The Breakdown | Rugby’s grand Ruckfest gamble cannot afford a damp squib in London finale

Guess how many people attended the recent Oktoberfest in Munich, the famous annual pilgrimage for people with a sense of fun and a collective thirst to quench? Admittedly the event spanned a fortnight but the figure is still pretty remarkable. There were 7.4m visitors – a record – with around a quarter of them travelling from overseas.

Now imagine even a tenth of that congregation coming together for a like-minded three-day festival in London. Endless access to quality beer, the chance to make instant new friends and, if desired, plenty of fancy dress options (lederhosen not compulsory). With top-quality sporting entertainment also on tap. Let’s hear it for Glastonbury’s oval-ball cousin: Ruckfest, if you will.

It’s not the worst idea in theory. Nor is it is hard to see why the organisers of rugby’s Nations Championship fancied rearranging the existing autumn fixture furniture to create a grand end-of-year finale. For all the scheduling hassles that complicated the July Test window – England, for example, covered 26,000 miles and played on three different continents in three weeks – it is the financial success, or otherwise, of the run-in that will make or break the concept.

Which makes the next month a big deal for international rugby union. The Six Nations chair, Ronan Dunne, is describing it as “arguably the most significant evolution in the sport since rugby turned professional”. In addition, a compelling series of games, reaching a crescendo in late November, would further whet appetites before next year’s World Cup in Australia. But if casual interest is modest and teams and unions pay mere lip service to the idea of spreading the gospel, it will be much ado about very little.

Let’s hope that booking a high-profile BRIT award-winner, whose identity is due to be publicly unveiled on Wednesday, to headline the half-time show helps interest-wise, with around a third of the weekend’s tickets still available. They are not giving them away: adult seats for the final Sunday double-header will set you back between £175 and £280 per ticket. Add accommodation, travel, food and drink and it doesn’t leave much for dirndl rental.

Nor does it help that no one will know which nations will be involved on which days until the previous Sunday. Tickets to watch a particular team on finals weekend, regardless of when they play, are available but not everyone can be that flexible. Imagine the furrowed brows at the Rugby Football Union, too, if England end up in a ho-hum playoff on a wet, cold Friday night or as the humble aperitif to Sunday’s main event.

There already appears to be some reluctance within the RFU, ever mindful of keeping local residents onside, to market the weekend as anything out of the ordinary. But, having rented out their stadium, they can’t have it both ways. Either it is a truly unmissable party – the Middlesex Sevens on steroids – or it’s not. The Six Nations Rugby’s chief executive Tom Harrison – “it’s a catalyst for growth for a sport that is ready to go truly global” – is firmly in the former camp.

All involved, either way, need the rugby to grab the lapels from the outset. Previously there was little external interest in whether France, for example, can win with a bonus point against Fiji in Lyon. Now, with every result interwoven, it all forms part of a broader tapestry, if not quite of Bayeux proportions.

And while France and South Africa currently top their pools at the halfway stage, there is also, for better or worse, the parallel North v South dimension to consider. The so-called “Hemisphere Challenge” will be determined on a Ryder Cup-style final day, with one point for the winners of each game from sixth v sixth to second v second, and two points for the grand final winners. The first hemisphere to reach four points will be crowned champions, the sizeable geographical caveat being that Japan are counted as a southern hemisphere nation, to ensure an even spread.

There are a couple of other imperfections, too. The Springboks and New Zealand, for instance, could both win all their games yet only one can make the final. And whether or not England’s players will be imploring each other to “Do it for the North” against Australia this Sunday remains to be seen. Ellis Genge, for one, is also yet to be convinced about the player welfare implications of shoehorning in a mini World Cup less than a year before the real thing in Australia in 2027. “I’m not a big fan of it,” said the Bristol prop.

With the Boks, All Blacks and Wallabies battle-hardened after an intense run of games over the past couple of months, the European sides certainly cannot afford a sluggish start. Lose to Australia, struggle past Eddie Jones’s Japan and succumb to the All Blacks, for example, and whither England? Win all three games, by contrast, and they will be itching for the Six Nations to start in February.

A long-awaited win for Scotland over New Zealand would also shift the dial, as would a rousing Irish success over the Boks. The keynote autumn game, though, will be in Paris on Friday week when France entertain South Africa. There are injury absences on both sides but there is a massive opportunity there for the French if they choose to grasp it.

So to help fill the hours until kick-off between Ireland and Argentina this Friday, here are three quiz questions to test your Nations Championship readiness (answers at the end). Please name the three individuals who, at the halfway stage, are currently leading in the following categories: a) points scored, b) tries scored and c) tackles made? If you answer all three correctly and also show up on finals day in freshly-laundered lederhosen, the tournament organisers will love your forever.

Answers: a) Maxime Lucu, France; b) Will Jordan, New Zealand; c) Ross Vintcent, Italy.

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