The competition that could put the World League debate to bed

The congregation of leading executives within the global rugby fraternity to negotiate details for the much-maligned World Rugby Nations Championship in Dublin earlier this month presented a missed opportunity to discuss a more tantalising proposition.

When details of the competition were exposed by the New Zealand Herald, the annual Nations Championship initially drew criticism from all corners of the globe for diluting the prestige of the quadrennial World Cup and Lions tours, a lack of regard for player welfare and its exclusivity from emerging nations.

Although an updated version of the competition's structure released by World Rugby presented a pathway for developing rugby countries to compete with tier one nations, concerns lingered about player burnout and the role that the World Cup and Lions tours would play within international calendar.

Complaints from the governing bodies of the English and French club competitions have added to the number of issues voiced worldwide, with their exclusions from negotiations creating a sense of disdain between them and World Rugby.

The extremely negative impact that this proposed Nations Championship has embedded within the rugby world makes it difficult to envision this new competition getting off the mark, despite World Rugby hoping for a start date of 2022.

Even if discussions in the Irish capital somehow satisfied the demands of all involved parties - which it hasn't, as England continue to stand firm against World Rugby's proposal amid fears of relegation from the Six Nations - the issue of diminishing the prestige of the World Cup would still be a prevalent concern of which that appears nigh on impossible to resolve.

It would be difficult to fit into the existing calendar due to the scheduling differences between Super Rugby, the northern hemisphere competitions, and the international test windows.

However, a condensed knock-out tournament between the semi-finalists from the Champions Cup and Super Rugby over a three-week period would be doable with some of re-jigging of fixtures prior to the July test window, which would suit teams from both hemispheres as that coincides - to varying degrees - with the end of their club seasons.

Such a competition would be unparalleled within the rugby fraternity, and it would yield plenty of interest from players, fans, broadcasters and sponsors as the best teams from both hemispheres compete to determine which club is the best on the planet.

It's a far simpler concept to the current proposition on the table, leaves the integrity of the international game and World Cup intact, and possesses the potential to be extremely financially-rewarding for World Rugby, which was undoubtedly a major incentive for them to propose the Nations Championship in the first place.

Of course, a multitude of creases would need to be ironed out in order for a Club World Cup to get the go-ahead, and a host of stakeholders and any pre-existing concerns would need to be addressed, but the potential exists for this tournament to explode into a success.

Potential Club World Cup quarter-final fixtures (based on 2018 Champions Cup and Super Rugby placings):

Crusaders v Scarlets

Lions v Munster

Racing 92 v Waratahs

Leinster v Hurricanes

The Short Ball - The World Rugby Nations Championship Debacle: