By Jonathan Bowen
The Rugby World Cup kicked off last weekend in Auckland. Eden Park was a sell out for the opening day’s games and with the promise of international superstar singer Rita Ora preforming live after the game’s completion it was a day of rugby not to be forgotten anytime soon.
The USA Eagles opened their tournament with a disappointing 10-22 loss to the Italians. In a game that the US team will look back on and think what might have been, it was simple errors that cost them dearly in the end. Italy’s surprise performance caught the US team on the hoop. Their aggression when running at the Eagle’s defensive line, breaking tackles, and their ability to score tries even with a player in the bin was the difference between the two sides. The Eagles will learn a lot from the game. They will need to strengthen their rolling mauls and passing to be a threat in the group, although a win in their next game against Japan will be a must if they want to provide themselves with a chance to qualify for the quarterfinal stage.
Canada started their tournament with a hammering of Japan 41 -5 in what is a statement to England, France and the Blackferns, that the Canucks are at the tournament to challenge for the title. Canada started the game with a try, but concerningly conceded a try to Japan within a couple of minutes after scoring. Once Brianna Miller scored in the 15th minute, Canada kicked into another gear and started to run over the top. Canada’s strengths were their team’s scrummages and their rolling mauls. Once the team got the mauls moving there was no stopping them. Canada’s next game will be against Italy. Canadian fans will be optimistic of a win however the Italians are not a team to be underestimated.
The Blackferns started the tournament with a solid win against the Wallaroos 41-17. They started the game slowly conceding the first three tries before superstar players Ruby Tui and Portia Woodman kicked into gear, scoring five tries between them showing the Wallaroos why they are second ranked team in the world. In the post-match interview the coach Wayne Smith mentioned that the slow start to the game will be something that will be addressed in training over the next week to avoid a repeat of it in their game against Wales this weekend.
France started the tournament strongly, beating South Africa 40-5 in what was a dominant display by France they took advantage of South Africa’s inexperience and basically scored at will. France’s player of the match Laure Sansus scored two tries and was instrumental in France’s ruck play. The next game in this group could be one of the great games in history, England vs France. The expectations are that both teams will be in the semi-finals, however will this be the game England need to lose to win the title?
England set the tournament alight with an eye catching demolition of Fiji, 84-14. This was a game between the professionals and the amateurs. Fiji started the game brightly and made some eye-catching breaks of the English defensive line which got the crowd roaring and chanting for them. England however just had too much talent and structure to their game. Claudia McDonald would go onto to score five tries herself in the game to justify why England are odds on favorites to win the tournament.
In other rugby news, the Emerging Ireland team rounded off its tour of South Africa with a good win against the Cheetahs to secure a three nil tour result. Emerging Ireland coaches Simon Easterby and Paul O’Connell were full of praise for the team. Simon was quoted in the post-match interview as saying a lot of players have put their hand up to challenge for a spot in Ireland’s World Cup squad next year in France.
World Rugby announced that there will be a meeting held in Auckland on November 11 with the various world rugby bodies to discuss the progress of women’s rugby and how the women’s game can be elevated to that of the same level as the men’s game? I expect the American and New Zealand rugby bodies to be vocal about creating a professional league for the teams not based in Europe! We shall see what comes from this meeting.
Australian Rugby came out during the week again re-iterating that if a fair TV rights deal cannot be agreed upon between the NZRFU and Australian Rugby, Australia will walk away from the deal and potentially start its own league within Australia. Watch this space, I believe American Rugby could be a huge beneficiary from this dispute.
World Rugby announced this week that they have purchased the rugby news site Rugby Pass. This announcement could make Rugby Pass the destination for all of world rugby’s latest news and results as well as live match content. This deal will make Rugby Pass the home of all the world’s rugby content.
If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or and at twitter@Jonatha25906847.