Join with us today for the 8th instalment of the history of the RWC by guest writer and now honorary NSWelshman ‘Damo’. Been a Herculean effort from our Northern Comrade, engaging and terrific reading. Thankyou D-Man & take it away:
Saffas make it threefa.
When: 20 September – 2 November 2019
Hosts: Land of The Rising Sun
Winners: Saffas
Runners up: SDs
Third: ABs
Fourth: Boyos
RWC 2023 kicks off in a little over a week. Excitement if you’e a rugby fanatic and trepidation if you’re a Wallabies supporter. I’m definitely in both camps there. And with the tournament looming our review of past Cups concludes with the 2019 event. A little different this time. We’ve shortened the 19 review a little but added an overview of all RWCs to date, including results, some stats and comments. I hope you find it of interest and please feel free to share your own thoughts, memories and crystal ball gazing ahead of the next couple of months of rugby heaven.
The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the event and hosted by Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match was played at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chofu with the final being held at International Stadium Yokohama. This was the first time that the tournament had taken place in Asia and not hosted by a Tier 1 rugby nation. The tournament saw the first cancellation of matches at the Rugby World Cup with Typhoon Hajibus affecting three matches due to the expected impact on safety that the typhoon would have.
At opening ceremony World Rugby boss Bill Beaumont told us: “Over the next six weeks we will experience the very best of rugby and the very best of Japan as excitement sweeps this great nation. I know Japan will be the most welcoming of hosts, you are the best. The waiting is over and the stage is set. It’s now over to the teams and the fans to make this the best World Cup ever.”
The Pools
A surprise, but maybe not so much, given home advantage, was Japan finishing 4-0 on top of Pool A, defeating both Ireland and Scotland on the way. Japan’s final match against Scotland was under threat of cancellation due to the typhoon- with Scotland threatening legal action if it were to be cancelled. The match was played, Scotland lost and missed the QFs. The last 2 matches of Pool B were cancelled with the 4 teams involved (NZ, Namibia, Canada and Italy), being given points as for a draw. It didn’t make any difference in the with NZ and SA topping the pool. It was a pool stage with few surprises, save Japan. The Saffas stumbled at the start against the ABs, but steadily fine tuned their forward power + wide speed game. Eddie’s SDs were on a mission, notwithstanding their run pausing with the cancelled matchup with France, and the ABs were minnow bashing on the way to the QFs.
Interestingly the 2019 Wallabies squad included Adam Coleman and Jack Dempsey who will both play for other nations this year. Michael Cheika chose an experienced squad boasting 1,400 test caps (compared with less than 700 caps in the 2023 squad). The Wallabies scored plenty of tries during the pools without looking like a likely tournament winner. A struggling loss to Wales relegated the team to pool runner up and a QF meeting with England.
The Knockouts
The quarter finals results were fairly predictable. Australia played some pretty decent rugby against England but the SDs forward power and some typical errors and ill discipline made the difference in the end. The Wales France QF was a see sawing affair with France having the better of it for 50 minutes with a young Dupont prominent; however, a French red card mid second half saw Wales over the line.
The semi finals proved to be tough and tight.
England reached the final by physically hammering and smothering the All Blacks. They dominated the turnover count, taking ball off New Zealand 16 times while the All Blacks only managed to snaffle it five times. The defence was brutal and the All Blacks seemed shell-shocked for large parts of the game. Both teams got one try each, but while England’s was borne off front-foot ball and power running, New Zealand could only profit off one loose ball to score theirs and spent large parts of the game giving away penalties (11 to New Zealand to England’s six, in the end).
Peter Steph du Toit was the standout for his side in their kickfest semi final win over Wales. He chased everything, hit everything, carried hard and harried Welsh ball-carriers. His 18 tackles was the most of any player on the pitch and his work-rate was immense. Wales put in 41 kicks from hand and South Africa 40. That’s a kick a minute! And it was the box-kicks of scrum-halves Faf de Klerk and Gareth Davies that continually peppered the grass in the first half. Just 1 try each , the 1st to the Saffas in the 57th minute. The most excited the crowd got was the singing Sweet Caroline at halftime.
The Final
South Africa secured their third RWC after what was, in the end, a comfortable victory over favourites England in the final in Yokohama. Where England shut down the All Blacks the previous week, the Springboks did the same to them in the final. In the first half, the only points scored were from penalties, with South Africa leading 12–6 at half-time after several handling errors by England, who came close to scoring a try but didn’t manage to score after 26 phases.
Two more successful penalties for each side made the score 18–12 early in the second half. Makazole Mapimpi scored the first try in the 66th minute, when he ran in on the left before touching down, making South Africa’s lead 25–12 after the conversion. Despite South Africa having won two previous World Cups, he was the first Springbok to score a try in a World Cup final. Cheslin Kolbe followed up with another try eight minutes later, running in from the right wing to make the final score 32–12.
The World Cup – In Review
- A total of 25 teams have taken part in a men’s Rugby World Cup with Chile set to make their
debut at France 2023. Canada’s failure to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023 means the
number of teams to play in every edition falls to 10 in Argentina, Australia, England, France,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. - World Cup finals have tended to be tightly contested affairs, more so than runaways. The
2019 final did not see a try until Mapimpi’s in the 66 th minute. 95 and 07 finals had no tries,
91 just 1 try and 2003 1 try to each team. Defence is one of the keys to going deep. - The 2015 final between Australia and New Zealand is the highest scoring Rugby World Cup
final ever, with New Zealand winning that match 34–17. - While there have been some great forward battles in RWCs it is interesting that backs have
been more prominent in Player of the Series awards- Campo, Jonah, Horan, Wilkinson,
Habana and Carter. - While formal world rankings have only been in place since 2003, it is worth noting that no
team outside the top 4 has picked up Bill. Certainly no team ranked 8/9 has gone far!
Australia and New Zealand were ranked 1 and 2 going into each of 07, 11 and 15
tournaments. - Last week, Happyman provided us with some perspective of Eddie Jones success as a coach
overall amid criticism of the squad selection and his recent Wallaby results. As an RWC coach
he has also been successful, probably sitting below only Shag Hansen. 2003 final, 2007
assistant coach win, 2019 final and of course the Japanese Miracle at Brighton in 2015.
Some RWC Stats.
And then:
England became the first sole host nation to be eliminated in the pool stage of a Rugby World Cup in 2015. Wales, as joint hosts, were eliminated in the pool stage in 1991.
Jonny Wilkinson, with 15 points in 2003 and 6 points in 2007, is the only player to have scored points in two Rugby World Cup Finals.
Three nations have reached a Rugby World Cup final having previously lost a game in that tournament: England in 1991 and 2007, South Africa in 2019, and France in 2011, the latter being the only team to reach the final having lost two games and South Africa being the only team who won the cup after losing one game.
Ireland, currently ranked #1 have yet to make the RWC semi finals.
France, Australia and New Zealand are the only nations to have made it to at least the quarter-finals of every Rugby World Cup. Furthermore, South Africa have also done so since they started participating in 1995.
France is the only non English-speaking country to have made it to a Rugby World Cup final – in 1987, 1999 and 2011. It is also the only country to reach a final without ever winning it.
The only Tier Two countries to have participated in every Rugby World Cup are Canada and Japan, with Canada making it to one quarter-final in 1991 and Japan proceeding to the quarter-finals in 2019.
Japan is the only team to have ever won three matches and not progressed beyond the pool stage, losing out to South Africa and Scotland in their pool by points difference in 2015.
Of the Tier One nations, Italy is the only one not to have made it to at least the quarter-finals in any Rugby World Cup.
The 2015 final between Australia and New Zealand is the highest scoring Rugby World Cup final ever, with New Zealand winning that match 34–17.
South Africa became the first nation to win a World Cup after losing a match in the pool stage in 2019.
South Africa is the only country not to concede a try in the finals. All other teams have conceded at least one try during one of the finals.
There are three tier 1 Head-to-Head meetings that have never been played at a Rugby World Cup: England v Ireland, Ireland v South Africa, and Scotland v Wales.
