I had intended to write a blog about my experience of going
to the opening day of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and that post is what I will be
doing. However, we are five games into the tournament and it would almost be
wrong to discuss the tournament without mentioning yesterday’s games. The Ireland/Canada
and France/Italy games ended up the way I suspect most people thought they
would. Yoann Huget picked up an injury and the France winger will likely miss
the rest of the tournament. In my last post, I said I want to see the best players
play on the sport’s biggest stage. That opinion has not changed, but I can’t
help but feel no sorrow for Huget as I am firmly of the belief he should not be
playing the sport anymore. For those who haven’t seen, in a game against
Bordeaux Beagles, Huget stamped on the head of Bordeaux lock Andre Marais. If
you want to watch, and I warn you now – it is unpleasant – then click here. I
do not wish for any player to be injured, but this is a man who ought to have
faced criminal charges for this attack, not be representing France on the
biggest stage in rugby union. I am not sorry to hear he will miss the rest of
the tournament as he should not have been in it in the first place. Georgia
picked up their first opening game win at a Rugby World Cup but I think this
was their biggest win (in that they beat Tonga, not in score line). I didn’t watch
the whole game but I watched a good chunk of it and it was a cracking
conclusion to the game. I really thought Tonga were going to draw level at the
end but I was pleased for Georgia when they held on. That was one prediction I
got wrong. Speaking of predictions I got wrong though - South Africa versus
Japan – wow!
“No disrespect to the other four teams in this pool, but South Africa will win this pool. I don’t see them being tested by USA or Japan.”
Well, I got that
one just a little bit wrong. The final score was 34-32 to Japan in arguably the
biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history. This wasn’t a snatch and grab by
Japan though – they were pretty damn good for the whole match (excusing a couple
of defensive lapses which allowed South Africa to score). South Africa had
flashes of brilliance but it has to be said, they were few and far between and
they weren’t at their best for most of the game. This game had all the
ingredients that a classic test match needs, with the added bonus of the upset.
Right at the death, with the score at 32-29, Japan were awarded a penalty and
South Africa were reduced to 14 men. They could have gone for 3 points and
secured a famous draw (let’s face it, had they done this and got the draw, we
all would have still been talking about the result as a shock). However, having
led at several points of this game, Japan did not want to settle for a draw.
They kicked for the corner securing a line out, and if it went to plan a chance
to drive again at South Africa’s try line. It almost went exactly to plan but
their 12 man driving maul was ruled to have been held up as it crossed the line
(no possible way to tell from the video replays if a try had been scored or
not). Japan then had a 5m scrum which was last chance saloon. They spread the
ball out to the right, recycled it and spread it back and in the 83rd
minute, Hesketh dotted down and the winning score was confirmed. The whole game
was a fantastic watch and a perfect advert for the Rugby World Cup. This will
be a result that will be talked about for years to come.
What does this
mean for Pool B? Well, Japan now have a win which I never imagined they would
get, and I think they have put the other teams on notice. I’m not sure if they
will beat Scotland, purely because a 4 day turnaround against a fresh team
could be too much for them (that said, I did say they wouldn’t even test South
Africa, so I could be very wrong). I see no reason now why they couldn’t take
the game to Samoa and perhaps get another big win. They didn’t play each other
at the recent Pacific Nations Cup but Japan did play (and lose) to USA there.
So really, this could be a one off or they could use this as a platform to
build on towards potentially qualifying for the last eight. What I know for
sure is that if any team were privately underestimating them, they won’t now. As
for South Africa? Well, they got 2 points out of the game which could prove to
be vital when it comes to qualifying time. Could this result destabilise their
whole campaign? It is quite possible. Could you imagine South Africa not
qualifying out of a pool where they would have been expected to win it? What a
prospect. I think getting 2 points out of this game plus picking up a couple
more victories will see them into the last eight, but it just made Pool B
significantly more interesting. Samoa and Scotland will now look towards their
game against South Africa and see it as a completely winnable game. Samoa v USA
is on today. When they played in the Pacific Nations Cup, Samoa won but only by
5 points, so this will be a tight one for sure. Exciting times are ahead, that
much is for sure. Today sees Wales take on Uruguay. As much as I’d love to see
another upset, I suspect Wales will secure a bonus point win in this one. The
final game of today is New Zealand versus Argentina. This is by far the box
office clash of Pool C, and will likely be watched by the biggest live crowd at
a Rugby World Cup, which is pretty cool.
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