Rugby World Cup Team Ratings

[King_D'Arcy]

Even with that criteria France were better than a 7 don't you think? They came a kick away from being champions, against the best team in the world.

It's about how they played though, not how far they made it. Every game has been taken into consideration. You can't deny France were very, very lucky to make the final. Bar the final itself France failed to impress me in any game.

 

[james5000]

It's about how they played though, not how far they made it. Every game has been taken into consideration. You can't deny France were very, very lucky to make the final. Bar the final itself France failed to impress me in any game.

I think France played it perfectly. They flew under the radar the whole cup, they timed their run perfectly. They never showed their hand till when it mattered the most.
That's basically psychological poker, everyone knew that France can beat anyone on their day. They gave themselves an opportunity in the final and they nearly delivered. On a different day if the ball bounced their way they could have been champions.

 

[dullonien]

On a different day if the ball bounced their way they could have been champions.

Yes, and they could also have failed to get out of their group, or certainly not made it past the semi's. I agree with a rating of 7 for France, as they were simply dreadful for the majority of the tournament.

I'd also lower Wales' score to an 8. We were very good against SA, Fiji, Namibia and Ireland, however we failed to get the result against SA and France (despite an heroic effort against France with 14 men), and then looked very ordinary against Austrailia. Overall we had a great tournament I think, and could have easily made it to the final, but there's still one last step to go, and that is to start beating the big three on a regular basis, no more of this 1-3 point losses. We need to beat NZ in the coming 3 years aswell, then we can really say that something very special is happening. Untill then I'll lean towards the side of caution, because there have already been two false-dawns in the last 6 years.

 

[james5000]

Yes, and they could also have failed to get out of their group, or certainly not made it past the semi's. I agree with a rating of 7 for France, as they were simply dreadful for the majority of the tournament.

I'd also lower Wales' score to an 8. We were very good against SA, Fiji, Namibia and Ireland, however we failed to get the result against SA and France (despite an heroic effort against France with 14 men), and then looked very ordinary against Austrailia. Overall we had a great tournament I think, and could have easily made it to the final, but there's still one last step to go, and that is to start beating the big three on a regular basis, no more of this 1-3 point losses. We need to beat NZ in the coming 3 years aswell, then we can really say that something very special is happening. Untill then I'll lean towards the side of caution, because there have already been two false-dawns in the last 6 years.

The thing is that Tonga game had no bearing on their position in the pool, Tonga had already lost to Canada and Canada were never going to beat the AB's.
If France were in danger of not reaching the Knockout stage they would have played with more urgency.
France are notorious for not playing well when they don't have to.

They played enough rugby to beat Wales given the circumstances.

 

[Seaton]

Why they performed badly or not against Tonga doesn't matter, fact is that they did, and this is part of what they are being judged on. Or any reasons for any other games for that matter.

And I would disagree they played enough rugby to beat Wales, Wales really should have done them over with the penalty kick opportunities that they had, France didn't look entirely interested, why that was once again doesn't matter.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I wouldn't say Saffas are too unhappy about the teams' performance; they lifted their game throughout the tournament and most feel we were a bit hard done by in the QF against Aus and that the players played a good game even if we let up at crucial stages and the game was a bit of a farce ITO the way it was blown.

That said most of us did expect the players to lift so a dissapointing 7/10 is fair I suppose. A bit of luck is all a number of teams needed.

 

[Sam Owen]

Pretty much what Darcy said but Ive made a few alterations...

Pool A

New Zealand 10/10 - 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. Pretty much what Darcy said lol, despite my alteration of the ratings from 9 to 10.

France 8/10 - 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. Pretty much what Darcy said lol.

Tonga 6/10 - Impressive against France. Messed up their own chances of qualifying by losing to Canada earlier in the competition though. Great win against France but Tonga was always a good side, they just picked it up at the end of pool play far too late. I thought they underperformed.

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. Pretty much what Darcy said lol.

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 6/10 - 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. Underperformed IMO.

Argentina 8/10 - 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. Underperformed.

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 9/10 - Topped the toughest group and were unfortunate not to make the semis. Still, by their standards not a great tourney. I thought South Africa looked really good, thats why I changed the rating to 9, its just a pity they had to meet the Wallies in the semis.

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. Agreed.

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. Underperformed.

Namibia 4/10 - Didn't too much to impress. They were comprehensively beaten by every team they faced.