Welcome back our northern guest writer ‘Damo’ for the 7th installment of the history of the RWC.
The French get Shafted.
In Brief:
When: Sept 09th – Oct 23rd
Hosts: Land of the All Black Crowd.
Winners: All Blacks
Runners Up: Frogs
Third: Wobs
Fourth: The Valley Boyo’s
For me, RWC 2011 in New Zealand, the one the ABs just had to take out no matter what, of all the iterations of this event so far was the one most dominated by selection issues, injuries, off field controversies and surprise results. We will flag some of those issues in the words below. In the end however, the team most favoured to win did so, with Richie McCaw holding ‘Bill’ aloft at Eden Park.
Three nations bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup – New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa. New Zealand had co-hosted RWC 87 with Australia, and had been set to co-host in 03 before a disagreement over ground signage meant NZ missed out. The 2011 New Zealand bid contained plans to enlarge the size of Eden Park and other stadiums to help increase the commercial viability of the bid. The IRB Council in November 2005announced that New Zealand had been selected after IRB inspections of each applicant host nation during June and July 2005.
Twenty teams competed in the 2011 World Cup. Twelve teams qualified by finishing in the top three of their pool in the in 2007. Twelve of the nations at this tournament had competed in every previous Rugby World Cup – Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, and Wales. All the other sides also had previous World Cup experience, except for Russia who appeared in a Rugby World Cup for the first time.
Both the All Blacks and the Wallabies, despite again being highly favoured to take out the 2011 tournament, had both gone through a rebuilding phase following their ignominious exits in the 2007 QFs. Graham Henry kept his job, reappointed at the end of 2007 and again mid 2009, he engaged in a process of ‘fixing’ the ABs. This included radical new tight 5 selections as well as giving Richie McCaw the captain’s job. There is no doubt that across the ‘ditch’ Henry was a controversial choice, with many lobbying for Robbie Deans who had achieved so much success with the Crusaders. In the end the decision by NZ Rugby proved to be the right one.
The home World Cup seemed to take on an even more emotional aspiration for a country grieving in the devastation and aftermath of the February earthquake, claiming almost 200 lives. Lancaster Park was severely damaged and no games could be held in Christchurch.
It might be said that just as Deans success at the Crusaders was greatly benefited by the playing roster, equally Henry’s squad was a formula for success with the likes of Woodcock, Read, Thorn, Nonu , Dagg and of course McCaw- notwithstanding the loss before the tournament of the world’s best 10.
Of course Australia had its own share of coach selection controversy, with the snaring of Robbie Deans by the ARU in December 2007. There were definitely mixed feelings. A Kiwi coach! How could we? At the same time he was a coach who had achieved success, something the Wallabies had not seen much of since 2003. I have to admit I was personally optimistic about Deans and his “play what’s in front of you” mantra.
It didn’t quite pan out that way. We did beat the All Blacks in Sydney in Deans first outing as coach in 2008 and then took out the 2011 Tri Nations series with a win over the All Blacks at Suncorp with a side featuring 2011 Super comp winners Genia, Cooper, Iaone, Simmons, Horwell and the spectacular try scoring Radike. However for the most part results were patchy, we still struggled up front against top tier sides and there was a lot of doubt that Deans was the right fit for the Wallabies.
Deans’ squad for the cup contained some surprises as well. Horwell replaced Elsom as skipper, Giteau was left at home (which he did not take well), leaving limited specialist 10 back up to Cooper at 10 and basically no specialist openside back up to Pocock. I’ve got some Déjà vu stuff happening here.
The Australian squad was relatively young, but with the Reds combinations, would seem to be capable of going deep into the competition.
South Africa, had not performed well in the years running up to the cup, in spite of a strong player group, and were not expected to feature at the pointy end. England had won the 6 Nations earlier in the year, but age was catching up with Wilkinson, Moody, Shaw, Thomson, Easter and co and it was generally considered that Wales and Ireland had better squads.
The Pools
As we have seen in previous cup reviews, the pool matches didn’t throw up too many surprises. France
managed to qualify for the quarters in spite of losing to both NZ and Tonga. South Africa beat Wales 17-16 in what was considered to be one of the best matches of the tournament (along with Wallabies v Ireland and their SF v the ABs) to take out their pool. In Australia’s pool match against Ireland, their worst nightmare eventuated with Pocock ruled out with injury. The Wallabies played some enterprising rugby but were manhandled at the breakdown and scrums, leading to a tryless 15-6 loss- meaning a SF meeting with the ABs rather than France.
In spite of topping Pool B this was a tournament that Marin Johnson’s England would have chosen to forget. From Mike Tindall’s fun and games with a local at a dwarf throwing event, to Tuilagi being warned by police and fined after jumping off a ferry in Auckland, alleged harassment of a hotel worker and the kicking coach switching balls before a penalty, supplying Wilkinson with his favourite kicking ball in the v Scotland pool game. The final nail was the loss to France in the QFs.
The Knockout
The ABs were definitely on a roll. In the QF Argentina provided stout opposition to hold NZ to a 2 tries to 1 margin. However the Argies discipline let them down and Weepu’s 7 penalties reinforced the final 23 point margin.
It was thought that the Saffas would bring their dominant forward pack to their clash with the Wallabies and take them through to the semis. However they decided to run the ball in a game plan that was not in their wheelhouse. Australia’s defence was remarkable, led by an inspirational David Pocock, who was still carrying a back injury. He made 26 tackles and made the Boks work for everything. There was talk through the tournament about the relative merits of Pat McCabe. He was basically a hard straight runner, without much guile and his combination with AAC was not the most dynamic in attack , but his defence in this game was outstanding. In the aftermath the Africans were not happy with referee Bryce Lawrence interpretation of the breakdown to favour Pocock. Australia scored the only try through Horwell.
Wales progressed to the next round in an entertaining win over Ireland. While the Irish dominated territory and possession, letting in 3 tries to 1 proved decisive. In spite of a mistake ridden, poorly disciplined performance by England, conceding a half time deficit of 0-16, they only went down by 19-12 to the French.
Following this result and the off field dramas it wasn’t long before the English press were asking Johnson about his future. His resignation was less than a month away.
France’s win over Wales in the semi final encounter was generously describes as ‘unconvincing’. The match was probably decided mid-way through the first half when skipper Sam Warburton engulfed France winger Vincent Clerc on half way before lifting him and dumping him to the ground, with referee Alain Rolland deeming the offence serious enough to brandish red. While France’s handling errors blunted their attack, scoring no tries, their dominant field position deliver 3 kickable penalties to get the result.
In the other semi final the All Blacks basically had too much grunt up front (a problem which beset Australia through the tournament) and too much nous for the Wallabies. The ABs bolted out of the blocks and led by eight points at the break but it could have been so much worse for Australia after they were caught in an All Blacks whirlwind. The game did not start well for the Wallabies with Cooper’s kick off sailing straight into touch but that was the least of their worries as the All Blacks launched wave after wave of fast and incisive rugby. QC was under huge pressure. The wallabies gave it plenty, but the All Blacks were not going to let this one get away.
The Final
New Zealand were favourites, as they went into the final unbeaten and the French had lost two pool games, including one to New Zealand. The French team had not been impressive and in the shadow of the final experienced a player revolt against their coach Marc Lievremont, confirmed after the tournament by veteran back-rower Imanol Harinordoquy
After the national anthems, the New Zealand players performed their traditional haka as the French team stared back and then advanced towards them in a V-shaped formation before fanning out into a straight line. The French had decided to meet the haka in this fashion on Sunday morning, and French captain Thierry Dusautoir stated that “it was a great moment”. They were later fined £2,500 by the IRB for crossing the half- way line, a decision that was labelled “pedantic” and the “final insult”.
Fourth-choice fly-half Stephen Donald, only drafted into the squad two weeks ago as a result of an injury crisis, proved to be the match-winner with a second-half penalty bringing the All Blacks their first World Cup crown since the inaugural tournament in 1987.
A try from prop Tony Woodcock had given the hosts a narrow lead at the break after a brutal opening period, which saw rival playmakers Aaron Cruden and Morgan Parra both forced out of the game through injury. A gutsy France, infinitely better than the side crushed 37-17 by the All Blacks in the pool stages, hit back with a try from captain Thierry Dusautoir after the break, converted by replacement No.10 Francois Trinh-Duc, but their best performance in the competition by far was not enough to deny New Zealand a fairytale ending.
Highlights
