Not set pieces Part V goes into quarter-final interviews and quotes, the emotions of coaches, national anthems, and even a bit of rugby.
Heyneke Meyer – wears his heart on his sleeve
Best Quarter-finals’ coaches to watch
1. Heyneke Meyer (South Africa) – looks like he will blow a gasket but until he does you have got to love the guy the way he wears his heart on his sleeve and shows his obvious passion for the game and his team. Class act.
2. Daniel Hourcade (Argentina) – was better than Meyer in involving other people around him in hugs, but did not have the same vertical jump as the South African. Impressive.
3. Michael Cheika (Australia) – not in the same class as the other two in celebration but can cause more damage when things don’t go his way. Menacing.
Steve Hansen (New Zealand), Warren Gatland (Wales), Joe Schmidt (Ireland) and Vern Cotter (Scotland) are all Kiwis, so they didn’t show rugby emotion; but Shaggy had a wicked wit at the press conference and earned points in that category.
Philippe Saint-André (France) was last seen in a cart heading for the guillotine and was not eligible for a rating.
Advance Australia Fair – won’t have them jumping out of the trenches
The anthems
Nobody would put down the anthems of their own country especially when they are belting it out at a sporting event or seeing a countryman or women receiving an Olympic gold medal; but as pieces of music some of them, like the Aussie and Kiwi ones, don’t sound like rousing pieces of music to outsiders.
There were some stirring anthems during the tournament but some of the best were missing in the quarter-finals.
The enchanting hymnal intonation of the Pacific Island national songs was absent as was the stirring Soviet bloc-sounding anthem of Romania, at the other end of the musical scale.
The strains of “O Canada” heard many-a-time by yours truly at hockey games in that country were gone, as was the “Star Spangled Banner” which resonates with me from many years of working and living in the US, and being a devotee of its history.
Nor was the emotionally charged Italian anthem, steeped in tradition from its days of struggle for unification, heard at the pointy end of the tournament.
“God Save The Queen” didn’t save England
In the semi-finals other favourites will be listened to still. Many will enjoy the South African anthem especially the ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika’ portion in the native languages, before it shifts key: it is old hymn music.
The Argentina anthem will stir Los Pumas once more. The only one with an operatic overture, it takes a while to get going, but it suits the Latin emotions of the players: almost too much, but not quite.
Four anthems made their exit before the semis.
The Ireland team gets to sing two anthems at home games but just “Ireland’s Call” elsewhere. Neither that nor “Soldiers Song”, the anthem of the Republic, will be played until Six Nations now. The same goes for “Flower of Scotland” but. my word, didn’t it inspire the team to great things last weekend?
“Land Of My Fathers” was a favourite of all, but will not be heard again at this World Cup.
The fourth national anthem to disappear from the repertoire was the universal second favourite anthem of non-Frenchmen: “La Marseillaise”, the revolutionary marching song with it’s martial air and bloody lyrics.
It was the only area where France was superior against New Zealand at Millennium Stadium.
Fourie du Preez – took the one big chance the Springboks had
The quarter-finals
Some Northern Hemisphere fans will be trying to offload their tickets for next weekend because not one of the Six Nations’ teams are in the semi-finals.
For the northerners there was one thrashing, one disappointing display and two heartbreaking losses.
South Africa v Wales
In a game where the lead changed five times the Springboks’ bashing rugby finally got them through against a depleted and exhausted opponent.
Their chief basher, Duane Vermeulen, showed a delicate touch in their one true chance of the game by dishing out a blind pass to scrummie Fourie du Preez to score the winning try in brilliant fashion.
New Zealand v France
Fans of the other teams still alive in the competition couldn’t see France winning this one but they had a sneaky hope that New Zealand would at least look vulnerable; so if their team met them later they would have a good chance. It was not impossible—the Pool performances of the Black Riders were not stellar and in our winter season they played poorly scraping home against Samoa in Apia and being well beaten by the Wallabies in Sydney.
It was not to be: the Julian Savea tank was in top gear against the French pop-guns as the Kiwis gave a master class of rugby to a team that has bundled them out of the RWC a couple of times before.
Juan Imhof – had Argentina flying high against Ireland
Argentina v Ireland
It was not surprising that Ireland was below par without O’Connell, O’Mahony, O’Brien and Sexton. But it did not explain how Argentina could score two tries in the first eight minutes and another pair in four minutes of doom near the end of the game—when Ireland had only two tries scored against them in the four Pool matches.
Ireland doesn’t have many bad days at the office under Joe Schmidt, but despite clawing their way back to within three points at one stage, this was one of them.
From the other camp, head coach Daniel Hourcade should have been the man of the match. His domestic players of the Pampas XV have visited Australia in the last couple of southern seasons and we have seen many of them develop and play in the Rugby Championship.
His re-branding of Los Pumas as an attacking team playing with power and pace has been a work-in-progress but this quarter-final revealed the fruit of his work against a highly-rated team for all to see.
Wallabies v Scotland
Although they got the result Australia deserved to lose this match for their ineptness and lack of aggression at the breakdown as much as Scotland deserved to win it with their positive display. The tries from the charge-down of a Foley kick and an interception of a Slipper pass were well-taken, but were blunders that should not have been made.
Regardless of the excellence of Scotland, the Wallabies regressed to a standard that smelled of the inconsistencies and lack of composure produced in many games under Deans and McKenzie. It will be interesting to see how Cheika can get them up to the level they have been at.
Scotland fans will be distraught, but after they have finished rubbishing Joubert they should consider why their team shipped five tries: something they had control over. And they should remember that the losing penalty incident arose only because their throw to the lineout was too long.
Still—what might have been,
Bernard Foley – was the hero again
Joubert and Foley
Craig Joubert is getting to be Bernard Foley’s favourite referee because he makes dud decisions which enable the flyhalf to be a hero in kicking winning goals. The first was the pinging of McCaw (a terrible shame), at the end of the 2014 Super Rugby final; next was the penalising of Scot Jon Welsh near the end of the RWC quarter-final.
Could Joubert have forgotten a law? There are three ways that an offside player can be put onside and one is Law 11.3 (c):
When an opponent intentionally touches the ball but does not catch it, the offside player is put onside.
More likely Joubert thought, from his field of view (not the TV views we saw), that Phipps’ action was not intentional, or it was not clear and obvious that it was, and therefore Welsh was adjudged offside. And because the matter did not involve try scoring or foul play, he could not involve the TMO.
Have a look at the screen please Mr Joubert
So maybe Joubert can be “cut some slack” to moderate the vilification he has received from Gavin Hastings and others.
Earlier, his judgement of the intent of Sean Maitland when knocking the ball forward, once alerted to it by the TMO, was also questioned. Although Joubert is not a Northern Hemisphere referee, Maitland would have known that playing at the ball with one hand, even instinctively, is carded routinely in the north if knocked, unless the ball is regathered. But playing at it with two hands is routinely excused from carding if it is knocked on.
It is not in the law book but is not the worst of conventions used by referees up there, as it takes away the fine judgement of intent. Maitland would have been disappointed at his carding, but should not have been shocked.
Daniel Hourcade – after win against Ireland – emotion is in his DNA
Quotes of the week
Daniel Hourcade about his team’s emotion during the anthem and their celebration after beating Ireland:
It’s part of our DNA. We played with our heart in our hand; we feel it inside and the players showed this before the game and after the game.
Scotland no. 8 David Denton about when he met his family and girlfriend after the Wallabies’ game:
I think we could have filled a bath with all the tears
Scotland coach Vern Cotter when he walked into the Scotland dressing room after the match:
As devastated as you are, hold your head high. You went out there, we asked you to stand up as men—and you did.
When a polite and patient Vern Cotter was asked by a prat of an interviewer if the referee should have reviewed the incident at the end of the game with the TMO.
It might have been nice
World Rugby boss Brett Gosper when asked why referee Craig Joubert ran off the pitch at the end of the Australia v Scotland match without shaking hands with the players.
Maybe he was keen to get to the bathroom, who knows?
Wallabies’ head coach Michael Cheika after the Scotland quarter-final.
I don’t feel that I, as the coach, performed very well last week in preparing the team for that quarter-final. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again this week.
When Steve Hansen was asked if he had something left up his sleeve after the commanding Kiwi performance at Millennium Stadium against France.
Only my arm
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