A sense of enduring mystery surrounds the 1905 clash between Wales and New Zealand, where the match result was sealed by a disputed try. With the All Blacks trailing 3-0 in a game they would eventually lose—their only defeat in 35 matches that autumn—Bob Deans dived for the line. Whether he touched down remains the subject of 121 years of debate. The incident has inspired novels, a successful play by Carl Nixon, and a book by Kiwi journalists offering definitive proof of the outcome. Collectors still seek items like the jersey worn by captain Dave Gallaher, once purchased for £180,000, and fans can still buy a DVD of a dramatic reconstruction of the match. To this day, any Welsh rugby pub remains a battleground for arguments over whether Deans truly scored. Lloyd Jones wrote a great novel about that tour, Carl Nixon turned it into a successful play, Nigel Wray paid £180,000 for the jersey the All Blacks captain Dave Gallaher wore on the day. If you ever want to start an argument, you can walk into the backroom of any Welsh rugby pub and tell the first old boy at the bar that of course Deans scored, some 121 years later. Through a gap and on into the Welsh half, only their full-back ahead of him now, and with his teammate Bob Deans in the corner of his eye, coming on the inside calling for the ball, their wing Billy Wallace gathered it and sprinted into midfield. Making straight for the posts, tackled at the last moment by Rhys Gabe, and the two of them went sliding for the try‑line together, wallace gave the pass and Deans was away. At the end of his outstretched arm, the ball finished in the tips of Deans’s fingers. The referee John Dewar Dallas insisted that Deans never made it. It’s enough to make you wonder if the people who sell the sport even really understand why people buy it in the first place.
Today, the landscape of rugby has shifted from such storied tours to the structured Nations Championship, which begins in Dublin on Friday as Ireland faces Argentina. Organizers claim the tournament provides a narrative framework that previous eras lacked. Over the next three weeks, a series of high-profile fixtures will unfold, featuring France, Ireland, Italy, Argentina, Fiji, South Africa, England, Scotland, and Australia. The competition culminates in a three-day final event at Twickenham, where teams will compete for the Hemisphere Shield in a format likened to the Ryder Cup. The “Hemisphere Shield” will be awarded to whoever comes out top in what is being described as a “Ryder Cup style” competition. Which is why there are so many compromises.
The road to this competition was long. First proposed by World Rugby in 2018, the project only moved forward when financial pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Six Nations, Sanzaar, and private investors to align. Despite the collaboration, the result has been criticized as a committee-designed compromise that may sacrifice the sport’s core appeal for financial gain. But it took the massive debts left by the Covid pandemic to concentrate minds and get the Six Nations, Sanzaar and all their respective private investors to collaborate on making i, world Rugby first suggested it in 2018.
Commercial viability has clearly trumped other considerations. The tournament is tailored for television, leading to significant logistical trade-offs. Integrity appears secondary, as evidenced by Fiji’s displaced home games—held in Cardiff, Liverpool, and at Murrayfield—and Japan hosting an “away” match against Ireland in Australia. Player welfare also seems neglected; England, for instance, has faced a schedule requiring 25,000 miles of travel to play three matches on three different continents within three weeks. So England found themselves flying 25,000 miles to play three fixtures in three weeks on three different continents, player welfare doesn’t seem to have played much of a part in anyone’s thinking either.
Spectator convenience has similarly suffered. Organizers face the difficult task of selling half a million tickets for games where the final matchups remain uncertain until just days before kickoff. To mitigate this, they have introduced “support your team” tickets that guarantee entry regardless of which opponent a nation faces. While the collapse of a potential deal with Qatar has spared the sport a host in the Gulf, the current structure remains heavily focused on maximizing commercial returns. And risk gate revenue, since the organisers now have to find a way to sell half a million tickets for six fixtures where, nor did spectator experience: the whole thing seems to have been designed to deter travelling fans.
Ultimately, these matches will draw viewers regardless of the tournament’s structure. Fans will tune in for marquee fixtures like France against South Africa or England against Australia because these games carry inherent significance, independent of commercial branding. This reality leaves many questioning whether those tasked with selling the game truly understand the factors that drive its value to the supporters.
