Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
We now arrive at the business end of the tournament with the hosts of the Rugby World Cup, becoming the first home nation in the history of the competition to be eliminated in the pool stage.
Not that any England supporter should be surprised, the rugby fraternity merely following in the same pattern of early exits as their football and cricketing (Ashes withstanding) brothers, both of which have made an inglorious return home within the last year and a half.
The hype that allowed expectations to rise was based more on hope with the attempt at free-flowing rugby replacing the technical basics in the pack, thereby removing the basic platform on which victories are usually built.
However, given that their own governing body effectively wrote off their chances beforehand, preferring to focus on 2019 with this young crop, clearly their supporters allowed home advantage to rule their heads. England appears to have sunk below its swinging chariot.
Indeed, the post mortems had begun by half-time with most centering around selection, both before the tournament and during. It will be interesting to see whether the RFU rescinds its earlier decision to only select UK-based players as this deprived them of both the current and past European ‘players of the year’. Australia has demonstrated the impact this can have.
Many believed that they could not sink lower than in 2011 when, exiting having lost in the quarter-finals, they returned to face the music that first started playing in the nightclubs they frequented yet was dwarfed by the cacophony of media banging the drums of execution for many of the squad.
As England debates whether head coach, Stuart Lancaster, should now be the first head on the block, the progress and structures he has overseen since that time must be remembered. Shades of Arsene Wenger, perhaps, although I personally believe that he should at least be presented an opportunity to continue to build, assuming certain deficiencies are addressed.
Wales, first, and then Australia, both showed the way, placing pressure on the rucks and mauls and, crucially, demonstrating greater discipline, rendering their pre-billed ‘all-or-nothing’ head-to-head merely a group decider, albeit one that should allow simpler progress through the knockout phase.
Despite England breaking the gain-line with greater frequency and carrying the ball further, they lost both games as a result of needless errors and indiscipline. They had spoken beforehand that statistically the strongest defence get to place their hands on the Webb Ellis trophy, yet they failed to heed their own advice.
The Group of Death has, therefore, been a damp squib meaning that the neutral armchair observer can be thankful for South Africa’s implosion against Japan, the greatest upset in the history of the competition, for heightening the excitement.
The fickle nature of the sports fan can be witnessed with their subsequent progress. Having committed sporting hara-kiri against the Japanese, many called for captain, Jean de Villiers, to be dumped. That it was a sizeable Samoan to heed the call, fracturing his jaw and forcing an end to his career, ensured that de Villiers suddenly was rendered ‘irreplaceable’, raining more doom and gloom amongst the suffering supports.
Of course, normality has returned with expected and comfortable victories against Samoa and Scotland ensuring progress from one of the easiest groups in the competition.
The Springboks would have expected an easy passage through the group and having refocused can now relax against the US (although not to the same extent that they did against Japan) as they await the loser of the Wales v Australia match.
In the other half of the competition New Zealand has, as expected, strolled through its opening fixtures with both Antipodean countries demonstrating greater professionalism and ability than their southern hemisphere counterparts.
Pool C did produce the other surprise of the tournament when Georgia defeated Tonga, although this failed to hit the headlines as it occurred on the same day as Japan’s famous victory.
What this result did emphasise was that the younger rugby playing nations are raising the standard of their game which bodes well for future competitions. While results in these early group games are largely predictable, the closer scorelines endorse the importance of allowing these minnows exposure to the world stage and the opportunity to play against the best.
Ireland and France will face off in the final match of the group stages to decide who plays the All Blacks in the first round of the knockout. Both teams have looked comfortable in their early strolls although Ireland look to have the edge with both offense and defence, yet I don’t believe that either can seriously trouble the Kiwi juggernaut.
Of course, it is impossible to judge the form and fitness of a side until they are truly tested with only the Group A representatives having that experience, although the Aussies may question that!
However, I have seen nothing to date that suggests the Webb Ellis will not be heading to one of the Antipodean Islands. New Zealand has an older squad although Australia, assuming they play hard and go for the win against the Welsh, will be more fatigued. As ever in this brutally physical game, keeping key personnel fit is crucial.
At the moment I am sticking with the Kiwis to claim the title.
Off the pitch I have been intrigued to watch how a positive result for a nation can seemingly, magically, render the views of their followers all important. A win appears to mean that the view of their supporters is the only opinion that counts.
