The Rugby World Cup has now been going for just over 2 weeks
and so far, it is shaping up to be one of the best World Cups in the history of
the game. Records are being set and broken quite frequently (or at least it
appears that way). As with the last post to this page, I wrote about the
results and some of my thoughts on the games. This will be a two part blog
though as there is a fair bit to be written about the first host nation to not
make it out of the pool stages. I left off last time with Australia having just
pumped Uruguay 65-3 – the biggest point difference in a game so far in this
World Cup.
In what seemed like a repeat of their last game, Scotland
started off slow against the USA. Now, they had played 4 days earlier against
Japan but unlike Japan, Scotland have reasonable depth in their squad. It would
be foolish to say this short turnaround wouldn’t impact them at all, but Scotland,
like all of the bigger rugby nations, would be better equipped to deal with it
than say Japan (or any other tier 2 nation for that matter). USA scored the
only try of the first half and went in at half time with a 13-6 lead. While it
was possible at this stage for an upset to happen, I figured it was only a
matter of time before Scotland would wake up and take control of this game. The
second half was pretty much all one way traffic in Scotland’s favour with USA
only getting 3 more points. Scotland scored 5 tries (4 of which were converted)
giving them a 39-16 win. In the 3rd and final game of Sunday 27th
September, Ireland faced Romania and once again, the record attendance at a Rugby
World Cup was broken – 89, 267 people were at this game. Ireland comfortably
won this game, scoring six tries against Romania. One of the main talking
points would be whether the Irish defence could hold out and prevent Romania from
scoring a try. They succumbed eventually and the final score was 44-10 to
Ireland.
I can’t talk much about the Tonga v Namibia game (the only
game on the 29th September) as it kicked off when I was at work and
I ended up missing the rest of the game due to travelling and the need to go
food shopping (a poor excuse I accept). Namibia scored 3 tries in this game,
two of which came from their captain Jacques Burger. It would have been good to
see them get one more and come away with a bonus point but alas, not to be. October
kicked off with a game which somehow seems to be a regular at Rugby World Cups –
Wales v Fiji. They have played each other now for 3 RWC’s in a row. Before this
game it was one game all, with the Fiji win in 2007 being a pretty historic win
for the Pacific Islanders. The 2011 game however was a tad one sided, with
Wales winning 66-0. Once again, I missed this game due to having to work late.
From what I heard though, it was a very close match, with Wales doing well to
get the win. Wales won this one 23-13 and much like Australia, failed to get a
try bonus point. I wondered at the time if this might come back to haunt them.
Answer? No. Fiji have put up a good fight against 3 of the top teams in the
world, and played some really good rugby. Almost seems criminal they haven’t at
least got one bonus point. Such is life. I suspect they will look to batter
Uruguay and have something to show for their tournament. The evening game on
Thursday was France versus Canada. I expected this to be one way traffic in
favour of France. However, credit where credit is due - Canada actually played
quite well at times during this match. They seemed to fall away as the game
went on though and France took advantage, with them getting the win 41-18.
The only game of Friday night was New Zealand taking on
Georgia. I don’t think anyone gave Georgia a chance in this one. It was a great
sight though to see how happy the Georgians were at getting to play the All
Blacks. This much was obvious just looking at their faces during the haka –
there were several big grins beaming. New Zealand took just 73 seconds to score
their first try. When this happened, my immediate thought was “how many will we
see tonight?” However, the next score to come was a try from Georgia! They
capitalised on a New Zealand error and scored a try, which they then converted
as a result. I think if Georgia could declare at this point, they would have. 5
minutes in and they were level at 7 all. Sadly, that was the only try of the
game for Georgia. New Zealand scored 7 in total and won 43-10. The main talking
points from this game were that New Zealand were not their usual selves in that
they made a large number of handling errors (19 I think it was – some of which
definitely denied them more tries) and Dan Carter looked positively human from
the kicking tee. However, I feel the question does need to be asked, if New
Zealand can make as many errors as they did, and still score 7 tries – how many
would they have scored if they didn’t make any errors? Frightening thought
really.
Saturday started off with Samoa versus Japan. Samoa had to
win this game if they wanted to keep their hopes of making it out of the pool
alive. Japan were in much the same boat. They benefitted from having 10 days between
their last game against Scotland and this one. Samoa had a week so really, it
was two fresh teams facing off. Not that you would have known it looking at
Samoa. I don’t know what it is about them, but they just haven’t looked very
good at this World Cup. They looked poor against South Africa but I wondered if
part of that was to do with the Springboks showing how good they actually are. This performance against Japan was not good
though, which made me wonder if there is something systematically wrong in the
Samoa camp at the moment (well, there has been a lot of chat about issues with
the rugby authorities in Samoa but that aside). However, Japan didn’t win this
game purely because Samoa weren’t playing well – Japan were worthy of their
second win of this Rugby World Cup. They went in at half time 20-0 up. The
second half was a much tighter contest between the two, but Japan won the
second half points-wise, meaning the full time score was 25-6. Cracking result
for Japan this one.
The next game was the top of the pool clash between South
Africa and a weakened Scotland team at St James’ Park in Newcastle. I couldn’t
work out why Vern Cotter had made as many changes as he did for this game.
Perhaps it was so the first choice team will face Samoa and they stand a better
chance of winning that one? I’m not sure. This game was all South Africa.
Scotland didn’t get much of a look in really. South Africa proved in this one
they were still a force to be reckoned with. At half time, they went in 20-3 in
front and it didn’t look like Scotland were going to get back in it. They didn’t.
Scotland did score a second half try but they couldn’t build on that to even
secure a losing bonus point. Two moments of madness from Scotland are worth mentioning.
Greg Laidlaw was sent to the sin bin for deliberately taking Bryan Habana out
off the ball, preventing him from potentially scoring a try. It was a very
cynical move by the Scotland captain and had it been closer to the try line, I
think his visit to the bin might have been accompanied by a penalty try. The
other moment of madness was Stuart Hogg seemingly taking a dive to claim he was
more hurt from a collision with a South Africa player in the air than he
actually was. Replays showed that the collision was minimal and Hogg had in
fact taken a dive. The referee for this one was Nigel Owens – who had a few
choice words to say to Hogg. I do love Nigel Owens sometimes, and this is one of those times. South Africa won this one 34-16. Australia beat England 33-13. I
will be doing a separate blog about this result and what England’s elimination
from the tournament means for them going forward.
Today offered up two games, one each from pools C and D.
Both had potential to be very interesting. Argentina were playing Tonga, who
were above them in the pool (a solitary bonus point separating the two teams).
Ireland were facing Italy in a reprise from the Six Nations at the Olympic
Stadium. I had assumed Argentina and Ireland would win their respective games,
but I was surprised at which one was closer, score line wise. The first half in
the Argentina/Tonga game was really close, with Argentina getting two tries on
the board and then Tonga following suit. Half time was 20-13 to Argentina and
at this point, I really felt we were in for a cracking second half where it could
go either way. The second half was really good but it was one sided. Argentina
scored a further 3 tries, securing a try bonus point. The final score was
45-16. I will be interested to see how Argentina develop as most of the
starters in this game have all signed for the new Argentina Super Rugby
franchise, which means the national team will be playing with each other for
most of the year against some really good opposition. That can only do good
things for the game in Argentina. Ireland versus Italy was a very tight affair,
a much tighter game than I would have imagined it would be. Italy haven’t
looked great at this World Cup and suffered a bit of a scare at the hands of
Canada last week. Ireland on the other hand have been playing quite well. I
dipped in and out of this game but from what I saw, Ireland were being
frustrated by Italy and struggled to get their game going. The only try of the
game came in the first half. I know it is wrong to suggest that any team is a
one man team, but I wonder if it is much of a coincidence that Italy made a
rapid improvement in their play when Sergio Parisse recovered from injury and
took his place in the Italian pack. It was not enough however to lead them to
victory. Ireland won 16-9 and consigned Italy to an early exit.
So, with most teams having just the one game left, what is
the state of the pools?
Pool A – Australia and Wales will face off in a pool winner
shoot out next Saturday at Twickenham. England are out of the Rugby World Cup –
the first host nation to fail to make it to the knock out stages.
Pool B – This is a very tight pool actually. South Africa
have a 4 day turn around before facing USA at the Olympic Stadium. They are
currently top by a point but one would assume they will win this game and
probably pick up maximum points. If they do, they will win the pool and face
the loser of Australia v Wales. USA then have a 4 day turn around before facing
Japan. Scotland face Samoa on Saturday. For Samoa to qualify, they need maximum
points out of their game against Scotland and for Japan to get no points
against USA – unlikely I would say. Japan are currently 3rd in the
pool, two points behind Scotland. For them to qualify, they need Scotland to
lose to Samoa and not get 2 bonus points. Scotland just need to beat Samoa and
they will qualify for the quarter finals. Simple right? I think we are in for
some drama in this pool before all is said and done.
Pool C – New Zealand have qualified from this pool. Who saw
that coming? Their last game is against Tonga, who are the only team who can
prevent Argentina from qualifying. In a nut shell, to qualify, Tonga need to
beat New Zealand and Namibia, after a 4 day turn around, need to beat Argentina.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that New Zealand and Argentina have
qualified from this pool. I guess it is still technically possible for Tonga to
qualify. However, their chances are remote.
Pool D – Ireland and France have qualified from this pool
and will face off in a pool winner shoot out next Sunday. The winner will
likely get a quarter final date with Argentina. The loser will likely get a
quarter final date with New Zealand. I think I speak for everyone who wants to
see history repeat itself when I say COME ON IRELAND! It would be awfully funny
if France and New Zealand played each other again at a Rugby World Cup, and
funnier still if France won again.
We have one more week of pool games before the business end
of the tournament begins. Two things are for sure. The first is that England
will not be in the knockout stages for the first time since the inception of
this tournament. The second is that this tournament is just getting going in
terms of excitement. I think we are in for some great rugby before the pool
stages wrap up. I will post another blog as I said earlier about England, but I
will be back next weekend to sum up the weeks games and to talk about the
quarter finals, and if my predictions were right (I know one of them was wrong!)
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