King_D'Arcy
First XV
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- Feb 26, 2007
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I thought a fun way to look back over this years RWC would be to rate each team out of 10.
Pool A
New Zealand 9/10 - Deserving champions. Totally dominant in every match bar the final. New Zealand are definitely head and shoulders above the rest of the world. They lost their best player early on and still managed to do it convincingly.
France 7/10 - Definitely the toughest team to rate. Never great except for in the final. They still managed to get there though which is impressive, regardless of how it happened. They have to lose points for losing to Tonga though.
Tonga 8/10 - Impressive against France. Messed up their own chances of qualifying by losing to Canada earlier in the competition though. Still, the win against France alone earns them a high rating.
Canada 7/10 - They definitely look like a team on the rise. Did well to come and beat Tonga. Was probably their number 1 goal coming into the competition really. Hilarious repeat of 207 by drawing with Japan.
Japan 6/10 - Another world cup without a win for the Japs. Was hoping for better from them. Maybe my expectations of them were too high but I thought they were good enough to compete with Pacific Island teams.
Pool B
England 7/10 - They managed to come out on top of their gritty group. Failed to inspire in any of their matches but any team that can top their group by playing half-well is a good team.
Argentina 7/10 - Argentina always bring their best performances to the world cup. This year was no exception. Unfortunately their team this year isn't as good as previous Argentinian world cup teams so they could only do so much. They still challenged every team they met, including the All Blacks to an extent.
Scotland 5/10 - Will they ever find their feet. They're still struggling to score tries even against minnow sides. Should've won their match against England.
Georgia 7/10 - Won their main match against Romania and gave Scotland and Argentina a scare.
Romania 6/10 - Didn't win a match but gave Scotland a bit of a scare.
Pool C
Ireland 8/10 - Really good games against Aus, Russia and Italy. Poor against Wales though. Still; It's the best world cup we've ever had... which is sort of sad
Australia 7/10 - Their poor scrum was exposed against Ireland. They have the best flanker in the world in David Pocock though who put in what was possibly the performance of the tournament against South Africa.
Italy 4/10 - Italy shoulda been looking to challenge both Australia and Ireland. Instead hey were beaten fairly convincingly by both.
USA 7/10 - Denied Ireland a bonus point and almost did the same against Italy
Russia 5/10 - They may have lost all their matches, but it was their first world cup. They managed to score 3 tries against Aus and Italy and 2 against Ireland.
Pool D
South Africa 7/10 - Topped the toughest group and were unfortunate not to make the semis. Still, by their standards not a great tourney.
Wales 9/10 - Looked world class. They dominated Ireland in the quarters and had they 15 men woulda destroyed France. Can consider themselves unlucky not to have been in the final. Who knows what coulda happened then?
Samoa 7/10 - Could definitely have made the quarters had it not been for poor refereeing decisions and discriminatory fixture scheduling. They brought this discrimination to our attention and hopefully the IRB will work on fixtures favouring bigger teams less in 2015.
Fiji 2/10 - What a huge fall from grace. They looked like a minnow team. Their huge 66-0 loss to Wales was a very low point for Fijian rugby
Namibia 4/10 - Didn't too much to impress. They were comprehensively beaten by every team they faced.
Pool A
New Zealand 9/10 - Deserving champions. Totally dominant in every match bar the final. New Zealand are definitely head and shoulders above the rest of the world. They lost their best player early on and still managed to do it convincingly.
France 7/10 - Definitely the toughest team to rate. Never great except for in the final. They still managed to get there though which is impressive, regardless of how it happened. They have to lose points for losing to Tonga though.
Tonga 8/10 - Impressive against France. Messed up their own chances of qualifying by losing to Canada earlier in the competition though. Still, the win against France alone earns them a high rating.
Canada 7/10 - They definitely look like a team on the rise. Did well to come and beat Tonga. Was probably their number 1 goal coming into the competition really. Hilarious repeat of 207 by drawing with Japan.
Japan 6/10 - Another world cup without a win for the Japs. Was hoping for better from them. Maybe my expectations of them were too high but I thought they were good enough to compete with Pacific Island teams.
Pool B
England 7/10 - They managed to come out on top of their gritty group. Failed to inspire in any of their matches but any team that can top their group by playing half-well is a good team.
Argentina 7/10 - Argentina always bring their best performances to the world cup. This year was no exception. Unfortunately their team this year isn't as good as previous Argentinian world cup teams so they could only do so much. They still challenged every team they met, including the All Blacks to an extent.
Scotland 5/10 - Will they ever find their feet. They're still struggling to score tries even against minnow sides. Should've won their match against England.
Georgia 7/10 - Won their main match against Romania and gave Scotland and Argentina a scare.
Romania 6/10 - Didn't win a match but gave Scotland a bit of a scare.
Pool C
Ireland 8/10 - Really good games against Aus, Russia and Italy. Poor against Wales though. Still; It's the best world cup we've ever had... which is sort of sad
Australia 7/10 - Their poor scrum was exposed against Ireland. They have the best flanker in the world in David Pocock though who put in what was possibly the performance of the tournament against South Africa.
Italy 4/10 - Italy shoulda been looking to challenge both Australia and Ireland. Instead hey were beaten fairly convincingly by both.
USA 7/10 - Denied Ireland a bonus point and almost did the same against Italy
Russia 5/10 - They may have lost all their matches, but it was their first world cup. They managed to score 3 tries against Aus and Italy and 2 against Ireland.
Pool D
South Africa 7/10 - Topped the toughest group and were unfortunate not to make the semis. Still, by their standards not a great tourney.
Wales 9/10 - Looked world class. They dominated Ireland in the quarters and had they 15 men woulda destroyed France. Can consider themselves unlucky not to have been in the final. Who knows what coulda happened then?
Samoa 7/10 - Could definitely have made the quarters had it not been for poor refereeing decisions and discriminatory fixture scheduling. They brought this discrimination to our attention and hopefully the IRB will work on fixtures favouring bigger teams less in 2015.
Fiji 2/10 - What a huge fall from grace. They looked like a minnow team. Their huge 66-0 loss to Wales was a very low point for Fijian rugby
Namibia 4/10 - Didn't too much to impress. They were comprehensively beaten by every team they faced.
