1
A 'Missing the Rugby World Cup' XV - Part 2
With Ireland the only major team yet to name their official 33-man Rugby World Cup squad, the full extent of players that won’t be at the tournament in France for one reason or another is becoming clearer.
ADVERTISEMENT
Be it the selection axe or a cruelly timed injury, many of the game’s biggest names sadly won’t grace the fields of France over the next two and half months.
We’ve already compiled a ‘Missing the Rugby World Cup’ XV – Part 1, which you can read here.
Part 2 is below and includes some of the tournament’s latest casualties.
1. Cyril Baille
Arguably the best loosehead in the world misses out through an injury to his calf. You could alternately have All Blacks veteran Joe Moody, if that’s your thing.
2. Ken Owens
‘The Sheriff’ was ruled out of Wales’ Rugby World Cup due to a back injury way back in June. The void he’s left has certainly opened the door for fellow hooker Dewi Lake, who steps up as co-captain.
3. Harry Williams
Once England’s second-choice tighthead, Williams has fallen down the pecking order considerably over the last two years, and his decision last season to move to France probably didn’t help his cause. Won 19 England caps, the last of which came back in 2021.
4. Josh Lord
The highly rated New Zealander rookie was able to break into the World Cup squad, even if he’s been deemed the next taxi off the rank, travelling with the team to Europe this month.
ADVERTISEMENT
5. Darcy Swain
Although his discipline has been questionable, Swain was seen by some as leading the next generation of Wallaby second rows. Jones clearly isn’t a huge fan, as he didn’t make the squad.
6. Ethan Blackadder
Another player for whom injury has struck at the worst time, Blackadder would likely have been involved otherwise.
7. Sam Underhill
A bit of a head-scratcher for England fans, although there was some logic if you buy that Borthwick ultimately went for in-form Saracens fetcher Ben Earl instead of the Bath man.
8. Evan Roos
Being the best No.8 in the URC wasn’t enough for Roos to usurp Jasper Wieser, who clearly has the confidence of the Springboks management.
ADVERTISEMENT
9. Jack van Poortvliet
The Leicester nine suffered a significant ankle injury in England’s second World Cup warm-up international against Wales and was forced to withdraw from the squad.
10. Romain Ntamack
A major blow for France, the star flyhalf and the other half of the Toulouse halfback duo was forced to withdraw from the side earlier this month. Bookies believe it was enough to displace the home side as favourites.
11. Anthony Watson
Bedevilled by injury over the years, Watson will miss the entire tournament in France because of a calf problem that was revealed on Thursday.
12. Len Ikitau
The young Wallabies centre who was nursing a shoulder injury has also been cut from the squad. He lost out to a settled midfield department of Lalakai Foketi, Samu Kerevi, Izaia Perese and Jordan Petaia.
13. Israel Folau
Folau wasn’t able to recover from a knee injury in time and Tonga were forced to leave him out of their Rugby World Cup squad.
14. James O’Connor
O’Connor was once a staple of Australian teams but didn’t really get a look in under Eddie Jones. Has been involved with ‘Australia A’ recently mind, so all might not be lost for the Queensland man.
15. Stuart Hogg
The Scotland great pulled out of the tournament, choosing to retire from the game entirely, claiming his body was no longer up to the task of international rugby.
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
3 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
3 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to comments