Survival of the fittest: Will the fresh legs of New Zealand, England and France prevail over battle-hardened World Cup opponents?
A mouth-watering Rugby World Cup quarter-final schedule should provide answers to one of the sport’s enduring questions.
Do teams get peak performance from a bye week or from regular games?
The unwelcome intrusion of typhoon Hagibis on the final weekend of pool play has created a glaring discrepancy in three of the quarter-finals.
Only the clash between the unbeaten hosts and South Africa in Tokyo pits two teams to have completed their allotment of four games.
Before that, Oita hosts England against Australia and France versus Wales, while three-time champions New Zealand face Ireland in Tokyo.
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The English, French and All Blacks are all coming off final pool games that were cancelled by the atrocious weather.
Their respective opponents all played, setting up a debate over who drew the short straws.
There can be little conjecture over the world ranking system, with the eight top-rated teams filling out the playoff berths.
Interest will continue to centre on the Japanese fairytale although they will be the biggest outsiders in any of the four games, given their comparative lack of experience and size against the thunderous Boks.
Are we at a critical juncture for tier 2 rugby? Or is Japan's heroic campaign papering over the cracks
– writes @alexshawsport ???#rwc2019 ??https://t.co/TevXjNSQMC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 13, 2019
Yet the seventh-ranked Brave Blossoms have defied expectations, thoroughly deserving of wins over Ireland and Scotland.
It leaves them among an elite clutch of unbeaten teams alongside top-three ranked powerhouses New Zealand, Wales and England.
Japan’s triumph over Scotland lowered the curtain on the pool phase in a blaze of excitement and poignancy, the match in Yokohama falling 24 hours after Hagibis had assaulted the host nation.
The other contender for best game was the All Blacks’ opening weekend heavyweight defeat of South Africa.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3j2eBLAJCm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Wales’ wins over Australia and Fiji also captured the imagination while Uruguay were the minnows who punched above their weight best.
However, the 2019 pool phase will be most remembered for the mother nature’s destructive impact and the chaos it created for World Rugby.
The governing body’s decision to schedule the tournament in typhoon season stirred conjecture and its intransigent approach to dealing with affected matches was panned by many, although its safety-first approach also won admirers.
The upshot is an unprecedented imbalance in the knockout phase that will forever be marked with an asterisk.
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Comments on RugbyPass
“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.
1 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 commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments