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Six winners and five losers from the weekend's RWC warm-ups

Josh Adams and Joe Cokanasigaa

Warm-up games for the Rugby World Cup have far more riding on them than the actual result.

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Perfecting combinations, honing attack and defence, settling selection dilemmas, developing momentum, giving fringe players important experience – coaches and players have very different definitions of what constitutes a win in these games.

So who came out of last weekend’s northern hemisphere warm-up games as a winner and who might be feeling like a loser?

Winner: Warren Gatland

His Wales team rallied themselves after last week’s disappointment to win and they are now officially ranked No1 in the world. If we’ve learned anything about the rankings of late, it’s that they struggle to reflect how close the top five or six sides currently are. Moreover, this near to the Rugby World Cup, they couldn’t feel less relevant. But Wales have never been officially ranked first – in fact, they are only the fourth team to achieve that.

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Quietly, over the past 20 months, Gatland has turned this Wales team from a decent side in northern hemisphere conditions into a force to be reckoned with. Since 2018, they have conceded an average of nine points per game at home. They won’t be favourites for the trophy in Japan, whatever Eddie Jones says, but it’s a big achievement and Gatland and the players deserve to have it on their record.

Loser: Scotland

Undeniably, Scotland were the biggest loser of these games. They were beaten badly by France in Nice. It’s tough to pick just one area where they were poor. Yet again, they kept it loose against a team who proved repeatedly in the first half that they were better-suited to that type of game. They had the heavier pack but were overpowered all over the park, their defensive approach was hard to identify, and their attack never got going.

Scotland have now conceded an average of four tries a game across the last six matches and even the return of defensive maestro Duncan Taylor couldn’t redeem that record. They need to fix their defence fast.

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On the evidence of this game, it’s not the only thing that needs fixing. Taylor had a steady game and Rory Hutchinson looked promising on his debut but there are precious few other positive takeaways for Scotland fans.

Winner: French flair

It’s become well-past a cliché to talk about how well France can attack “on their day” when, for years now, they’ve been mostly turgid and disappointing, scraping their way through games at home and repeatedly disappointing away. If anything, it’s their defence that has rescued them for a while now.

But, in their first warm-up game, their attack came out firing. Alivereti Raka scored 94 seconds into his debut, Maxime Médard finished two lovely moves, Grégory Alldritt continued his trend of scoring against Scotland, a nation he was eligible to play for, and Antoine Dupont completed the set. France beat 32 defenders, threw 23 offloads, and made 667 metres.

They kept the tempo up from the breakdown, overpowered Scotland, countered ruthlessly, and were clinical in attack. It’s always risky to take too much from a warm-up, especially given how poor Scotland were, but France looked better than they have for a long while. And, crucially, they didn’t get in their own way: their discipline was noticeably better than towards the end of the Six Nations.

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Loser: George Ford

He couldn’t replicate his performance of last week and lacked control far too often with his kicking, with one kick out on the full from a promising position particularly disappointing. Ford did pick up England’s only points from two penalties but his inability to conjure up even one try from this talented English side will frustrate him.

Jones has always backed Ford, however, and he has captained the side a few times now. Moreover, Piers Francis and Jonathan Joseph being part of the final squad suggests he will get more opportunities to start and prove his worth.

Winner: Dan Biggar

JJ Williams wasn’t the only Wales fan worrying this week about Dan Biggar taking the No10 jersey but the Northampton Saints fly-half showed exactly why Gatland rates him, deservedly picking up the Man of the Match award, outshining his opposite number Ford, and only leaving the pitch when injury necessitated it. Everything that is good about his game was on show here.

Wales didn’t look good enough in attack to suggest that he will be the starting No10 in Japan but every team needs a Plan B in a tournament and there a few better equipped to implement one than Biggar. His perfectly-executed cross-kick for George North’s try was a nice reminder that there is more to his kicking than just up-and-unders and penalties.

Loser: England’s positional dilemmas

There is no doubt that England’s squad is full of supremely talented individuals but the sense that many are not playing in their most effective positions remain. It’s one thing for a single player to sacrifice his preferred position for the good of the group but England seem to have too many.

Elliot Daly is clearly a hugely talented player but still does not look quite right at 15 when put under pressure from the high ball, as Wales did here. Manu Tuilagi is worth having on the pitch but surely outside centre is a better spot for his talents? Courtney Lawes was perfectly competent on the blindside and his position there was presumably dictated by injuries in the back-row but England could still do with more turnover threat.

Versatility is, of course, a virtue in a tournament with tight squad restrictions but England look like they might benefit from one or two more specialists. Their next two warm-up games could be very interesting.

Winner: The new French coaching staff

It was just a warm-up game, the first one for either side. And Scotland were woeful. But France looked a world away from the team that disappointed in the Six Nations. What’s changed? The addition of new coaching staff to support Jacques Brunel and ease the transition into the 2023 cycle, which France will host.

Fabien Galthié, the future head coach, Laurent Labit, backs coach, Thibault Giroud, physical trainer, and Raphael Ibanez, team manager seem to have made a difference already. France looked like a Test-level side again. They used their big ball carriers well but had the vision and skill to release the backs where possible, defended well when called upon (denying Scotland a try), and kept their heads throughout. The new coaches might have been hired with the next world cup in mind but they seem to be making an impression now.

Loser: James Davies

Having finally convinced Gatland that he wasn’t too small for international rugby, impressing in camp, Davies went off with a head injury after 24 minutes. The injury to Taulupe Faletau and Ellis Jenkins seeming failure to recover in time has made the fight for the Welsh back-row spots both more open and, arguably, more competitive.

He made no obvious mistakes in his time on the pitch and, given that Ross Moriarty, Josh Navidi, and Justin Tipuric are surely certain to be on the plane, if fit, he will probably get another crack. Wales have two weeks off before their next warm-up so he has time to recover.

He will be disappointed, however, to have missed out on a game where the Welsh forwards significantly improved on their performances in the first warm-up. Davies might be small but he has a real appetite for a contest and he would surely have relished a game where Wales were much more aggressive all over the park. In his absence, Jake Ball and Aaron Wainwright, in particular, stood out.

Winner: England’s bench

They couldn’t win the game for England but – with the exception of Jack Singleton, who didn’t disgrace himself out of position – they added to England’s showing. The front row replacements added noticeable physicality, George Kruis made himself busy, Ben Youngs nearly set up a breakaway with some (too)-quick thinking, the ship immediately felt steadier for Owen Farrell’s presence, and, as usual, Tuilagi’s presence was felt.

England have now used 24 players from the final 31-man squad, with the remainder unavailable so far through injury. Each of those players has put in at least one good performance, leaving the squad with a healthy competition for starting spots.

Loser: nervous fans

Thankfully, we didn’t see any serious injuries in these matches. But that’s not the only thing making fans nervous.

With every game that goes by in the build-up to this Rugby World Cup, it feels like the competition is getting more and more intense. No matter how often fans remind themselves that these games are only for experimentation and practice, that too much can’t be read into them, and they have to wait for Japan, it’s tough not to get nervous. That should make for a brilliant world cup, of course, but it makes the build-up increasingly nerve-wracking.

Winner: versatile forwards

Towards the end of Wales vs England, there were four hookers on the field. Ken Owens showed he can put in a shift at No8 for Wales as well as he did for Scarlets and Singleton came on as a replacement in the back-row for the second week running. Elsewhere, flanker Aaron Shingler played 15 minutes in the second row and Lawes reminded anyone who had forgotten that he is as comfortable on the flank as he is in the engine room.

There was less positional experimentation in Nice, although Simon Berghan switched from tighthead to loosehead in the second half, an ability that will no doubt ease some of Gregor Townsend’s squad calculations. Among the backs, Damian Penaud looked more like a test-level wing than the out-of-position centre he has previously seemed, impressing throughout.

The permutations of a 31-man squad means we will probably see more experimentation with players in unusual positions between now and the RWC final on November 2nd.

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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