Rugby World Cup 2011 Review: Part 4

[M Two One]

It has been well documented that over the four years after the Pumas attained third place in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, they have had very few matches. To be precise they have played 27 matches and 8 of those were the amateur side against Chile and Uruguay, so they really have had just 19 matches. With limited opportunities, they have struggled and looked extremely poor at times. A far cry from the side which beat all the 6 Nations sides between 2004 and 2007.

There were rumours prior to the world cup that Argentina would be kicked out of the proposed four nations if they failed to reach the quarter finals. Luckily, they managed to reach the quarters and after a very good losing effort against the almighty All Blacks, their campaign has been generally seen as a success (83% of Pumas fans on espn.com rate the campaign as good). However, looking at the Pumas with a glass half empty, they were lucky to beat Scotland as Felipe Contepomi ran a long way offside whilst charging down a Parks drop goal. With the glass half full they could have beaten England if they had brought their kicking boots.

Contepomi had a tournament kicking success rate of 42% which hampered the Pumas throughout and the team could have faced a much weaker side in the quarter finals in France, and then who knows? Credit must be given to Argentina, as despite poor displays over the past couple of years, the time they spent together this tournament made a big difference.

What will give Pumas fans most heart from this tournament is their performance against the All Blacks. The bookies were offering just under 30 point handicaps for that match but they managed to stifle them and stayed in touch until the last fifteen minutes, the final scoreline 33-10 didn't really reflect the match as they didn't get a bit of luck here and there to make the scoreline look better for them as France had earlier in the tournament.

Overall this felt like a tournament that was completing the final phase of their transition into the four nations—a final step which has proven difficult. Unlike 2007, when the Pumas lost the likes of Pichot, Longo, Corleto, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe and several other players, they looked like they were about to start to wane, this time in 2011, it feels as if the players are ready to get a lot better, not worse. Players like Figallo, who was a revelation at tighthead, Imhoff and Creevy are ready to begin the new era of Pumas rugby, add to that the Pumas best player Juan Martín Hernández, if he can regain his fitness and form from 2005 to 2007.

Finishing on a positive note for the Pumas, it should be noted that they scored two of the best tries of the tournament—one an individual effort by Lucas González Amorosino and another great move which involved great hands from several Pumas players. - p.d.



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Unfortunately for England, their world cup campaign very much resembled one of the recent campaigns by their football counterparts. On the pitch their performances never really clicked together and off the pitch they were stung by a series of tabloid operations. England had been going backwards right from the backend of the 6 Nations, even after their crushing defeat to Ireland several key players such as Ben Youngs, Toby Flood and Tom Croft had gone on a slump of form.

Despite poor form throughout the pool stages, England went unbeaten following ugly wins against Argentina and Scotland. Some even considered that these ugly wins were just what England does best; grinding out results, much like in 2007. However, at that time the English grounded out wins against stronger opposition in Australia and France and were the underdogs in those matches. This time they had to struggle to win against teams not as good as them.

From watching the side play with their team selections it looked as if the tactics were to play negative rugby; Wilkinson's selection backfired as his goal kicking went to pieces and he failed to use his backline, especially the wingers in the way Toby Flood can do as he showed at the end of the Scotland match. The majority of fans were yelling for Wilkinson to replace Flood at the start of the World Cup after some decent performances in the warm ups, but after those poor displays in the pool matches, perhaps a braver, less conservative coach would have realised Wilkinson wasn't playing well and replaced him.

In the centres, Mike Tindall, another survivor from 2003, looked lethargic and ineffective and was being carried by young Manu Tuilagi. In the quarter final, England went into their match again as favourites against France, but a first half French display put a sleepy England right out of the tournament. Sleepy is basically what England were throughout the tournament in truth. With the end of the tournament there has been much debate over what should be done now in preparation for the 2015 World Cup which England will host. There has been much debate over management with it unclear over whether Johnson will jump before being pushed or try to hold on for another four years. Meanwhile, in the background there is a shambles at the RFU which can only be summed up simply as a mess.

On the pitch Lewis Moody probably did the right thing to retire, but that leaves a conundrum as who should be captain. Some say that Tom Wood could be a good leader like Warburton has been for the Welsh and with no other obvious candidates I wouldn't disagree. If Wood were to play 7 he would be pretty much guaranteed his spot at least for the 6 Nations as Haskell has gone to Japan, Fourie is injured and Robshaw is out of favour. Most of the other players who are more than likely to be starting in 2012 are too young or do not possess leadership qualities.

Other than a few members who will likely be pushed out within the next twelve months, this squad's time is more likely to come for the home world cup in 2015. There are also several youngsters that have been impressing in the Premiership that will also be good enough within four years time. The question now is who is the right man to construct a side to challenge for the 2015 tournament? - p.d.



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Ireland's world cup could be viewed as either a success or a disappointment, depending on how high your personal expectations were. Coming into the tournament, the Irish lost all four of their world cup warm ups, most notably the home-and-home against the French. With their final defeat to England at home, it almost seemed to lift a bit of weight off of the players' shoulders as the media no longer put the Irish in a favorable position.

Drawn into Pool C with Australia, Ireland was immediately looked at as one of two possibilities (the other being Italy) to move on to the quarters in second place. The Italians came away with a huge victory against the French a few months prior during the 6 Nations and with a solid effort against the Wallabies in their first match in New Zealand, it looked like a possibility after all that they could make it out of the group over the Irish.

Ireland's first match against the United States was a decent performance marred mostly by poor ball handling and dreadful kicking, even for bad weather. Fly half Jonathan Sexton went 1 for 5 on penalties before eventually being subbed off for Ronan O'Gara, but wing Tommy Bowe put together a quality performance scoring two tries, including the one that changed the face of the match at the death of the first half. Despite their disappointment, the Irish managed to pull out the stops against the Aussies by kicking their way to a memorable win. At this point everything was turned upside down as Italy's performances against Russia and the United States were of the quality expected from a team taking part in the 6 Nations.

With Australia securing wins against the bottom two nations, Italy needed to secure a win over the Irish in the final match of the pool to have any chance of moving on. Ireland proved their worth by not only securing the win to put them on top over Australia, but also dominated the Italians throughout the second half of the match. O'Gara started this one and brought a solid kicking game to combine with three tries, two of which were scored by wing Keith Earls who had two in the prior match against Russia as well.

Heading into their quarterfinals match against Wales, Ireland were once again viewed as the underdogs despite topping their pool. While they were tied with Wales during the first stage for points allowed, in a three way tie for second best, they were nowhere near the same level of scoring production that the Welsh possessed so far. The match didn't start well either with Wales scoring a try within the first few minutes. Ireland came back early in the second half with Earls scoring his fifth try of the tournament to draw level, but soon after, the Welsh took over. Ireland was eliminated in the group stage four years ago as favorites, but this time it was in the knockout stages by a strong Welsh team. Thinking about it that way, despite the final score, they have much to be proud of.

The next four years will surely be a big transition for Ireland as many of their staples will be retired by the time the 2015 Rugby World Cup comes along. However, young players like Keith Earls and Cian Healy among others give the nation hope of reaching well beyond the quarterfinals in a nation close to home. - M



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Defending world cup champions, South Africa, went into this tournament with a squad full of veteran players after basically forfeiting any chance of winning this years tri-nations by deciding to allow many of their players to recover from ****ling injuries, rather than play in the away games against Australia and New Zealand. They did secure a home win against the All Blacks when their veteran players returned, but there was always conjecture from people outside of the squad and management team as to whether coach Peter de Villiers was doing the right thing by holding on to some of their older players.

South Africa were placed in Pool D with fellow quarterfinals contenders Fiji, Manu Samoa, and Wales, as well as Africa's second world cup qualifier, Namibia. It was always going to be one of the tougher pools to advance from, but South Africa were the top seed and were expected to finish there.

The draw saw that the Springboks played against Wales in the opening match, one that would possibly determine which nation would qualify through the first and second positions. Wales proved to be a team on the rise and went on to be one of the better teams of the tournament, but the Springboks won the match by a single point in controversial circumstances, with a Welsh penalty kick that appeared to go over the cross bar that was not awarded by the referee. The end result was pivotal, not just because of the controversy, but because of the injuries incurred before and during the match. Veteran lock, Bakkies Botha was ruled out days before the match, meaning that another veteran, Danie Rossouw, started in his place. Frans Steyn was moved into the 12 jersey for the remaining pool matches due to an injury to Jean De Villiers.

The Springboks went on to beat Fiji, Namibia and then Samoa in their final pool match. It was probably the Samoan match that proved to have the most effect on the flow of South Africa in the quarterfinals. Frans Steyn was in great form with the boot and was taking the ball to the line to provide much of the forward momentum in the back line, but was invalided out of the tournament after this match. Open side flanker Heinrich Brüssow also incurred cracked ribs which prevented him from playing much of a part against Australia.

The quarterfinal against the Wallabies was probably not expected, but the Wallabies loss to Ireland in pool play meant that both of these teams ended up facing each other sooner than either side probably would have wished for. This match was a tight tussle with the Springboks dominating both possession and territory, but it was the Wallabies that prevailed by two points after a silly penalty was given away for taking out a Wallaby jumper in the lineout in a dangerous fashion. This meant that the Springboks exited at a much earlier stage than most would have expected pre-tournament. Many have suggested that the Springboks didn't get the rub of the green with the refereeing decisions in the quarterfinal match, but you've got to maintain discipline, take your scoring opportunities and remove all poor refereeing decisions out of the equation.

The combination of pre-tournament injuries and those incurred during the tournament, combined with the decision to hang on to some players too long, really torpedoed South Africa's chances. The Springboks now enter an interesting rebuilding phase for the next world cup with the retirement of several senior players. - S​

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[M Two One]

We apologize for the delay, we should have single blogs up soon for individual discussion as well as a countdown for the top four.

 

[ckell]

I don't think there's any doubt that England disappointed the most. I mean, you could make a case for the South Africans I suppose with regard to some of their bland attacking play, but England were definitely the one team that severely underperformed. There was just something missing from the start with them.