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The United States came into the world cup dragging around a list of poor results over several months prior, most notably a devastating loss to the English Saxons in the Churchill Cup and back-to-back losses against Canada had put the Americans on most pundits' hit lists for easy pickings in Pool C. The Eagles came into the tournament looking for two things—to beat Russia and give it everything against Ireland on September 11.
Despite their poor form heading in, the United States managed to achieve their goals. First in the match against Ireland, on what was obviously a big day in the minds of the players and their traveling supporters, they managed to play staggering defense for much of the first half until they let a try slip by just before the halftime whistle. Keeping it close until the last quarter of the match, Paul Emerick secured a try following a fantastic intercepted pass, leading to a conversion, which gave the team a result to be proud of.
During the following match, Russia came out strong in the opening minutes, but after the Eagles took the lead early they slowly began to look tired. After securing the win, Coach Eddie O'Sullivan rested most of his top players for the match against Australia due to their tight schedule. The match resulted in a blowout win for the Wallabies and although it was a great learning experience for the Eagles that were selected to play, it was more important to prepare for their final match against Italy in hopes of an upset to secure third place in the pool. Chris Wyles secured an important try early against the Azzurri, converting it himself, and kicked a penalty ten minutes after to draw level. However, Italy was not about to let this one slip away as the team still had hopes of pushing through to the quarter finals. Two minutes after the Wyles penalty, Italy scored another try and they didn't look back after their third ten minutes later.
With a solid performance against Ireland, a win over Russia and a bit of magic early against Italy, the United States managed to have a decent world cup. What hurt the team the most were their scoring struggles (they scored the least amount of points at the tournament), but this did not hamper their strong defensive approach throughout. Their top forwards played well, with flanker Todd Clever and lock Hayden Smith standing out amongst the rest. Tighthead prop Mate Moeakiola should also be noted as he secured his starting spot over Shawn Pittman coming on as a sub for loosehead stalwart Mike MacDonald against Ireland. With a great display of aggressive and intelligent tackles, his performance prevented any further scoring opportunities despite some of his teammates starting to crack.
The backs were another story entirely, struggling to score or produce much momentum for the team. The Eagles lacked a decent fly half without Mike Hercus and this left a gapping hole in their attacking game. Takudzwa Ngwenya could not be criticized for performances as there was absolutely no one there to help set him up, which left him out on the right wing like a ghost. The only true standout was outside centre Paul Emerick, who played exceptionally well against Ireland. Not only did he run the ball well, he played hard on defense and was as aggressive as the forwards, using his weight and strength to counter ruck intelligently.
We are seeing more players being picked up by European clubs as the sport continues to grow in the United States. With a professional league possibly on the horizon, one might wonder how good the Eagles will be ten to twenty years down the road. - M
Despite their poor form heading in, the United States managed to achieve their goals. First in the match against Ireland, on what was obviously a big day in the minds of the players and their traveling supporters, they managed to play staggering defense for much of the first half until they let a try slip by just before the halftime whistle. Keeping it close until the last quarter of the match, Paul Emerick secured a try following a fantastic intercepted pass, leading to a conversion, which gave the team a result to be proud of.
During the following match, Russia came out strong in the opening minutes, but after the Eagles took the lead early they slowly began to look tired. After securing the win, Coach Eddie O'Sullivan rested most of his top players for the match against Australia due to their tight schedule. The match resulted in a blowout win for the Wallabies and although it was a great learning experience for the Eagles that were selected to play, it was more important to prepare for their final match against Italy in hopes of an upset to secure third place in the pool. Chris Wyles secured an important try early against the Azzurri, converting it himself, and kicked a penalty ten minutes after to draw level. However, Italy was not about to let this one slip away as the team still had hopes of pushing through to the quarter finals. Two minutes after the Wyles penalty, Italy scored another try and they didn't look back after their third ten minutes later.
With a solid performance against Ireland, a win over Russia and a bit of magic early against Italy, the United States managed to have a decent world cup. What hurt the team the most were their scoring struggles (they scored the least amount of points at the tournament), but this did not hamper their strong defensive approach throughout. Their top forwards played well, with flanker Todd Clever and lock Hayden Smith standing out amongst the rest. Tighthead prop Mate Moeakiola should also be noted as he secured his starting spot over Shawn Pittman coming on as a sub for loosehead stalwart Mike MacDonald against Ireland. With a great display of aggressive and intelligent tackles, his performance prevented any further scoring opportunities despite some of his teammates starting to crack.
The backs were another story entirely, struggling to score or produce much momentum for the team. The Eagles lacked a decent fly half without Mike Hercus and this left a gapping hole in their attacking game. Takudzwa Ngwenya could not be criticized for performances as there was absolutely no one there to help set him up, which left him out on the right wing like a ghost. The only true standout was outside centre Paul Emerick, who played exceptionally well against Ireland. Not only did he run the ball well, he played hard on defense and was as aggressive as the forwards, using his weight and strength to counter ruck intelligently.
We are seeing more players being picked up by European clubs as the sport continues to grow in the United States. With a professional league possibly on the horizon, one might wonder how good the Eagles will be ten to twenty years down the road. - M
Japan has competed in every Rugby World Cup since it all began in 1987, but they have only managed one win. That last win came against Zimbabwe in the 1991 tournament and ever since it has been a struggle of poor results at the world's third most watched televised sporting event. The Brave Blossoms came close to their second cup win four years ago when they faced their first ever opponents in world rugby, Canada, but could only manage a draw.
Expectations were surprisingly high for Japan coming into this world cup, despite their record. With a blossoming league (no pun intended) and the nation earning the right to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, there is no question why Rugby union is growing quite fast in the land of the rising sun. With this increased interest comes expectation of improvement and Coach John Kirwan believed his side had it in them to secure a win this time around. Unfortunately, they were grouped in Pool A along with host nation favorites New Zealand and powerhouse France.
Japan's first match was against the French, and even though their schedule was tough, it wasn't condensed as other second tier nations' were, which meant that they were able to field their strongest side. Despite losing to France by a 26 points margin, this does not resemble the battle that took place throughout the match. New Zealand-born fly half James Arlidge put on what was likely the greatest individual performance of the entire tournament, scoring two tries and kicking for every other point for Japan to boot. His strength on the field was an inspiration for the rest of the team as they nearly took the lead with a quarter of the match left to play. France secured the win by turning it on late when their opponents lost steam, but most rugby fans will remember Japan's performance that day.
The match against New Zealand was a blowout as the All Blacks easily secured their second win in the pool. Japan's third match in the pool against Tonga was an important one and they gave it everything. Arlidge wasn't able to make an impact this time out, failing to convert three tries by his teammates in addition to having been yellow carded in the first half, his performance was a bit disappointing. Although this did not result in any major scoring opportunities for Tonga, Japan were at a loss without his strong play from the previous match. The rest of the team played well, but it wasn't enough to secure the win.
Understanding that Canada had beaten the Tongans previously did not deter the Brave Blossoms as they scored two tries in the first half, the first from hooker Shota Horie and the second from wing Kosuke Endo. Arlidge's kicking game was perfect, having converted both tries and kicking three penalties to give his side a temporary lead. However, they couldn't hold on and the match ended in a draw. Japan's backs Hirotoki Onozawa and Alisi Tupuailai also had solid tournaments and although both managed a try each, they likely leave New Zealand with desire for more.
The Brave Blossoms need to find more competition. Despite playing their first match in 1932, they have only played 194 matches over those 79 years—this is a common problem for second tier nations. If this team were to have regular tests more often, they could become a powerhouse. - M
Canada's form coming into the world cup was pretty good. They had backed up their runner up performance in the 2010 Churchill cup with a loss to the English Saxons (England A) in the final of the 2011 event. They followed this up with wins home and away in a two test series against the USA, a loss to an Australian Barbarians side that contained players from the Wallaby world cup squad and then a win against a Queensland XV in their final pre-tournament hit out.
Canadian coach, Keiran Crowley, stated before the tournament started that their aim was to secure third place in the pool to automatically qualify for the next world cup and attain the funding from the IRB that comes with it. With Tonga's win over France, Canada actually came within one upset victory of achieving this goal. The form of the team during the tournament may have surprised some pundits that didn't follow the tier two teams too closely before the tournament commensed, with many predicting that Tonga with their northern hemisphere professional players returning, would easily account for the likes of Canada and Japan.
Coach Crowley had built a strong team unit with a good mix of the few overseas based professional players he had available to him, such as Jamie Cudmore and DTH vander Merwe, and Canadian based amateur players. The squad included a strong, abrasive forward pack that surprised a few observers of the game as they were expected in some quarters to be out muscled by most of their opponents. To add to that their back line had a good mix of experience and young exciting players.
Crowley's approach to the tournament was to always play his strongest 22 available and he was immediately rewarded with a win over Tonga, but the fatigue factor of this policy certainly impacted on the team in their match against France, where they were competitive up until the 60 minute mark. They were perhaps a little lucky to secure a draw against Japan in the last minutes of that game, but looked to have third spot sown up until Tonga's victory over France relegated them to fourth spot in the pool. This left the team with the unenviable task of beating the All Blacks in their final pool match, and they were well beaten in the end.
The front row of Hubert Buydens, Pat Riordan, and Jason Marshall, ably supported by the locks, veteran Cudmore, and converted number eight, Jebb Sinclair, to turn an area of concern for Canada in recent years, the scrum, into an effective unit. The loose forward trio of Adam Kleeberger, Chauncey O'Toole and Aaron Carpenter, were also able to start in all of the matches, and combined well together. Carpenter ran very well with ball in hand from number eight and Kleeberger and O'Toole played effectively as two openside flankers. O'Toole arguably had the bigger reputation of the two, due to his exploits in the Churchill cup, but he seemed not to recover properly from a knock in the first match against Tonga and it was Kleeberger who was really the star in this tournament. In the backs, veteran scrum half Ed Fairhurst combined well with Ander Monro, who was often the steadying influence in the back line and was perhaps the unsung hero of the team to some extent. DTH van der Merwe was the star of the backline though and was superb at outside centre on both attack and defense.
The highlights of the tournament for Canada were their win over Tonga and the two tries scored by the utility back, Conor Trainor, against the All Blacks. Trainor is one of the young players in the squad and to have two tries in the bag against the All Blacks bodes well in the future for both himself and Canadian rugby. – S
Italy was simply a disappointment at this World Cup. Over Nick Mallett's four years the stats clearly show that losing margins have decreased, especially against the Tri Nations teams, but this side ended up no closer to qualifying than in 2007 or 2003. To be an Italy fan must be very frustrating as in most elements they are considered on par with their 6 Nations opponents.
There are two elements that mean they haven't yet progressed to one of the top 8 nations in the world and as most rugby fans know it is their post DomÃnguez fly half problems which hold them back. Their outside backs aren't great either, but it is possible to become a more than half decent team without them. However, it is not possible without a competent fly half and Italy's players in this all important position are poor to say the least.
It is evident that each new fly half is getting progressively worse with the likes of Orquera and Bocchino, who would both struggle to look good in France or England's third tier competitions, never mind showcasing as competent internationals. England fans may be surprised that Italy would probably bite your arm off if you offered them the much derided Andy Goode—who would likely have about 80 caps by now if he were Italian—although he's not great, at least his goal kicking ability is decent and he can tackle.
Italy have some fine players in their pack but shamefully, Castro, Parisse and Zanni are constantly let down by poor backs, and that was obviously the case during all important matches against Ireland and Australia. When the pack laid a foundation for the backs, the match against the Eagles was the best example of this, where Castro, Parisse and the pack left them on the rack to be thrashed, but yet the Italians had to rely on short range bomfs and a penalty try to get them a try bonus point.
In defence, the backs again looked weak, with the centre pairing being constantly being cut open by the Irish backs. To see O'Brien charge through Orquera (the worst tackler I've seen at international rugby) made me wince. Perhaps most importantly, the Italians lack an international standard goal kicker, Bergamasco has improved from when he started his goal kicking duties, but still, his success rate isn't too high.
Jacques Brunel, the former Perpignan coach, takes over now, and the Parisse generation of forwards will have one last world cup in four years to have some more to show for their time spent in the Italian jersey. - p.d.
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