Five Rugby World Cup rivalries (that probably need to be retired)
In three-and-a-bit weeks the World Cup will finally be kicking off in Japan.
The shadow of the showpiece tournament has been looming for a couple of years now.
Fans can get excited over the fact that we can expect to see one or two games at the tournament in Japan which we’ve rarely been treated to at World Cups – if at all.
There are, however, a number of matches which seem to occur at every World Cup. With 20 different countries in attendance, there should be plenty of variety in match-ups – but sometimes Lady Luck has different plans.
Inevitably a number of these games come during the knockout stages of the competition – but even the pool stages will throw out a few common matches in 2019.
Just because they’re frequently played at World Cups, it doesn’t mean they’re bad games – but if you’re tired of repetition then maybe give some of these matches a miss.
Australia v Wales (September 29)
Previous matches: 1987, 1991, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2015
The match between the two Pool D top seeds will likely decide who has an easier run to the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup. Australia and Wales will duke it out at Tokyo Stadium – the same pitch that will host the opening and final matches of this year’s competition.
There have been plenty of suggestions that Fiji could cause an upset against one of these teams, but the smart money will be on the Wallabies and the Red Dragons to topple the island nation. Australia start off their campaign against Fiji so they will already know what they need to do to get to the quarter-finals when they square off with Wales.
It’s a pity that these two teams were placed together in Pool D, because they also battled it out during the round-robin stages of 2015’s competition. It was a close-knit affair at the last World Cup, with Australia eventually triumphing 15-6.
In fact, 2019 will mark the fourth occasion that Australia and Wales have started out in the same pool, with the sides also competing for finals places in 2007 and 1991.
Notably, Wales have not beaten Australia in a World Cup fixture since the first competition, way back in 1987. The Red Dragons managed a 1-point win over the Wallabies that year, but it’s been five straight victories for the Wallabies since then.
England v France (October 12)
Previous matches: 1991, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2011
There’s arguably no side that the French savour beating more than the English, so they’ll be waiting with bated breath for their clash in Yokohama near the end of the pool stages of the 2019 competition.
That match could very well decide which of these two sides progresses to the quarter-finals, as they also share a pool with Argentina. Both teams will have played the Pumas by the time the October 12 match rolls around so there won’t be any unknowns about what needs to be done to secure a finals spot.
France, who have looked decidedly average for the last few years, tend to save their best rugby for the World Cup. Despite that, their win-rate against England in the flagship competition doesn’t differ much from how they normally perform against England in their annual Six Nation matches, which stands at approximately 60% since 1987.
France came out on top in 2011, the last time these nations met at a World Cup, winning 19-12 in the quarterfinals. They also managed a 10-point win in the 1995 3rd and 4th-place playoff – a match which neither side really wanted to be a part of.
The rest of the matches have fallen the way of the Red Roses. Knocking France out of their home World Cup in 2007 was arguably the biggest occasion, only a week after the French had toppled New Zealand. England also comfortably accounted for France on the way to winning their first and only World Cup title in 2003.
Curiously, these two rivals have never been paired together in the same pool.
New Zealand v Italy (October 12)
Previous matches: 1987, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2007
Although it’s been a few cycles since the last World Cup match between New Zealand and Italy, it’s not exactly a match that’s easy to get excited about.
Sure, the Azzurri will give the All Blacks more of a challenge than their other pool-mates Namibia and Canada, but the deciding match in Pool B will have likely taken place three weeks earlier when New Zealand and the Springboks will have faced off in their first games of the cup.
It also doesn’t help that these two teams used to always be paired together at the World Cup – and it looks like that’s a tradition that’s about to be resumed.
New Zealand could be facing Samoa, Fiji or even hosts Japan –sides that are fairly comparable in strength to the Italians but who the All Blacks have only encountered three times in total (Fiji once, Japan twice). Instead, they’re left facing the Azzurri – who have on their own faced off with New Zealand five times already.
Back in 1991, Italy actually managed to put up a good fight against New Zealand, losing by just 10 points. To this day, that remains the most closely contested match between the two sides. In their four other World Cup encounters, New Zealand have won by 62, 63, 64 and 98 points.
It’s hard to see too many people getting excited about this match-up when Japan v Scotland and Samoa v Ireland will also be taking place over the same weekend – as well the potentially pool-deciding game between England and Argentina.
New Zealand v Scotland (Potentially October 19)
Previous matches: 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2007
Due to what can only be considered terribly bad luck, Scotland somehow always seem to run into the men in black during the quarter-final stages of the World Cup. That’s looking like a very distinct possibility in 2019 too.
If the All Blacks top their pool and Scotland finish as runners-up in theirs (or vice-versa), then the two nations will do battle in Tokyo for a spot in the semis.
Scotland have famously never managed to beat New Zealand in their 31 attempts – which is why they’ll once again be dreading facing off with the All Blacks come this year’s knockout stages. In 1991, the Scots came within 7-points of New Zealand, but the other games have pretty comprehensively fallen the way of the Kiwis.
Of course, Scotland have been going through a reasonable resurgence over the last half-decade and came so very close to beating New Zealand in 2017 – but that won’t make a sudden-death match any more appealing.
All Blacks fans will be dreading this match-up because it happens so often. The Scottish fans also won’t be looking forward to it – primarily because they’ll expect it to be their side’s last game of the tournament.
New Zealand v France (Potentially in semis or final)
Previous matches: 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 (twice), 2015
There may only be a slim chance of these two sides squaring off in 2019’s tournament but it would be hard to leave out the most frequently played match in World Cup history.
The regularity of this match-up is due to how consistently New Zealand and France have made the knockout stages of the tournament. Only once – in 2011 – were the All Blacks and Les Bleus actually placed in the same pool. In that year they clashed twice. New Zealand thrashed the French in their pool match-up but weeks later France almost pulled off an historic victory in the grand final.
That marked the second time that the rivals had battled it out in the final game of the competition. In the World Cup’s first iteration in 1987 the two nations also clashed in the ultimate game, with New Zealand succeeding 29-9.
Things haven’t always fallen the All Blacks’ way, however. In 1999, France knocked New Zealand out of the Europe-hosted competition then fell to Australia in the final. Les Bleus also famously handed the All Blacks their worst-ever World Cup finish when they bested them during the 2007 quarter-finals.
There’s plenty of history to this fixture and whilst the best rivalries never lose their lustre, it’s about time that we saw some other match-ups take centre stage. The last time a World Cup was held that didn’t feature a New Zealand/France clash was 24 years ago.
New Zealand and France won’t be able to meet until the semi-finals of this year’s competition at the very earliest so chances are we won’t see a match pan out in 2019.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments