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Epic clashes, lopsided groups and future changes: 5 RWC talking points
By PA
The 10th edition of the World Cup was also its longest, producing highs and lows across its eight weeks.
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Here the PA news agency examines five talking points arising from the tournament hosted by France.
Box office rugby
At its best, France 2023 has produced some of the greatest rugby ever played. The quarter-finals were the most captivating in the competition’s history with Ireland’s match against New Zealand and France’s clash with South Africa thunderous collisions that lifted the game to a new level. At the other end of the spectrum, Portugal flew the flag for emerging nations after producing a breakthrough World Cup the likes of which has not been seen before, culminating in a seismic upset of Fiji.
The injustice of the draw
For all the fireworks seen on the pitch, the draw divided the World Cup into two distinct halves – the heavyweights and outsiders. When the hosts and Ireland made quarter-final exits in nailbiters, much of the magic was drained from the event and the sight of New Zealand routing Argentina in the semi-finals was an eyesore for the game. World Rugby hopes that by making the next draw closer to the tournament in January 2026, the lopsided groups present in France will be avoided. And crucially, one week is to be taken off a World Cup that was too long for all concerned.
Break the World Cup cycle
England’s success in reaching the semi-finals despite their abysmal build-up and world ranking of eighth, as well as missing out on a place in the final purely because of a last-gasp Handre Pollard penalty, underlines the folly of the ‘World Cup cycle’. While the Webb Ellis Trophy remains rugby’s ultimate prize, it should not be pursued at the cost of success in Six Nations, summer tours and autumn campaigns. Eddie Jones’ over-riding focus was the World Cup at the cost of the here and now and England suffered as a result. As the unexpected progress made by Steve Borthwick’s side illustrates, take care of the present and let the World Cup look after itself.
Level the playing field
Samoa do not have a match scheduled for 2024 – an unacceptable situation for a side whose sluggish start to the World Cup was a reflection of their lack of time together. By the end of their group campaign they had gone within a whisker of beating England, hinting at the potential if only given the resources and exposure to regular Tests. For Samoa, read a host of emerging nations who need more meaningful fixtures if the Webb Ellis Trophy is to be a prize available to those outside the heavyweights. World Rugby is hoping that through the creation of the bi-annual, two-tier Nations Cup, as well as more crossover fixtures, that the playing field can be levelled.
Fan bonanza
The World Cup has unfolded in front of large crowds and raucous atmospheres, with the noise and colour brought by supporters following Argentina, Chile and Portugal warranting a special mention. And it is to the credit of France fans that they have stayed with the tournament despite the hosts’ quarter-final exit. Early teething problems included slow entry into grounds, resulting in a crush outside Marseille’s Stade Velodrome on the opening weekend, beer running out and transport issues, but they were eventually ironed out.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
Loved watching Portugal, hopefully Tier 2 get more games over next couple years
Will Samoa not play a minimum of 4 matches in 2024 as part of the revised PN cup?
The lopsided draw had the benefit of producing far more high quality close games. As a result we had Ireland vs SA, NZ vs France, Georgia vs Portugal, Fiji vs Portugal, Samoa vs England etc… most of which wouldn’t have happened if the pools were specifically drawn to get the top 4 teams to the semi finals.
Likewise we had 4 very high quality and closely matched quarter finals, and only one lopsided semi final. 5/6 finals games were anyone’s with 10 mins to play, and two of the top 4 teams are in the final having had to really earn it. No easy path to the final for anyone.
While this World Cup was always going to be harsh on the losers of the Pool a vs Pool B quarterfinals, and very harsh on Scotland, overall it has been the best tournament I can remember for the number of exciting games.
Personally I would replicate this draw every tournament. 1-4 seeds on one side, 5-8 on the other. Optimise for number of close games rather than the top seeds getting as far as possible.
The draw and scheduling issue has been ongoing and fixable since 2003. The issue now is why its taking major cock ups in tournaments for people to actually look at the draw and scheduling and change it?
Everyone knew that having Tier2 nations play every 4-5 days was wrong. Why did it take Japan’s amazing win over SA in 2015 to change it? And that’s all they changed.
The early draw has always created ‘Groups of Death’ while most of us probably had a smirk at England getting kicked out of the 2015 tournament they had Finalists Australia and a red hot Wales for company. The early draw/groups of death issue did not get resolved until now (20 years late) when traditional Powers NZ and SA are victims.
Look at the scheduling: Top Tier 1 nations like NZ/SA/ENG never as far as i have found have played a top 2 pool seed in the last match before a quarter. Much was made of France/Ireland’s poor showing in 2015. But France/Ireland had to play the week before the QTR in order to avoid playing favourites NZ. They absolutely smashed eachother! Ireland lost 5 to injury and all to fatigue.
In the QTR NZ/ARG put 105 points combined on Fra/Ire (deservedly on the day).
I know that Ireland played pretty well against a very strong Argentina side. NZ scored 62 against France. But how is this fair? I can only speak for Ireland’s games as I know those. In 2003 we ran finalists Australia to within a point and we got hockeyed the following weak by another tournament favourite France.
How is making decisions around how these tournaments are run?
Becuase surely supporters and players deserve better.
Finally look at this years Tier 2. Chile were drawn to get their rest day after their last pool match. So no rest day for them.
Its pretty simple. Seeds 4 and 5 paly on last day and not each other. That means seeds 1,2,3 can’t play eachother. Ergo fatigue levels are reasaobale in Quarters for all teams not just NZ/SA/ENG.
The comment about England and the cycle is also questionable.
England has an extremely strong chance of making that semi spot due to the draw and the fact that the team who emerged from teh FRance/SA battle was going to be physically and mentally weak.
Do people understand how close we were to the most one sided final since 1987 with the draw almost eliminiation 3 of 4 such high standard contenders before the final?
Who is not making these decisions and if the Irish and French have executives in any poistion of influence on that board WTF have they been doing?
Portugal is a great example. They had some 7’ success that is now translating into 15’s which is great to see. Getting pounded by NZ, SA or England won't help that development but regular exposure to tier one ‘A’ sides will. So would touring NZ and playing super rugby teams or NZ Maori etc. Also mandate the tier one nations to help develop coaching talent in the emerging countries.