Raeburn Shield

Bob on Mon May 04, 2009 7:12 pm

The Raeburn Shield is a concept though up by a few guys over on a rugby message board and is, in my opinion, a very good idea. The guys who thought up this idea have a web site dedicated to the shield here.
Here is an introduction to the shield taken from the website;

The Raeburn Shield is a hypothetical shield (hopefully not for too much longer) which harks back to the very first game of international rugby union.

Basically it is won in the same way a boxing title is, the winner claims it off the holder.

The first game ever was Scotland Vs England at Raeburn Place, Scotland (hence the name) in 1871 and the winner took the shield, this has continued to be won and lost untill today and is similar to NZ's Ranfurly Shield (except it is always on the line home or away)

NZ holds it now and next defence is against France

There are a number of benefits to this such as:

• providing a serious focus between World Cups;

• reducing the incidence of nations fielding under-strength teams in test matches;

• providing a trophy which non-top tier nations have a realistic chance of winning

What are your thoughts on this shield? Personally I think its a great idea. (Im a bit busy today, but will provide more details on thoughts on it when I have more free time)

NOTE:I also believe that they have a history section that provides more detail about the hypothetical shield and its history. Which could be interesting.