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Features: The Scrum.com State of the Union Address - Part 2

Tournaments/Tours: Rugby World Cup | Rugby World Cup

The first World Cup in 1987 changed the rugby world irrevocably. Until that point the International Rugby Football Board (as it was then known) resembled an exclusive Gentlemen's Club but now rugby is a truly global game and the IRB is a fully professional governing body.

In the first of two articles at the start of the 2008/9 season John Taylor looks at the up-side of the State of the Union.

The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the biggest and, arguably, the most successful ever.

On the field it saw the emergence of Argentina as a real world power, Fiji made the quarter-finals, Tonga were not far behind them and there were wonderful cameo performances from some of the smaller nations, particularly Georgia and Portugal.

It was also the most profitable World Cup so the IRB has more money than ever before to invest in developing the game worldwide and those 'second tier' nations who made breakthroughs are already reaping the benefits.

France staged a wonderful festival of rugby and have been rewarded with a 'bounce' that has made the game more popular there than ever before.

Playing numbers have increased exponentially but so have the numbers of spectators. Week in week out throughout the season more people now watch rugby in France than in any other country.

Stade Francais have managed to fill the Stade de France on several occasions and most of the Top 14 clubs are playing to full houses. Even more significant is the support for second division clubs where crowds in excess of 10,000 are quite normal.

The levels of sponsorship have also reached unprecedented levels with every major corporation in France competing to be associated with rugby.

This side of the channel the professional game is also going from strength to strength except perhaps in Scotland.

After years of bickering and bad faith the Premiership Clubs and the RFU have concluded an eight year agreement which is all embracing, covering everything from the structure of the season to international player release and a financial package including compensation for that which will see the clubs benefit to the tune of about PS110 million.

It really should insure that the newly installed Martin Johnson has all the preparation time he needs with the England squad while the clubs can also plan and build knowing the framework.

There are even worthwhile incentives for developing England qualified players rather than importing stars from the southern hemisphere. With healthy growth in attendances in the Guinness Premiership and commercial revenues up as well, most of the clubs are now viable businesses.

Wales are equally optimistic as was shown in my interview a couple of weeks ago with WRU Chief Executive, Roger Lewis. The debt problem is now under control, the resurgence of the national team has generated bonus income and they are able to invest more in the regions who, incidentally, will soon all be playing in new state of the art stadiums.

Ireland are also riding the wave with both Lansdowne Road and Thomond Park being turned into state of the art facilities. Only Scotland is lagging behind.

So, the news from Europe is almost all good. The game is healthy and wealthy to such an extent that it is causing major problems for the southern hemisphere as their players head north to make their fortunes.

More on that next week when I look at the down-side of the State of the Union but on the field things still look pretty rosy for those south of the equator.

In the latest official world rankings New Zealand are top, followed by Australia, South Africa and Argentina with England the leading European nation at fifth.

The Springboks may be having a difficult time in this year's Tri-Nations but they have the World Cup, the biggest trophy of the lot, safely locked away until 2011.

Significantly, if you compare results of home matches between north and south the record of the European countries is dismal. All of them were comprehensively beaten when they travelled to the southern hemisphere earlier this summer.

You can argue that the various countries did not take their strongest teams but you can rest assured there will be no embarrassing hammerings when the big three arrive here in November even if they are minus a few stars.

That has largely been the case over the years and there is only one objective conclusion. Southern hemisphere rugby is inherently stronger than northern hemisphere rugby.

And, for once, New Zealand are not as dominant (between World Cups) as usual. They have been beaten at home for the first time since 2003 in this year's Tri-Nations in an epic match against the World Champions and were then beaten again by Australia in Perth.

With Australia resurgent and looking stronger up front than at any time this century (OK it is only 2008) the Tri-Nations is bound to go to the wire and the quality of rugby - in spite of the much reviled ELVs -has been stunning at times so the game itself is in rude good health down south as well.

The Pumas reaching the last four of the World Cup was a truly amazing feat. The playing numbers in Argentina are tiny compared to the other world powers and the best players have to leave home and make their own way in Europe if they want to play full time.

This makes preparation a nightmare but they make up for everything with a passion that many other national coaches would give their eye teeth for - the problem now is how to reward them for their momentous breakthrough and how to nurture this new power base for the game.

Altogether rugby has adapted to professionalism and becoming a global game with enormous success but it is not all good news. There are major problems and big question marks about the will and the ability of the various governing bodies to deal with them.

More on those next week.