Review of 2015 rugby World Cup so far.

Review of the Rugby World Cup so far.

The 2015 tournament is currently being held in England. The tournament has 20 teams competing to be world champions. It began in mid September and will end on 31st October at Twickenham.

I am English so have been cheering for the host nation, secondary to this I have been cheering for Canada, a country which I love and have a fairly solid team with some really great powerful backs.

The tournament started with England having a "job done" match against Fiji. England won the match scoring 4 tries and thus securing a bonus point for their efforts. England did what they needed to do, won the game with little scope for any great criticism but they would still need to improve having to face Wales and Australia later in this group stage. One of these great rugby nations would be eliminated from the tournament in what on paper and on the pitch was a group of death.

In other groups we were treated to a game that will go down in World Cup history when Japan played the mighty South Africa, a nation that has won the tournament previously. Japan were 3 points behind with only a few minutes left on the clock, they were applying pressure to South Africa and going for the win. They had opportunities to kick penalties to get a draw but to their credit played on endeavouring to get a try and actually win the game. Japan went about their business with hustle and without panic, they pressured South Africa on their try line and the clock wore on. The game ends after 80 minutes but if the ball is in play at that time play continues until the ball goes dead or out of play. Japan sustained this pressure for around 7 minutes, never losing their discipline and at 84 minute mark scored a try that shocked the rugby world. Japan managed to beat South Africa and all of the rugby world (except South Africa) rejoiced. To put this in perspective this was the equivalent of Godzilla taking on Superman, Dr Manhatten, the Loch Ness Monster, the Kraken, Jaws, King Kong, the SAS, James Bond (when Roger Moore played him) and winning! That said South Africa got their act together in the rest of their groups and progressed to the quarter finals with ease. The awesome Bryan Habana scored a few true securing  legendary works status for himself and the rough-house No. 7 Berger continues to strike fear into the opposition by being, for my money the most physical player in this tournament.

I need to mention Scotland who surprised me by how good they look. They haven't had a good team for a while but they easily earned their place in the quarter finals. A much improved team worthy of their QF spot.

I managed to get tickets to see Canada play Italy at Elland Road and Romania in Leicester. Canada impressed me and had a much better team than I thought they would have. They were leading in both games and fell short at the end losing narrowly. The wily, more experienced Italy were lucky to beat them as Canada were the Better team throughout. The Romanians however, again behind during the match powered through to beat a tired Canada in the final moments of their game. In some respects Canada were unlucky but in others they just didn't have the technique and kicking skills to lead them to victory. That said they are very effective running forward and looked as good if not better than most other teams in the tournament. Canada have some powerful backs and a nippy fly half with good hands. The future looks good for them. Credit to Romania, they wore Canada down and secured a famous win which sent them into wild celebrations. One Romanian fan could not contain his delight and ran wildly up and down at the front of the stand. This was taken in good humour and humility by the Canadian fans, some of whom took the time to shake his hand and congratulate him. Would that have happened in soccer? No, no it wouldn't. I was surprised by the number of Canadian fans who outnumbered both the Italian and Romanian fans greatly.

Now to England. Pre tournament I did not think England had the team to win this tournament. I was also sorry to see that Nick Easter didn't make the squad. Easter is a favourite of mine and even though he's 37 I still felt he would be a good, experienced squad member.
The key, for me, to Englands World Cup campaign was Wales, another proud rugby nation who have had excellent team for many years. England led for most of the game but committed the cardinal son of sitting back on their lead. Something which you really shouldn't do in rugby. England controlled most of the game but as the match unfolded England did what they do best, they fave away a stack of penalties. Wales capitalised on this with their truly world class kicker Dan Biggar. He was calm and confident securing points for his team and thus enabling Wales to take the lead with moments to go. Despite this there was a glimmer of light when England were awarded a penalty which, if executed would tie the game. The kick would have to be taken from a wide position and it was not easy or guaranteed. What would England do, take the kick and live to fight another day or attempt to replicate Japan and steal a late dramatic victory? For me, I hoped they would kick for the draw, this would put the pressure on Wales to beat Australia and give England the breathing space to maybe lose to Australia but still qualify. England had a top quality kicker in Owen Farrell, every one of kicks that night had gone straight through the middle of the posts with no deviation. For me, he was even better than Wales Dan Biggar who as I've said is an exceptional kicker. Anyway England went for the try, lost the next line out with a whimper and Wales secured the win. A bad decision in my mind but at least they were competitive enough to try and win the game. That said, it was a game they could afford to draw so the risk vs reward was misplaced. Well done Wales, who capitalised on an England that were too scared to win the game until they were behind. I suspected England would not progress to the knockout stages of the tournament following this.

Hey, I was right, Australia easily beat England in their next game and English rugby hearts were broken. Australia's key players performed and England just couldn't cope.

England played Uruguay in their last game and hammered them with Nick Easter (who had now been drafted into the squad scoring 3 tries). A bittersweet victory as it panned out because if England had drawn against Wales they would have gone through to the quarter finals. They didn't deserve to go through, simple.

A special mention to the Wales vs Australia game where Wales had 10 minutes of pressure in Australia's 22. Wales piled it on but Australia soaked it up in a gutsy defensive period played which ended fruitlessly for Wales. They were disappointed not to score but for the neutral it was great, physical intense rugby. Both teams should be proud of their efforts.

A great tournament so far.