AMID the struggles of the Wales Rugby Union Team, including their humbling 48-7 defeat by England in their opening game of the Six Nations, questions have been again raised about whether there should be relegation in the tournament, and who Wales would play should it come to be.
Saturday’s defeat at Twickenham meant that “The Dragons” have lost their last 12 games in the Six Nations, a run that goes back to March 2023, when their last victory came ina 29-17 triumph over Italy, but it’s been a poor run of form since then, causing people to argue that they shouldn’t be in the top tier if there were two divisions.
The teams that Wales may come against if relegation was implemented would come from those nations that are classed as tier two teams, such as: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, The USA, Uruguay, Portugal, Romania, Georgia, Namibia, and Chile.
As the current setup of the competition includes solely European teams: Wales, England, Ireland, France, Scotland and Italy, It’ll likely be Portugal, Romania, and Georgia that would form a second tier with the side who share with England, the record for having at least shared the trophy the most times with 39.
Portugal were the only side to win the Rugby Europe Trophy from 2017 to 2019. Since they have been involved in the higher Rugby Europe Championship , and came second in both 2023 and 2024.
Romania also compete in the Europe Championship, who reached a high of second themselves in the 2022 iteration, but have yet to achieve a finish as high in the proceeding years, coming third three times in a row.
Georgia would be the most likely to feature, having won the Europe Championship every year since 2017.
There are also maybe a couple of slots for teams in tier three, who compete outside the top tiers of the World Rugby Rankings, taking part in tournaments like the Rugby Europe Trophy and Conference.
