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Georgia performed largely to expectations at this world cup, winning one match against Romania and giving all three tier 1 nations in their pool a decent match. Despite giving Scotland a tight matchâ€"although the Lelos didn’t test the Scottish try line muchâ€"then frustrating England, in a match that was by no means as one sided as the score line suggested and also leading Argentina at half time in their final match, there is a feeling that the Georgians didn’t quite do enough to earn matches with the lower ranked teams from the ten tier 1 nations clique.
The question is, where to from here for the Lelos? For those who don’t know, Georgia has dominated the 6 Nations B over the last four years, losing just one match despite having their Top 14 players being available for only half of those matches. They also demonstrated their dominance over European B sides at this world cup with a comfortable 25-9 win over Romania, despite the Georgian pack looking nervous at the start of the match. That pack, led by talisman Mamuka Gorgodze, did not take a step back against any opposition throughout the tournament.
The England result looks like an insult compared to the way they actually played as the penalties they earned were squandered due to their normally reliable kicker Merab Kvirikashvili’s goal kicking going awfully awry. Kvirikashvili only made one of his six penalty kicks in that match, that combined with the Georgians fading and conceding two tries late on (perhaps due to that entire side playing Scotland midweek) didn’t allow the Lelos the respectable score line they deserved. They also had to play Argentina after midweek and again faded after leading at half time.
The aim going forward in the future must be to break into the 6 nations, but it is very unlikely they will be put in without taking any scalps. There problem is how can the Lelos ever prove they are worthy of entering the 6 Nations if they never play any matches against those sides participating? Georgia didn’t have a single match against any tier 1 side between the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, despite very nearly beating Ireland in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Italy, before being added to what is now the 6 nations, played 17 matches against the 5 nations sides between the 1995 and 1999 world cups. There are critics out there who will say that Georgia is not good enough yet, they may be right, but the Lelos deserve opportunities (especially against Italy and Scotland).
Georgia, right now, is at the same level as Italy as both have good pack and poor backs. - p.d.
The question is, where to from here for the Lelos? For those who don’t know, Georgia has dominated the 6 Nations B over the last four years, losing just one match despite having their Top 14 players being available for only half of those matches. They also demonstrated their dominance over European B sides at this world cup with a comfortable 25-9 win over Romania, despite the Georgian pack looking nervous at the start of the match. That pack, led by talisman Mamuka Gorgodze, did not take a step back against any opposition throughout the tournament.
The England result looks like an insult compared to the way they actually played as the penalties they earned were squandered due to their normally reliable kicker Merab Kvirikashvili’s goal kicking going awfully awry. Kvirikashvili only made one of his six penalty kicks in that match, that combined with the Georgians fading and conceding two tries late on (perhaps due to that entire side playing Scotland midweek) didn’t allow the Lelos the respectable score line they deserved. They also had to play Argentina after midweek and again faded after leading at half time.
The aim going forward in the future must be to break into the 6 nations, but it is very unlikely they will be put in without taking any scalps. There problem is how can the Lelos ever prove they are worthy of entering the 6 Nations if they never play any matches against those sides participating? Georgia didn’t have a single match against any tier 1 side between the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, despite very nearly beating Ireland in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Italy, before being added to what is now the 6 nations, played 17 matches against the 5 nations sides between the 1995 and 1999 world cups. There are critics out there who will say that Georgia is not good enough yet, they may be right, but the Lelos deserve opportunities (especially against Italy and Scotland).
Georgia, right now, is at the same level as Italy as both have good pack and poor backs. - p.d.
Tonga's aim pre-tournament was to finish third in their pool, gain automatic qualification for the next tournament, and gain the IRB funding that comes with that. Their overall position not only reflects that they achieved this goal, but also how closely they pushed the other teams for an all important quarter finals spot. This was always going to be difficult to attain because pool favourites and eventual qualifiers, New Zealand and France, were never likely to have their qualifying spots challenged.
Tonga also had their share of off field dramas to contend withâ€"the quick turn around in the match scheduling that many sides had to endure, political interference in the appointment of the chairman of the Tongan Rugby union, and of course the threats of financial assistance being withdrawn by the IRB. The non selection of former captain Nili Latu and the restrictive nature of the IRB sponsorship rules were all off field distractions that they could have done without.
Their tournament started with a predictable loss to the All Blacks. Fielding their top side against the All Blacks was a tactical blunder by coach Isitolo Maka as he then, more or less, forced to name an under strength side to play a crucial match against Canada four days later. This gamble resulted in that match being lost and while this didn't prevent them from achieving third spot, it may have prevented them from progressing out of the pool stages.
While it is appreciated that the win against the French is a huge result for Tonga, and it is, in my opinion, the upset result of the tournament, it was disappointing that the Tongans didn't put any emphasis on scoring the four tries that would have put them into the quarterfinals. Regardless, Tongan supporters can rightly be proud of their team’s performance. In addition to their win against France, their second against Japan was by quite a convincing margin.
It's difficult to pick out star players, because it really was a team effort for all of their matches, based around hard, physical play by both forwards and backs alike. Top try scorer Siale Piutau was probably Tonga's best player. He had a strong tournament in the centres and was a handful for most sides that faced him. Wing Sukanaivalu Hufanga deserves special mention for his try in the France game, although he was later cited and received a five week suspension for his tip tackle on Vincent Clerc in the same match.
It was mission accomplished for Tonga, as they achieved their goal, but may have made harder work of their task than need be. - S
The Scots put themselves in a position to beat both Argentina and England and top the group, but the same old problem destroyed their chances of qualification. That problem was again tries, or lack of them. Although Scotland now and again can pull off a win with just penaltiesâ€"those wins are just a now and again occurrenceâ€"any tier 1 nation is guaranteed to beat them with just a try or two since the Scots are not going to run away with matches just scoring penalties.
Throughout the tournament Scotland scored just four tries, all of which in their first match against Romania. The following matches against Georgia, Argentina and England were a struggle, although all were admittedly tight matches, but even lowly Russia scored double the amount of tries Scotland managed to put on the board. Scotland actually has decent wingers, but it’s in the midfield where they struggle to find the right players.
Fly half Dan Parks can only really play for a kicking game plan and struggles to bring the wingers into play. This frustrates many Scottish fans, although to be fair to him he does offer a decent tactical boot. Their other fly half Ruaridh Jackson meanwhile, although better at using the backs outside him, doesn’t have Parks’ game control in tight matches.
Andy Robinson has a reputation for being a good coach, but a poor selector of centres (before the Argentina match he lived up to his rep). The centre partnership of Sean Lamont and Joe Ansbro had been one of the most improved aspects of Scotland throughout 2011, but for some bizarre reason Robinson decided to revert back to the plodding 2010 partnership of Graeme Morrison and Nick de Luca (who also messed up a rare opportunity for a try after coming on at half time in the England match) for the crucial Argentina match.
Robinson also persevered with his policy of switching captains every match; official captain Al Kellock wasn’t even required on the bench in the match against Argentina. To be fair, one correct selection decision Robinson made was to pit his strongest scrummagers against Georgia. Had Dickinson and Cross played, I believe the Scots would have lost that match. Euan Murray’s scrummaging was also an important part of setting up the platform to beat England, which the backs ultimately failed to capitalize on.
There is no need for Scotland to panic and change everything all at once despite missing out on the quarters. The Scots have fewer players than all of the other tier 1 nations, yet have proven on certain days they can beat all bar New Zealand. Perhaps they should look at their position in perspective. - p.d.
The Samoans were massively boosted over 12 months prior to the Rugby World Cup, with quality Super Rugby players such as Kahn Fotuali’i, Ti’i Paulo, Anthony Perenise, Taiasina Tuifu’a, George and Tusi Pisi and Paul Williams all declaring themselves eligible. That added to the returns of European based players Alesana Tuilagi, Sailosi Tagicakibau, Maurie Fa’asavalu and Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, all of whom had played very little for Samoa during the mid-World Cup period.
With players steadily becoming available to play for Samoa, they put in some good performances in the November internationals, and more notably, defeated Australia with a historic victory in Sydney, which fueled very high expectations for the world cup. During the tournament they were unfortunate to come up against Wales, who had stuttered since winning the Grand Slam in 2008, just as they clicked into some of their best form of the professional era. Samoa may have certainly qualified from Pool A, where France was struggling, and to a lesser extent, Pool B.
The second bit was either misfortune, a conspiracy from the IRB, or a very poor coaching error however you look at it, but Samoa had to play their biggest match against Wales with just three days rest after a match against Namibia. Along with the overall fatigue of the team, they lost two key players in Tuifu’a and Pisi. Both players had minor ****les which would have recovered in a week, but they didn’t manage in time. After the match, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapoluâ€"seen to some as a freedom fighter and to others as just a sore loserâ€"took to Twitter and did not hold back his opinion calling the rest period given to them all part of a conspiracy from the IRB against the tier two nations.
Sapolu also said that Wales wouldn’t have been able to play with three days rest like the Samoans had to, but in reality this is false as Wales would have rested their key players against Namibia and indeed did so later on. Samoa wanted their strongest team to play as much as possible given the lack of time together the squad had compared to the big nations over the past four years, and it was their first match of the tournament, but they really should have rested players against Namibia and trusted their second string. All things considered, they did have an opportunity against Wales, but they spent much of the match camped out on the Wales 22 metre line in the first half and ended up with players trying to be greedy five metres out to get the try for themselves.
Samoa's second match was a win over Fiji, a pathetic side compared to the one from the previous world cup. It was clear that Samoa's Pacific neighbours would them do no favours in beating Wales, so they had to beat the Springboks as well. Samoa put in a massive effort, but luck again wasn’t on their side. South Africa were favoured by Nigel Owens at the breakdown and the ref failed to see JP Pietersen off his feet at the ruck to rip the ball from Mahonri Schwalger as he was going for the line, but leaving "what ifs" aside, like the Wales match, Samoa spent plenty of time in the Bok 22 but were simply not clinical enough. Their misfortune was rubbed in further by the red carding of Paul Williams for pushing Heinrich Brüssow in the face, in a regrettable incident for all sides involved.
Unfortunately, there is unlikely to be any redemption for this Samoa side, the Pacific sides always have a high turnover of players and with most of the squad in their late twenties or early thirties, unless Samoa get their players to turn up for matches in between world cups, sadly this is probably the end of the world cup, and maybe the international careers, of several key players. - p.d.
