IRB plans Tri-Nations future for Argentina

Rugby's red-letter days tend to happen in rugby locations. Twickenham has seen its fair share of momentous decisions, as have Cardiff, Paris, Dublin and Johannesburg where the union world was turned upside down in 1995. But Woking? Woking in Surrey? No, never. Not until yesterday, at any rate.

Two things occurred in Woking this week. First, there was a three-day brainstorming forum, attended by a liberal sprinkling of the great and good, on how the sport should progress over the next 10 years. Then there was a special meeting of the International Rugby Board council, to discuss the format of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

As expected, the council abandoned the idea of downsizing the tournament by cutting the competing nations from 20 to 16. Any other decision would have seen the delegates accused of every crime on the rugby chargesheet, from rank lack of ambition to gross self-interest. Happily, a full complement of teams will now play a decision primarily driven by the huge improvements shown by the likes of Tonga and Georgia at the recent World Cup in France.

Less predictably, the IRB threw its full weight behind the development of Argentine rugby by guaranteeing the Pumas, third in France, a significant increase in major Test fixtures in the coming seasons a move that will underpin long-overdue professionalisation of elite rugby in that country and, it is now confidently expected, result in admission to the Tri-Nations tournament, alongside New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

"The forum agreed that the Pumas' future lies in the southern hemisphere," the board said in a statement. "However, in the short term there are major hurdles to the integration of Argentina into the southern playing structure, because the majority of their top players are based in Europe."

They might also have mentioned that the Tri-Nations tournament, financed by Rupert Murdoch, is outside of the board's commercial control, and that Murdoch's men will still have to be persuaded of the South Americans' box-office potential.

Still, it is a major step forward, especially as the diehard traditionalists of the Argentine Rugby Union, at daggers drawn with Europe-based professionals like Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi in recent years, have tacitly accepted the need for change. The union is now committed to luring the majority of the front-line players back to Argentina by 2012. This can only be achieved by improving competition structures and putting the best talent on a decent salary.

Few union aficionados ever described the IRB as visionary, but the outcome of this week's deliberations is radical indeed. Starting in 2009, the annual June and November international programmes will be given greater meaning with the launch of a world series involving the top echelon of Test-playing countries maybe 10, perhaps 12. Details remain sketchy: it is not yet clear whether Six Nations and Tri-Nations fixtures will play a part, or whether the new competition will be restricted to one-off tour matches.

This much is clear, though: by persuading the leading English and French clubs to concede the principle that domestic seasons should end on 31 May at the latest, the chances of European teams travelling south with full-strength squads are far higher than previously.

Twelve teams have already claimed places at the 2011 World Cup: the four major southern hemisphere powers yes, Argentina have earned inclusion in that category and the Six Nations participants, plus Fiji and Tonga. The likes of Samoa, Japan, Georgia, Romania, Canada and the United States will have to take their chances in a revamped qualifying tournament, the opening rounds of which begin next year.