psychic duck
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The 2011 Rugby World Cup has ended and unfortunately for the rugby faithful, this means that we’ll have to wait four years once again, but don’t be disappointed, this was a special tournament. New Zealand hosted this time around, and with that, we realize that we may not see the rugby mad country host again for a very long time.
We hope that you all savoured every moment and every match, no matter what the outcomes were, the disappointments or heartache. What impressed us the most is how well second tier nations developed over the past four years, which is great news for the sport on a worldwide scale.
Development is the key to this game, as any, and this world cup has opened the door to a large number of new fans.
As we take a look back, Shaggy, psychic duck and M Two One review the twenty participants from worst to first over the next week. The rankings were put together through several opinions based on performances.
Feel free to debate and discuss. The 2011 Rugby World Cup may have ended, but rugby lives on 24/7.
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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.
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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.
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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.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup has ended and unfortunately for the rugby faithful, this means that we’ll have to wait four years once again, but don’t be disappointed, this was a special tournament. New Zealand hosted this time around, and with that, we realize that we may not see the rugby mad country host again for a very long time.
We hope that you all savoured every moment and every match, no matter what the outcomes were, the disappointments or heartache. What impressed us the most is how well second tier nations developed over the past four years, which is great news for the sport on a worldwide scale.
Development is the key to this game, as any, and this world cup has opened the door to a large number of new fans.
As we take a look back, Shaggy, psychic duck and M Two One review the twenty participants from worst to first over the next week. The rankings were put together through several opinions based on performances.
Feel free to debate and discuss. The 2011 Rugby World Cup may have ended, but rugby lives on 24/7.
/Frontpagebanners/SAM1.jpg
/Frontpagebanners/SAM2.jpg
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.
/Frontpagebanners/pvSAM.jpg
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.
/Frontpagebanners/BottomLine.jpg
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.
