Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2023

Failure to execute the basics.

Losing Sinckler was a blow. But not to get Marler on sooner was poor. The kicking was poor (really poor from Ford) as was the chase. To put it in a nutshell poor execution at the set piece has undone England. Nothing more or less. South Africa are hardly scintillating but they have done what they needed to do and had the scoreboard pressure. Farrell missing at 9-15 was terrible and to give up needless penalties at a restart or in the red zone are cardinal errors. Daly for once has been left floundering. If England had Liam Williams well. I doubt he get pasts Liam at Saracens.

 

They were not superior physically indeed England did better at the breakdown in turnovers. It is the setpiece and basic errors that have cost England dearly. The lack of kicking through the blitz defence and turning them around is also a mystery. Set your standoff or fullback deep or bring the wing in to do it. That will make them think more than once about blitzing. England didn't do it once compared to Wales.

 

This is the sort of weather I love to go running. Feel the elements in your face. So this effort ended really with a whimper. Sad really.

For the sake of rugby union as a whole I sincerely hope WR puts more effort into promoting Tests for the second tier, and getting better domestic competitions sorted out and more coaching clinics. No to mention a revamp of the WC format. Six groups of four teams so that the group schedules are fair to all teams. I was pleased by the efforts of Japan although they need to do more to get more indigenous players. They have a new professional league in the offing but I fear it is a waste of resources to fill the pockets of retiring top professionals than grass roots development.

The Pacific Islanders need far more help in terms of serious competition and Samoa needs it's union to be sorted out lock stock and barrel. Hopefully the USA, Canada and Uruguay as well as Brazil and Chile benefit from the new professional Major League Rugby, foreign coaches and established professionals.

 

New chairman at Saracens is a lawyer now that Nigel Wray has stepped down. Plenty of injuries facing the teams in the Six Nations prior to the start of the tournament. Michael Fatialofa is still in intensive care after his neck injury against Saracens folowing successful surgery to relieve pressure on his cervical spine. And probably means the end of his career. He turned down the chance to represent Samoa at the World Cup.

 

First round commences today. New head coaches in Pivac, Farrell, Galthie and Franco Smith at the Azzurri. Any of four can win it with Scotland and Italy battling to avoid last place. The European Rugby Championship also kicks off today. Georgia host Romania, Russia take on Spain and Belgium play Portugal. Gerogia are the reigning champions unsurprisingly while Portugal replace Germany who they beat in a playoff sending Germany to the ER Trophy which they should win with ease.

 

It's a pity Italian rugby has not progressed as rapidly as hoped. But the progress is being made. Everyone needs to be patient. Part of the problem is the FIR itself and it's lack of a coherent vision. And they are still some exciting players like Minozzi but not enough to form a team that compete for the full eighty. No one has come along to replace Dominguez or Vaccari or shown the sniping skills of a Francescato/Troncon or Marcello Cuttita. They were world class players. That is the issue. Outside of Parisse who has not been picked no one in recent years has stood up and you can point to them and say they are top drawer. However patience will be needed. French rugby took years to develop.

 

Bill Beaumont gets re-elected as WR president fending off Agustin Pichot.

All four SH unions voted for Pichot. All Six Nations for Bill. The SH want more money to compete with the 6N and avoid the player drain. The WR voting body does need reform as it is still antiquated much like FIFA used to be when the Home Associations had multiple votes. They still do in WR along with the big three from the SH.

Australian union is in a fiscal funk and in danger of collapse while NZ are concerned by losing more and more players with Japan a lure as well now. I am happy Bill won though given that the idea of a new competition promoted by Pichot was sponsored by Andrew Forrest. An unscrupulous man if there ever was one head of the Fortescue group.

From an Aussie Wallaby mad friend of mine who alleges:

'He rides in like a saviour on horseback making grand gestures and statements that never, NEVER eventuate while he reaps the profit from his lies. He’s a swindler in the grand tradition. A snake oil salesman who saw the opportunity the axing of the Force presented to further polish up his carefully cultivated image of benefactor at large. There are pages worth of Twiggy f**king Forrest stories like that... his grand offer of charity following the bushfire crisis that wasn’t charity, just a vehicle to carry another opportunity for his private family foundation, his close involvement in the social welfare debit card that eradicates choice from welfare recipients spending and further lines the pockets of the Liberal Party linked organisation that owns the card and most recently his blatant ambushing of a government press conference on the current Covid19 crisis by bringing along, unannounced, the local Chinese Consul General when the government was mired in a delicate war of words with the Chinese government.

He’s a self serving flog with delusions of grandeur and the mistaken belief that swindling indigenous people of their land rights and making himself rich in the process affords him the luxury of social sainthood.

Aside from all that though, the sleazy **** blatantly hit on a young lady friend of mine one night by waving a $100 note in her face and implying she’d be grateful for the chance... and turned that smirk on me as if I should congratulate him for his wit and leather patches on the tweed jacket the slimy weasel was wearing. True story mate.'

The need for the SH unions to centrally contract their players means having to pay very expensive contracts which cannot be sustained and why the Australian union is in real peril. The US union is already bankrupt but Major League Rugby is a separate body and thankfully unaffected. NZ are also looking at investment bankers to come in and pump millions into their sport and break free from WR. Although who they would play would be interesting not to mention how would this affect player eligibility. The partners being looked at are Silver Lake in the US and a Belgian consortium who already have investments into many sporting areas.

It raises also the worrying effect of what these companies looking for a return on their investment would ask of players, clubs, franchises and unions and even the laws of the game itself. Supposing for instance they wanted a more mobile high scoring spectacle. Not to mention the effect of putting live rugby behind a paywall as the 6N may end up with a drastic drop in viewing figures as we have seen with cricket and F1 (although that is more to the mind numbing predictability of it).

Beaumont and Laporte his vice chairman will need to look at improving player safety, a global calendar which seems impossible given the insistence of the 6N unions retaining it in it's current months in the year. Also how players like Charles Piatau who played once for the ABs can be allowed to play for his country of birth Tonga. The PI's who as I have often mentioned seem merely a place for other unions to steal players from would benefit greatly from this.

And getting teams like Fiji in top tier competition along with Georgia. It is beyond ridiculous that the last time many Tier One sides played someone from Tier Two outside of a World Cup is over seven to eight years ago. This needs to change but as I have stated before I dislike this World League idea immensely.

These are troubling times for union as with many sports and decisions made now in haste and fear could be even more ruinous. All unions need to work closely more than ever to ensure the sport remains healthy and continues to grow for the benefit of everyone.