BoyBrumby
Englishman
It's all politics, dude...
What you say is pretty much spot on. Georgia (& Romania, Russia, Spain, Belgium and, more fancifully, Germany) have nowhere to advance too. It's broadly analogous to the situation Ireland faced in test cricket (& still do to some extent). They're reduced to accepting crumbs from the masters' tables and improvement is difficult when they aren't regularly exposed to the highest level.
The Italian experiment was worthwhile, but realistically they've gone backwards since their admittance and seem unlikely to improve in the short to medium term, especially now one of their main sources of reliable talent (the Argentine with an Italian parent or grandparent) has dried up after Argentina belatedly embraced professionalism.
The very fact their stand off options are a Scot with an Italian mum and a one-eyed Irishman speaks loudly of their paucity of talent.
Personally I'd like to see a two-legged play off between the bottom team in the Six Nations and the winners of the second tier competition. At least then there could be no argument that should Georgia displace Italy they're worthy of doing so.
It won't happen, like, but one can dream.
What you say is pretty much spot on. Georgia (& Romania, Russia, Spain, Belgium and, more fancifully, Germany) have nowhere to advance too. It's broadly analogous to the situation Ireland faced in test cricket (& still do to some extent). They're reduced to accepting crumbs from the masters' tables and improvement is difficult when they aren't regularly exposed to the highest level.
The Italian experiment was worthwhile, but realistically they've gone backwards since their admittance and seem unlikely to improve in the short to medium term, especially now one of their main sources of reliable talent (the Argentine with an Italian parent or grandparent) has dried up after Argentina belatedly embraced professionalism.
The very fact their stand off options are a Scot with an Italian mum and a one-eyed Irishman speaks loudly of their paucity of talent.
Personally I'd like to see a two-legged play off between the bottom team in the Six Nations and the winners of the second tier competition. At least then there could be no argument that should Georgia displace Italy they're worthy of doing so.
It won't happen, like, but one can dream.