Paul Rees talks to Irishman Dr Syd Millar who, as chairman of the IRB, fears that the big guns of international rugby are getting too far ahead

W hen Dr Syd Millar sits down on Sunday to watch his native Ireland take on Wales in the second round of the Six Nations, he will be torn between wanting the team he represented 37 times to win and, in his capacity as the chairman of the International Rugby Board, needing the Welsh to prevail and be in a position to break France and England's stranglehold on the tournament.

With Ireland falling behind due to last Saturday's defeat in Paris, only the Welsh, having already beaten Scotland, are in a realistic position of toppling that monopoly.

Since the start of the professional era in 1995, England have won the championship on four occasions, one more than France, with only Scotland interrupting the pair's domination in 1999.

As the IRB reflects on a successful World Cup, Millar believes that the game is at a crossroads with the leading teams in danger of galloping away into the distance.

The World Cup, despite generating record profits and increasing the profile of rugby, did not serve up any shocks, with the quarter-finalists and semi-finalists all as predicted. The Six Nations has started according to the form book and Millar's aim in his term of office, which ends just before the next World Cup, is to ensure the chasing pack have more teeth.

"The game is in a very healthy state on the field," said Millar. "We have gone from a stage a few years ago when the emphasis was on continuity of possession with players afraid of taking risks in case they lost possession, to a game which is now more rounded with more enterprising play.

"The challenges we face lie off the field. It is very important that we have a widely contested Six Nations rather than one or two sides dominating it all the time, and we need more than three or four sides to have a chance of winning the World Cup. It is not simply a case of providing emerging nations with more money: they need to be exposed regularly to greater competition."

Millar would like to see the Tri-Nations expanded to include Argentina and a combined team from the Pacific islands while in Europe he advocates moving the November internationals to May to give the club game more continuity.

"We need a more global season for international rugby," he said. "Moving the Six Nations towards the summer months is difficult because it has a prime television slot now and its value could be diminished by having to compete with cricket, Wimbledon and racing.

"The November internationals are a different matter and what we need to look at is the possibility of playing club competitions in blocks and ensuring that players have a decent break in the off-season."

Though the sport's popularity is at an all-time high, Millar acknowledges that it cannot call itself a global game.

"Rugby is played in more than 100 countries, but that is nothing compared to soccer," he said. "We hope to be included in the Olympics. That would not only increase our profile but would allow countries to tap into government funds.

"As a governing body, we have to find ways of expanding the game in financially important markets such as North America and Asia. We will be deciding the venue for the 2011 World Cup later this year and we may well plump for a country outside the top eight.

"This is a crucial period for us. We have to do everything we can to ensure that the top three or four nations don't get out of sight of the rest: it would be bad for them because it would reduce competition and it would be devastating for our game."

Millar presided over a conference of the game in Auckland last month at which leading players, coaches and referees were present. He said the main message received was that no major law changes were needed although there was a suggestion to use two referees because the pace of the game was now so quick.

Guardian Service

Five/Six Nations in professional era

1996 Winners: England Runners-up: Scotland

1997 Winners: France Runners-Up: England

1998 Winners: France Runners-up: England

1999 Winners: Scotland Runners-up: England

2000 Winners: England Runners-up: France

2001 Winners: England Runners-up: Ireland

2002 Winners: France Runners-up: England

2003 Winners: England Runners-up: Ireland