. A two leg play off would decrease the randomness a little, It’s just that in a league of 6 the relegation spot looms too large, the onus is then on not losing badly, rather than try to win but with a high chance of losing badly. Also the ‘meaningless’ games are a great chance to bring through the new generation of lads and lasses. We would also likely have split between leagues1 and 2 of the gentlemens and ladies teams of each country, preventing future double headers, but not a massive issue really,
Hwyl fawr 2018! New topic for 2019 next year. Well done Ireland and not bad Cymru! Even Scotland did well in the end, (you were right Anthony)! Well, about that! I suspect you expected England to do better than 5th!
No I didn’t expect the French to be as good as they were. Within a few points of the top three in each game. Very impressive. Out played Wales too. Scotland were the second best team in the tournament but one big performance from Wales and they finish 3rd. The Italians showed they’ve got guts too. Normally they roll over on the last weekend and concede a cricket score but they really showed up. Scotland’s defence was a bit ropey but they showed they can score tries.