FROM THE MOMENT unheralded and unfancied Russia set the nerves jangling for the host nation on Friday, this Rugby World Cup successfully hit full throttle and took off at terrific speed.
The Super Saturday that was day two of the competition was one of the great rugby viewing parties. Between a seismic clash for the upper hand in Pool B and a fantastic start from Fiji, France and Argentina delivered an added-bonus epic of a game where they obligingly took turns being the team grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck before reverting to throw-it-away mode.
In a shallow talent pool like rugby, though, there are not all that many evenly-matched contests to go around. And when Ireland had fully forced Scotland’s face to the mud midway through the first-half in Yokohama, it felt like Christmas had come early. In a bad way.
In the way you gorge on delicious roast turkey-and-all-the-trimmings in the middle of the day, take on wine, a few extra spuds, a beer you think might feel refreshing and a few deep dives into the tin of Roses. You’re full, immobile and though all the same ingredients are still left front of you, none of it is quite as appetising as it was a day or two earlier.
In the Rugby World Cup, that means Super Saturday was followed by one-way traffic on Sunday and Monday. And if it’s only Titanic Tier 1 contests you’re after, Sunday’s meeting between Australia and Wales must feel a long way away.
Ireland play Japan before that, of course, the weekend’s next most appetising fixture.
If Joe Schmidt’s men maintain anything close to the form shown on Sunday then Pool A will be signed and sealed. The chasm that exists between the sport’s top tier nations and those who have been left outside the major annual tournaments, coupled with the premium placed on physical endurance, means that shocks are a precious rarity.
Nobody will argue that Pool B remains up for grabs after New Zealand saw off the Springboks. Pool D ought to be sorted by Sunday lunchtime once the Wallabies and Wales provide one another’s litmus test.
And if we can assume that France can avoid losing to Tonga again, but don’t pull off a massive shock by beating England then we’re getting very close to seeing the make-up of all four quarter-finals – which still won’t happen for four weeks.
Yet before we go trying to figure out whether it’s Wales, Australia or France who will join the winners of Ireland-South Africa in a semi-final on 27 October, there are a few loose threads worth watching get tied up as we go freewheeling towards the knockout round.
Will Scotland now crumble altogether? Or rebound in time to burst a Japanese bubble in the final pool match?
The host nation’s broadcasters may well be digging out the ROG-cam after out-half Yu Tamura’s very shaky start to the tournament and the assured cameo from his replacement Rikiya Matsuda.
Are France the Les Bleus who set the tournament alight in the first 40 against Argentina, or are they still the side that has recently blighted the Six Nations?
Will referees begin enforcing the high tackle laws again?
We’ve just come through another weekend in which Tier 2 nations had cause for grievance over the way they were refereed. The tournament, though packed with quality so far, could do with a shock result to break the feeling that the die in most pools has already been cast.
Perhaps even less than a shock would do. A good healthy scare that lasts longer than Russia’s moments of dominance against Japan would be a welcome scenic route, because there’s an awful lot of road between here and the business end of this tournament.
When you can pretty much predict the 1/4 final pairings after one round of games it doesn’t really say much about the competition.
@Shimmy Shammy: think you’d have a pretty good go at doing the same at soccer World Cup to be fair! Look at England’s draw at soccer World Cup …utterly predictable
@BMJF: Not really true though. Far more competition in soccer. The group stages in the rugby world cup don’t particularly serve any purpose.
@Shimmy Shammy: The whole purpose of the group stages is the opportunity for these sides to play Tier 1 nations – the problem it isn’t happening enough between world cups, the answer is definitely not reduce the number of teams in the World Cup. There will be a upset or two before we are done, hopefully at Englands expense
Life is just simply better when the world cup is on !
@JillyBean: it desperately need a shock result. Naming the quarter finalists and quite possibly the semi finalists by this weekend isn’t great…..
Am I not right in saying that only 8/9 teams have won the Football World Cup and therefore it’s equally as predictable given its lengthy history?
Crazy to believe people still belittle the quality of the the teams in the RWC.
Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in a semi final not too long ago, so does that equate to to a 49-7 win in rugby?
@Geoff Speiran: You are clutching at straws there Geoff. Only 4 countries have won the Rugby World Cup and correct me if Im wrong, but only 9 teams have ever made the actual quarter finals. Thats a sensational statistic. In soccer you have had the likes of Senegal, Turkey, Ghana, Ireland, South Korea, Croatia, Bulgaria, Sweden etc. making the latter stages, would never happen in rugby
@Frank Scanlon: You have a point but it’s worth acknowledging that there has been 21 Soccer world cups. This is the 9th Rugby one. Hopefully, teams like Fiji, Japan, USA will start making these breakthroughs with greater regularity. Japan could beat Scotland which would be great for the development of the game.
@Frank Scanlon: But the game is only growing and from a much smaller playing pool, you don’t critique Cricket/Rugby League/Basketball in the same way, why is the football world cup the pinnacle of international sports? When you consider there’s 50 years between the beginning of the football World Cup and RWC it’s hard to draw direct comparisons and who knows whether the 2067 RWC will be exponential more competitive.
@Frank Scanlon: yes but soccer is the no.1 sport in pretty much all these countries. It’s also a bit easier to scrape out of a group stage in soccer, ala Ireland, by parking the bus for a draw or sneaking an odd goal from a setpiece. It’s nigh on impossible for the smaller, less well coached teams to fluke a draw in rugby, you have the width of the pitch to defend, not a smallish rectangle with a net.
@Cian Nolan: Thats neither here nor there as in the first 8 FIFA World Cups 25 different nations had finished in the top 8 of the tournament. I’m sorry but some people are just delusional about the international appeal of rugby. For example I was in Argentina during the last World Cup when they were in the semi final and you would hardly know the game was on, people didnt care, and they are one of the top 8 or 9 nations. Rugby is irrelevant in Italy and even in Australia its way behind Rugby League and AFL
@Geoff Speiran: I absolutely would critique those sports in the same way, Rugby League World Cup in particular is a joke. RWC will not be more competitive in 2067, maybe less so, as any developing nations will more than likely put more resources into sevens as its the Olympic format
@Cian Nolan: the thing is it’s rigged against African teams in football but rigged against Tier 2 teams in rugby .. Japans win against SA in 2015 , Fiji v Wales in 2007 and Samoa VS Wales in 91 are the only true surprise results . If it wasn’t for bonus points the Argentinians could wave goodbye already .
@Tim Magner: Fair point in one sense but the gulf between the top 8/9 in rugby and the next tier is absolutely huge, in general you still have to be somewhere close to the same level in any sport to get a result. Soccer’s lower scoring nature obviously lends to more surprise results, rugby is similar to hurling in the sense that skill differences are amplified on the scoreboard and again its 8/9 teans competing. But to me looking in it seems that rugby is making zero effort to get any other nations to the top table, and on top of that refereeing decisions always seem to favour the top sides just to make sure the natural order is not disrupted
@Frank Scanlon: what exactly does FIFA do for the smaller nations in soccer? All the poorer tier 2 nations in rugby get coaches payed for by the wru. Rugby is a far more physical & attritional sport than soccer, and a lot more technical with things like scrums, lineouts, rucks etc. Of course there’s only 8/9 teams really compete at top end, and they’re the ones with the player base, the squads that can cope with injuries. A soccer team can go a long way in any tournament with 10 solid journeymen & a star who can get the goals, see Portugal. Rugby a bit different
@Frank Scanlon: But given that 15 a side game is more lucrative surely the growth of 7’s will just allow more players a pathway into the 15’s game for other nations and therefore diversity the sport.
I agree there are massive challenges but how many World Cup sports do you tune in to? Granted Rugby is behind others but I implore you to find me a more competitive example in the men’s category.
@Frank Scanlon: 4 teams in 8 world cups as opposed to 9 teams in 21 football world cups…it’s actually 12 teams that have made quarters, Canada once, Western Samoa and Fiji have both made it twice each. Japan are on the cusp and the USA should feature in the future too. And I’d agree with another comment, you can be a terrible team in football and park the bus, but that’s almost impossible to do in rugby where the fatigue is far greater. I love both world cups, I just don’t get this bashing, there are terrible teams like Costa Rica and Iran in the football World Cup, it’s very predictable how their matches will go too!
@Padraig O’M: Iran were actually quite good in the last world cup and should have bet Portugal to go through. Poor example.
@Padraig O’M: Yeah poor example regards Iran and Costa Rica did quite well in previous World Cup. My mistake I didnt realise Canada, Samoa and Fiji had made the quarters but in a sense it only proves that rugby has actually regressed in terms of the number of teams capable of being competitive. Its hard to argue that the current tournament is not extremely predictable. Barring an unlikely upset win for Argentina or France over England, the only thing we are really left wondering is whether Australia or Wales will top their pool.
Sensational….yawn. Extremely predictable. Massively understrength competition and one sided matches that will still be pontificated on by the rugby media.
@Tom Bout: yawn is right! a few days in and the 9 potential quarter finalists have been filtered down to 8 and almost a month of meaningless matches to come.
Nothing so wrong with only having 9 competitive teams. In a high scoring sport it would be hard to get more than that but lobbing 20 of them in to a round robin competition is crazy. Imagine if hurling threw 20 teams in to the All Ireland series. No body would pay to see Kilkenny vs Meath in hurling, it would be a massacre. Serious marketing by World Rugby to sell this tournament and these kind of one-sided games!
@Kevin McMahon: so teams should never play against superior opposition? Seems like a great way to stifle the growth of smaller nations teams
It was mixed feelings seeing the Georgia coach celebrate their 2nd try in a near 30 point defeat so enthusiastically today. Entirely understandable considering the structural and experience disadvantages they have compared to tier 1 teams but really disappointing for the competition when the mid-level teams show no real belief in their ability to compete and are effectively happy if they manage to avoid humiliation.
Rugby won’t continue to grow with the same 10 teams playing each other endlessly, it needs new teams to emerge and they need the same player access and competitive fixtures as the tier 1 nations.
I really hope Japan or Fiji can cause an upset and make things interesting!
@Rochelle: the real thing that’s holding Georgia back is the lack of relegation and promotion in the six nations. They consistently dominate the second tier and rarely get the opportunity to play the tier 1 teams.
@Rochelle: Georgia and Fiji can play at tier 1 level if given the opportunity for test rugby on a regular basis. What about a 7 Nations? or adding Fiji to make southern hemi a 5mations?
@Dave O Keeffe: why can’t we have a 7 Nations? Who said it has to be six?? It used to be 5. Relegation would only destroy the team dropping down..left with no one to compete against & it they’d destroy EUROPEAN tier 2 or 3 teams which is pointless
@BMJF: well if Italy for example got relegated they’d have a year to regroup and rebuild, get a few wins and possibly come back up. Georgia would get a year playing against tier 1 teams and at the very least see the level they aspire to. Tier 2 teams would also benefit massively from playing against a relegated tier 1 team, testing themselves against that level, seeing the difference in quality or lack thereof. It let’s everyone see where they’re at. Right now the 5th ranked tier 2 European team are ahead against Samoa in the second half.
@BMJF: my issue with making it a 7 nations means that it’s always the same protected 7. There’s no growth for the 8th ranked team.
Sensational amount of RWC articles!!!
Rugby is over rated
What a predictable boring article , yawn yawn
@Frank Tennant: whereas your comment, Frank – what an absolute fücking zinger. Wow. What I’d give to be able to write like that.
I’m not sure when they hand out Pulitzers but you should keep that night free I’d say.
Glad to see you are enjoying Japan Sean