Rugby World Cup 2019 - South Africa World Cup Champions

South Africa beat England 32-12. No tries for England who were on the back foot almost the whole game. The Springboks played to their strengths and kept field position, with the English pinned in their own half. Eventually the points came. Very sensible tactics from South Africa; kick for position, defend stoutly, put pressure on set pieces, kick the goals and seal the win with tries toward the end.

For me the decisive and most telling moment was in the first half, the Springboks up 6-3. England were hard on attack, threatening to score a try. Time and again they mounted attacks only for South Africa to push them back. South Africa eventually gave away a penalty, the score then stood at 6-6 when it could have been 6-10. England looked dejected, from that point on they never looked like scoring a try. South Africa were prepared to put their bodies on the line, several players suffered game ending injuries as a result of that defensive effort, but the team didn't buckle.

As a footnote, thought has to turn to whether England peaked too early. They played the perfect game against New Zealand in their semi-final, making it very hard for them to get back up for the final a week later.

Lawrence Dallaglio Deluded

Apparently, the former captain of England's rugby team, Lawrence Dallaglio thinks if England win the 2019 World Cup final against South Africa, that it would be the greatest rugby World Cup victory of all time.

Err, newsflash, the greatest final has already been played and that was in 1995, the game was between South Africa and New Zealand's All Blacks, a game that was won by the Springboks in overtime. It's great because of the political and social significance of the result. It united a fractured country. Nelson Mandela famously wore the Springbok uniform when greeting the players.

Then in second place we have the greatest feat, New Zealand going back-to-back in 2011 and 2015. Truly remarkable. That's similar to Brazil in soccer going back-to-back, 1958 and 1962.

If England do win in 2019 it can at least be said to be a proper win. England previously won a World Cup in 2003, a soft world cup that as they didn't defeat New Zealand on the way through.

However, I don't think England are going to win in 2019. I predict that will be South Africa, for the simple reason they have more to play for. They desperately want to equal NZ's three victories, and put themselves in place to score a back-to-back and in so doing go to the top with four titles. Watching the semi-finals, England will have to get back up again after playing out of their skins, while South Africa played in a very measured and calculating way against Wales. They'll have the reserves of endurance needed to win.

RWC 2019 Semi-Final South Africa v Wales

South Africa go through to the Rugby World Cup final against England, beating Wales 19-16. It was a tight contest but South Africa had the better bench while Wales had a couple of injuries, forcing them to make replacements earlier than expected. The Springboks were able to capitalise on this slight advantage.

I'm picking South Africa for the championship. My reasoning is twofold; England have already climbed Everest but to win the final they now have to climb K2. Meanwhile the Springboks must have the feeling they've been let out of jail after their loss to the All Blacks at the start of the tournament. They'll be out to steal the title from England, and all round I think they've got the talent to do it. South Africa by 10.

RWC 2019 Semi-Final England v New Zealand

England beat New Zealand 19-7. The All Blacks were thoroughly outplayed, the score flattered them. England were completely dominant, they read the NZ game well and effectively shut down the All Blacks possession. It's hard to think of a single thing NZ did well, apart from restricting the rate of England scoring, getting lucky at times with referee decisions that went their way.

For England, it's on to the final and facing either Wales or South Africa. My pick is for South Africa to take Wales out and go on to win the tournament.

NZ will need to re-think their approach, clearly the better nations have caught up and now have them figured out.

RWC 2019 Quarter-Finals

Rugby World Cup quarter-finals have gone the way people would expect; England easily dispatched Australia 40-16 (I got this one wrong), then in a thoroughly dominant display New Zealand's All Blacks crushed Ireland 46-14. The All Blacks were simply superb and if they maintain that form, they'll be marching into the final.

RWC 2019 - Japan beat Scotland

Japan have topped their group, going through unbeaten. In their last game they held on strongly to defeat Scotland. Earlier they beat Ireland as well, Japan have arrived on the world stage and surely now must be considered Tier 1.

The quarter-finalists are:

England v Australia
New Zealand v Ireland
Wales v France
Japan v South Africa

Based on current form, I'm picking the semi-finalists:

NZ v Australia
Wales v South Africa

And for the final:

NZ v South Africa

Cancelled Games: RWC 2019

Two games have been cancelled; they are All Blacks v Italy and England v France. The second of these wouldn't have caused a change in group outcomes, however the AB's v Italy game raises a question. It was possible that with a bonus point win, Italy could knock NZ out and South Africa and Italy go through. People are now crying favouritism.

Wait a minute, all teams knew the rules when they agreed to compete. What would be improper is changing venues at the last minute in order to engineer results. Tournaments by their nature have an air of uncertainty about them, so cancelling due to severe weather events is the only thing the organisers can do and remain impartial.

Typhoon Threatens Rugby World Cup Results

A Pacific Ocean typhoon called Hagibis is currently on course to disrupt the final Rugby World Cup group-stage matches. The tournament allows for washouts, each team receiving 2 points. Here's the rub; if the final games involving Ireland are affected, then Ireland could be eliminated. The number 2 team in the world could be out. Oh no.

Well, the organisers of the Rugby World Cup are planning to move the final Ireland game against Samoa to somewhere unaffected. What? The teams knew the rules when they entered the competition. The rules are meant to apply to every team equally. Get the feeling the tournament is rigged? Read about it here:

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby-world-cup-2019/2019/1007/1081517-irelands-final-pool-game-threatened-by-typhoon/

Rugby World Cup 2019 Heating Up

The 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan is proving to be a close tournament. We've had two major upsets, the first was Uruguay beating Fiji, but then Japan beat Ireland the world's second ranked team. Now we have Wales beating Australia. Wales have never won a world cup while Australia has won two. If this continues, New Zealand's All Blacks will cruise to their third straight world cup, as the strong opponents will be weakened, eliminated or find themselves on the wrong side of the draw.

RWC 2019 Uruguay v Fiji

The 2019 Rugby World Cup has had its first upset; Uruguay defeated Fiji 30-27. Now Uruguay have 4 days until they meet Georgia. If they manage to win that game and secure bonus points in the other games, they could qualify for the knock-out stages. Wouldn't that be amazing.

Rugby World Cup 2019

The Rugby World Cup is under way, exciting times indeed. I'm a supporter of the All Blacks, a team I never want to see lose. Just as well, as in fact, they rarely lose. Yay.

But even I can see this world cup is heavily stacked in favour of the All Blacks, and South Africa. That comes down to the structure of the tournament and what amounts to a very weak pool New Zealand and South Africa find themselves in. Not only that, but the pool's first and second place was essentially decided by the first game between the All Blacks and South Africa. 

Both teams are guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals where they're almost certain to advance as they'll play teams they'll probably beat. New Zealand will likely be playing Scotland, a team it has never lost to. South Africa will likely play Ireland, a team you'd fancy South Africa beating.

Across the competition you can find other situations that are less than ideal. For instance England are slated to win their pool, but then they'll either play Australia or Wales in their quarter-final. England could easily be out at that stage, not even making the semi-final.

What's the problem? As I see it the problem is with the way the game is structured globally, not just with the structure of this tournament which follows a familiar and popular pattern; pools, then knock-outs leading to a final.

Structurally, Rugby is not like Soccer (Association Football), the lesser teams are locked out and cannot develop. Unlike Soccer, where any team can beat any other team on the day, Rugby is an elitist game and the powerful countries entrench their position at the top. 

Solving this problem requires grassroots reform. That means international competitions with promotion and relegation. In this scenario Russia, Georgia and Japan would be able to qualify for the Six Nations; or Tonga, Fiji and Samoa qualifying to play in the southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship. Then when these teams get to the world cup, have a structure where losing a game may end up losing a life, not immediate elimination. This also allows pathways for lesser teams to advance. Whatever, the obvious bias has to be addressed as Rugby will stall in terms of global following if not corrected.

All Blacks for Rugby World Cup 2019

The Otago Daily Times gives this useful assessment of who is out and who is in: https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/no-squire-franks-laumape-miss-world-cup-selection