On September 8, the match between France and New Zealand kicked off the group stage of the Rugby World Cup. A month later, Sunday October 8, in Toulouse, Fiji’s defeat of Portugal (24-23), without consequences for the men of the Pacific, closed this first chapter of the competition.
The four quarter-final posters are now known. The second round will begin on Saturday October 14 with the match between Wales and Argentina (5 p.m.), followed by the match between Ireland and the All Blacks (9 p.m.). The next day, England will try to get rid of the Fijians – surprise guests at this stage of the tournament – ??(5 p.m.), before the Blues challenge the reigning South African world champions, at the Stade de France (Saint-Denis ), at 9 pm. What other lessons can we learn from the first phase of this World Cup?
The group stage confirmed the domination of the northern nations, in particular France and Ireland, over their southern counterparts, which had already been at work for several years. All the groups were won by teams from the Northern Hemisphere. In Pool B, Ireland, the world’s leading nation for more than a year, triumphed over South Africa after a fierce and sometimes brutal match. In Pool A, during the inaugural match, France clearly dominated the New Zealanders.
On the other side of the table, teams that were said to be moribund dominated their subject, in groups C and D at admittedly lower levels. Wales, mired for months in mediocre results (penultimate in the Six Nations Tournament) and an unprecedented crisis (players threatened to strike earlier in the year), was the first team to validate their ticket for the quarters. England, too, qualified in first place in their group.
As for Australia, a former stronghold of world rugby, its four matches in the competition confirmed that it was in distress: with only two victories against the modest Georgians and Portuguese, its adventure in the tournament is already over. A first at this stage of the competition.
Even before the World Cup kicked off, the composition of the groups was surprising. Pools A and B included New Zealand, France, South Africa, but also Ireland and Scotland… the five best teams in the world rankings.
Several contenders for the coronation will cross swords in the quarter-finals: the Springboks will face the Blues; the XV of Clover will challenge the All Blacks. As former international and French captain Thierry Dusautoir sums it up, “it’s frustrating, we would have preferred to have these posters in the last four”.
This imbalance is due to the date of the draw, carried out in December 2020. However, at the time, the international hierarchy was not at all the same. The Irish and the French were, for example, much further down in the ranking established by the international federation and they were therefore not protected by the seeding system. For the next edition, which will be held in Australia in 2027, World Rugby has already announced that the composition of the groups will be made later to avoid a repeat of the situation.
96-0, 82-8, 71-3 or even 76-0. These are not the lottery numbers, but the final marks of certain matches at the start of the World Cup. Abysmal gaps between the biggest nations (France, Ireland, New Zealand and England) and the “Toddlers”. If this gap already existed in the past, it seems to be widening further.
Comparing the competition to a “circus”, Chile coach Pablo Lemoine spoke of “the clowns on one side and the big owners on the other”, after his troops’ clear defeat against England ( 71-0).
Since the opening match, no less than seven matches have ended with at least 70 points difference (and almost eight if you add New Zealand’s 71-3 victory over Namibia). World Rugby had extended the competition by a week to hope to reduce the disparities… On arrival, the time seemed very long.
“To continue to evolve, we need matches against Tier 1 [top ten in the standings] teams. The future must be better than what we experienced to prepare for this World Cup,” summarized Esteban Meneses, the Uruguayan coach, after his team’s final defeat (0-73 against the All Blacks).
Like him, all the “small” nations have deplored a two-speed rugby, which allows them to discover confrontation against the best only during the World Cups. With the results we see. If the persistent rumors of a move to a World Cup with 24 teams – compared to 20 this year – are confirmed, this could offer fewer matches decided in advance and more undecided duels. But that won’t necessarily solve the problem.
The day of September 9 was marked by problems with access to the stadiums, a situation exacerbated by an exceptional heatwave. The highest moment of tension was reached before the Argentina-England match at the Stade-Vélodrome in Marseille. After being delayed at the ticket counters, several hundred spectators missed the kick-off, which the British press was very happy about.
In the afternoon, problems were also observed in Bordeaux, during the Ireland-Romania match. The reason is the insufficient number of trams. Bus shuttles were set up, but supporters were not informed in time. Fans present at the Stade de France also complained about queues to buy drinks, and the lack of reserves.
After this difficult start, the organizers took measures to facilitate access to the stadiums. Messages sent in advance to telephones made it possible to better direct the crowds. More volunteers were mobilized to guide supporters, which helped reduce bottlenecks, particularly for venues located on the outskirts of cities such as Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon. To avoid long queues, spectators were urged to get to stadiums as early as possible and organizers pledged to open refreshment bars “well in advance of the matches”. Effective measures since no major incident was subsequently noted.