Well, what a relief! Through to the quarter-finals with a game to spare. North Wales RU Secretary, Barry Williams, reports.
You have to feel a little sorry for England, but when you’ve got the likes of Danny Cipriani talking about how there isn’t an Australian player who would be good enough to get in the England team, and Sir Clive Woodward suggesting that there’s not a lot of rugby intelligence in the Australian team, it is difficult to feel too much sympathy.
But before we talk about England and Australia, there’s a couple of games from the real ‘Pool of Death’ to talk about – Pool B!
Samoa v Japan – Pool B
It would be a travesty if Japan didn’t make it to the quarter-finals. They systematically take Samoa apart, with a ruthlessness that even a lot of the big sides would struggle to match (Wales’ last three games against the Samoans, for example, were won by 7, 7 and 4 point margins).
Samoa have been fairly disappointing thus far, and it’s difficult to see why – they’ve got a tidy squad, but they just haven’t clicked. They were unlucky to be the victims of the Springbok backlash after their defeat to Japan, but they didn’t even look particularly good in their opening game against the USA. Maybe it’s just that the gap really is closing, and the likes of Samoa and Tonga need to work a bit harder to keep up.
It’s entirely possible that they won’t be able to keep up, with their small populations and limited economic impact on the game – Georgia isn’t a big country, with a population of less than 4 million, but Samoa and Tonga together don’t even have 10% of that number. I suspect that they’ll keep producing a certain amount of top players, quite probably from a core group of families (much like in professional wrestling, where the same family has produced generations of top performers), but the sheer weight of numbers is beginning to catch up with them. That said, Fiji has a population of less than a million, and they’ve not had too bad a campaign thus far.
South Africa v Scotland – Pool B
There are a few moments in this game that really make me question where the game is headed, and not in a good way.
Firstly, there is Stuart Hogg’s ludicrous dive after being gently brushed by Tendai Mtawarira. It’s not the fall that bothered me so much, as even a slight contact whilst you’re off balance could take you to ground, but the fact he then lies there holding his face. Whilst everyone had a chuckle at Nigel Owens’ put-down, he really should have been walking up to Hogg with a yellow card in his hand, as far as I’m concerned.
The second is the response of some of the South African players in the aftermath of Greig Laidlaw’s silly challenge on Bryan Habana. Habana is straight up on his feet with protesting arms after the challenge, when he should be doing what every player is told to do – play to the whistle. Then, after the card is given, both Habana and Mtawarira give ironic claps towards Laidlaw, with ‘The Beast’ even walking behind him as he’s leaving the field to continue in this display of bad sportsmanship.
Let’s be honest: the South Africans aren’t exactly the most well-liked of teams to begin with, which was part of the reason why there was so much joy expressed at Japan, one of the game’s most likeable sides, beat them. Behaviour like this doesn’t help their cause.
The game itself goes exactly as expected, otherwise – Scotland have one eye on the Samoa game a week later, and leave out a few players, and South Africa don’t have to do anything special to beat them. I’m sure I’m not the only one hoping for the Americans to pull off a shock, but I can’t see it, and it’ll probably lead to Japan going out, even though they’ll win 3 of their 4 games, a number that will see either Australia or Wales qualify from Group A.
England v Australia – Pool A
I end up seeing this game in reverse – I catch the 2nd half in a pub in Shrewsbury, which does present a challenge to my acting abilities, and then see the 1st half a day later.
In the aftermath, there’s all this talk about how Stuart Lancaster was being undermined by Andy Farrell, with the selection of Sam Burgess being pointed to as an example of how Farrell’s influence has led to England’s exit. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, but surely if you’re the head coach and one of your assistants is doing stuff you don’t want, you either man up and stop them, or you get rid of them. Judging by the comments coming from the likes of Billy Vunipola, the squad weren’t happy with a lot of these decisions that Farrell supposedly pushed through, so it’s not like Lancaster would have lost the support of the dressing room for getting rid of him, which is the main risk you run.
At the end of the day, though, England just aren’t good enough. There are some very good players in their team, and I think in 4 years time they’ll be genuine competitors, but for right now, there’s a lot of growing up for them to do.
For starters, Chris Robshaw must be the least inspiring captain in the whole tournament – when you place him up against the likes of Richie McCaw, Paul O’Connell and Sergio Parisse, he immediately looks second rate, but he doesn’t even rank alongside the likes of Mamuka Gorgodze, Jacques Burger and Michael Leitch, who have led their countries with distinction. Only Will Carling has captained England in more internationals, but when you look at some of the names who have captained England in the last 20 years – Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Phil Vickery, even the less-feted names like Steve Borthwick and Martin Corry – it’s difficult to imagine Robshaw being remembered with anything like the fondness of those men. Players like Martin Johnson were respected by team-mates and opposition alike, even referees paid attention to them, and were given the grudging respect, even admiration, of supporters of everyone they played against. Robshaw doesn’t even seem to have the respect of his own players, let alone anyone else.
In addition, there’s an air of petulance at times with certain parts of their squad, which does them no favours as hosts – Mike Brown’s hugely uncomfortable post-match interview after the Wales game, for example, and his little swipe at Michael Hooper towards the end of the first half in this game (in fairness, Hooper should have been in the bin for his shoulder-first charge into the ruck, and cops a ban in the end) or the fact that they only sent 2 representatives to talk to the media afterwards, when they’re supposed to send 10.
It’s sad, because I don’t think it’s representative of how the majority of these players behave, or how they want to be perceived by the public. It must be tough enough for them, what with all these over the top TV adverts and the fact that the public school background of many of the side won’t exactly endear them to a large proportion of the population, so they don’t need the added difficulty of being seen as bad losers into the bargain. The best thing they could do now would be to make sure that the players are seen at as many of the remaining games in the tournament as possible, to show that they’re still backing the tournament, even if they’re not in it anymore.
Australia are very good value for their win, and on current form, they should find themselves in the final – they won’t struggle against either Scotland or Japan in the quarter-finals, and I think they’ll see off any of Ireland, France or Argentina in the semi-final. I can still see them in the semi-finals even if they lose to Wales and have to play South Africa, which would set up a massive semi-final against New Zealand in all probability.
There are areas that Wales can look to gain an advantage over them, so it’s not a foregone conclusion that Australia will win next Saturday, but it’ll take a fair effort. Looking at how the draw is panning out, a win is even more important than ever for Wales – of the two routes to the final, one sees South Africa and New Zealand as likely opponents, the other, some combination of Scotland, Japan, Ireland, France or Argentina. I know which one I’d prefer!
Argentina v Tonga – Pool C
With most of the focus being on Pools A and B, Argentina have been somewhat under the radar so far, but they’ve put in two very strong performances against two challenging opponents in Georgia and Tonga, and ran New Zealand as close as anyone ever has in a Pool match in the World Cup. If they meet Ireland in the quarter-finals, that could be a real nail-biter between two very good sides. They’ll probably fancy their chances more against France, but I’m not sure France can beat Ireland on current form. It just goes to show that there is at least one advantage to being in a pool with the All Blacks – everyone spends so much time talking about them that they don’t pay you much attention.
There’s a fluidity to how the Argentinians are playing at the moment which has been developed and refined against the best sides in the world, and they are one of a handful of sides who seem to have hit the tournament in full flow, rather than looking to go up the gears. There aren’t many of the top sides that seem to have come into the tournament ready to go – Australia maybe, Scotland and Japan are the only sides that have approached their potential yet, in my view, along with Argentina. New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, South Africa, and England have either been poor - the latter pair - or haven’t needed to be good yet - the first pair, although New Zealand did have to work a bit harder for their win over Argentina. Wales have been poor but have still won a game that they should have needed to be on top form to win, so sit somewhere between the two positions.
Ireland v Italy – Pool D
For all that Italy have been poor so far, when there’s 10 minutes to go and Ireland are down a man, it looks like Ireland could suddenly be in a bit of trouble. What astonishes me is the response of Geordan Murphy, on commentary duty, to Peter O’Mahony’s yellow card. Firstly, he tries to say that leading into a ruck with your shoulder into someone’s head isn’t a yellow card offence, and then tries to say that the Italian player is positioned illegally – basically, he deserved it. If you make contact with the head of a player in that manner, you’re going to walk, regardless of whether the player is somewhere he shouldn’t be. It’s a tough game, but you still have a duty of care towards your opponents.
The standard of the commentary hasn’t been the best, with too many of the commentators being unable to provide any real balanced analysis when their team are playing. Brian Moore gets a lot of stick at times for his pro-England stance, but he is always willing to point out their failings, whilst the likes of Murphy seem to be more like cheerleaders than commentators.
It’s a shame, because the tournament has been bang on the money in every other way, with the crowds creating excellent atmospheres and the games delivering plenty to talk about.
Sadly for Italy, they can’t capitalise on their man advantage, losing line-outs and conceding penalties, and Ireland carry on undefeated. They should see off France on Sunday, but they’ll have to play a lot better than they do in this one. Italy could find themselves in a bit of bother against Romania, and the result of that game could be very important for the long-term future of the game on the continent. A win for Romania would give them 4 years to develop new players without worrying about qualification, whilst Italy would have to earn their place, which they haven’t had to do since the 2007 tournament, and they could find that come the next tournament their claim to be the 5th or 6th best in Europe looking very hollow.
Canada v Romania – Pool D
I’ve got mixed emotions at the end of this one – I’m very pleased for Romania because of how they pull themselves back into the game, and the fact that they can still challenge Italy for 3rd place on Sunday.
At the same time, I feel a bit sorry for Canada, who don’t really deserve to come away from the tournament without a win. I’m also frustrated with Jamie Cudmore, who gives away the most stupid of penalties in the dying minutes of the game when he comes barrelling into the side of a ruck. It’s a foolish mistake for a player of his experience to make, but sadly not entirely out of character for him. Just when Canada need to keep the ball alive and look to turn it over, he gives the advantage back to Romania and they don’t let go of it.
I’m not sure that Romania are quite capable of beating Italy based on this display, but it certainly isn’t inconceivable. One thing is for sure, they won’t go down easily.
Fiji v Uruguay – Pool A
‘J P Doyle is fast becoming one of the best referees in the world’, claims one of the commentators early in the game. That’s not a world any of us deserve to be in. Quite honestly, he’s terrible in this game, and I can’t recall ever having seen him do anything that has made me think he’s better than mediocre.
One of the poorest aspects of his performance in this one is the way he talks to the Uruguayan players. At one point, he refers to an offence being committed by ‘the one with the moustache’, which leads to a lot of confused looks from the Uruguayans – possibly they aren’t familiar with this English word, but I suspect it’s the fact that there’s more than one player that could apply to. The TV cameras certainly aren’t sure, as they focus on the wrong one.
He uses terms like ‘cynical’, and never asks them if they’re clear on what he’s telling them, which should be a given when you’re refereeing a team whose first language isn’t English. The French always seem to get a French-speaking referee, yet there obviously aren’t any Spanish-speaking referees available. With 10% of the teams in the tournament being Spanish-speaking nations, surely something could have been done about this? There is one Argentine referee involved in the tournament, Federico Anselmi, but he’s only there as an assistant, and isn’t used for this game. He’s down for the England v Uruguay game, but that’s the only Uruguay game he’s involved in, and that seems very odd to me – why not use him for all of their games?
Furthermore, if you can’t control the tensions in a game like this, with very little on the line, you can’t be considered to be a top referee. The players don’t stop scrapping because he tells them to, they stop because he keeps reminding them that there are cameras everywhere. That sums his performance up, to me.
As much as Doyle doesn’t do much of a job towards controlling the flare-ups, in a way they’re almost welcome – everyone keeps themselves so bottled up now, and I’m not sure it’s a better game for the lack of a bit of handbags, with players flying into rucks from all angles instead, often with as much intent to harm as they would if there were a few fists flying.
Certainly, there’s more chance of them doing someone a serious injury at the ruck than in a bit of a scuffle - if someone like Michael Hooper was of a mind to do me harm, I’d rather him be trying to hit me, when I might be able to react and defend myself, or hit him back as a means of discouraging him (or make him pity me enough that he stops), than come flying into my head with his shoulder at a ruck when I’m fighting for the ball and don’t see him coming.
As they have done throughout their games so far, Uruguay battle away throughout, and they deserve to get a couple of scores. The sight of them celebrating their first try is a wonderful thing, and it’s an image that most of us can appreciate – nearly everyone has played the game will have been involved in matches where you know the odds are against you and that victory isn’t winning the game but getting anything out of it at all. That’s been their entire tournament, but they’ve not let themselves stop trying to get something out of it.
Fiji score a few nice tries, and they’ll probably look back on this as being a good tournament overall considering the group they were in, but I’m not sure why there’s so many people claiming that they’ve been hard done by in being placed in this group, or any other team in the group, for that matter. With more sides becoming genuinely competitive, some of the bigger names aren’t going to make the cut, and surely that’s a good thing for the game as a whole? Yes, doing the draw so far out probably isn’t the best way to do things, but there were always going to be teams who would be aiming for the last 8 who don’t make it. If Fiji were in any other group, they still wouldn’t have got through.
Let’s look at the other groups - if they were in Pool B, they’d have had to beat two of South Africa, Scotland and Japan. In Pool C, they’d have had to beat either New Zealand or Argentina. In Pool D, they’d have had to be beat two of Ireland, France and Italy. Yes, they may have been capable of 3rd place in any of those groups, but that’s not a given, and there’s not a group I can see them qualifying from. That’s life, sadly.
South Africa v USA – Pool B
A big win for South Africa, but is it really just papering over the cracks? Yes, they’ll finish top of the pool, with Scotland and Japan battling it out for the other spot, but there’s a fresh wind blowing in the game, and I don’t think the Springboks are going to like it – sides like Japan and Scotland are showing you don’t have to place physical dominance at the heart of your team to get success. Admittedly, neither team has quite perfected the style of play that they’re looking for just yet, and they may not have the players to really do so, but if other sides see these sort of teams achieving results with a style built on playing a bit of rugby rather than bashing away in the hopes of finding a gap, then they’ll start to do the same.
As for the Americans, I’m not sure what they can take out of this tournament so far, and I think they’ll end up coming away with nothing – on current form, I wouldn’t see them beating Japan, but after a short turnaround, they’re most definitely the underdogs, and by some way.
Unlike a lot of the ‘smaller’ nations in the tournament, I don’t see money as being the issue for the game in America. They need to find a way to get kids playing the game, be it through schools or clubs, but it has to be a strategically targeted approach – schools that have only had limited success in American Football, or that contain high numbers of pupils whose cultural background may not lead them towards gridiron. For right now, there isn’t much point trying to introduce the game into schools that have their own football stadiums – in these schools, the football team is an industry, and schools won’t want to do anything that could potentially damage this important revenue stream.
Either that, or they need to start really hitting the universities hard – with American football being very much a game played by children and professionals, there must be thousands of players who finish high school , aren’t good enough to go to college on a football scholarship, but still want to play. They might not be the best players in the world, but the more people playing, the more games there are, and the more potential stars have the opportunity to develop.
I’d like to say I’m wishing them luck for their final game, but I’m really not – I’ll be backing Japan all the way, as they’ll hopefully still be in with a shot of the quarter finals at that point. What a way to finish the pool stages that would be!
Namibia v Georgia – Pool C
‘What if?’
You can imagine that question rolling around the mind of Jacques Burger, sat on the sideline after an injury forces him out of the game. How many points is one player worth? In the case of Burger, definitely a couple, I’d say.
In fairness to Georgia, they showed that they’re becoming a team that can battle back when needed, which is something every top side has to do at some point - they don’t really deserve to win, but they do. Even New Zealand don’t deserve to win every game they win.
There’s one more game for Namibia, and I can’t see them beating Argentina, but based on what we’ve seen of them, if Phil Davies is able to smuggle any of his team across the border in his suitcase and deposit them at Parc Eirias, they’d be more than welcome.
The Last Batch of Pool Games
We’re down to the last 8 pool games, and there’s still plenty to play for. Of the 8 matches, only one can have no bearing on qualification – England v Uruguay in Pool A. I’m not going to be mischievious and predict a Uruguay win, but I am predicting I won’t be watching this one live – with Wales playing Bosnia in the football, and the Super League Grand Final on at the same time, this one can wait until Sunday.
The two remaining Pool C games could theoretically have an impact upon who wins the group, as there are only 4 points separating New Zealand and Argentina, but that should be done and dusted once New Zealand put 40 or 50 points on Tonga and Argentina do similar to Namibia.
Whilst we already know that France and Ireland will be going through in Group D, we still don’t know who will win the group. I’ve got this sneaking feeling that France could get one over on Ireland, who haven’t done a lot yet and struggled last weekend against Italy, whilst France have coasted through so far. Also, I’m just not convinced that Ireland are as good as they think they are, whilst we aren’t really sure yet about whether France are actually any good.
Italy v Romania is the other game in Pool D, with 3rd place up for grabs and the automatic qualification that it brings. Given a few days more rest, I think Italy will edge this one, but not by a lot.
There’s still a spot up for grabs in Pool B, with Scotland facing Samoa and Japan facing the USA. Samoa have had a poor tournament, but will still think they can win this one, whilst Scotland have been quietly impressive in how they’ve gone about their business. I’m going to be bold and predict a draw, whilst Japan will beat USA with a bonus point and go through. Well, that’s what I’m hoping for, at any rate, as I can’t see Scotland getting nothing out of Samoa.
And then we’ve got the big one, so far as we’re concerned in Wales. Before this week, my prediction was that Australia would need to win this one to qualify, as I thought England would beat them last weekend. Obviously, that’s not the case anymore, and with Michael Hooper taking a week to think about what he’s done, things look a little different now. I’m going to let my heart rule my head on this one, and predict a Welsh win.
Enjoy the games!
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