Rise of the minnow

Just a week into the RWC and already trends have begun to emerge. As expected the southern hemisphere giants have made strong starts to the group stages and you'd be a fool to look any further than the Tri-Nations as your WC winner. 

But the other noticeable trend was rather unexpected, but it would appear that the once vast gap between the first and second tier nations is now being shunted closer together. Games that would, in the past, have been a walkover have been transformed into battling test matches in which the stronger sides have to grate and grind out a result.

The first example of this closing of the gap came in Scotland’s opening encounter with Romania. The powerful Romanian pack caused the Scots some serious problems up front and their opening try was a prime example of this early physical dominance; Mihaita Lazar crashed his way over following a bulldozing rolling maul. Danielli saved the blushes for Scotland with two late tries, but the Romanians had laid down a marker. Their tenacity in the forwards will make them hard to beat in the duration of the tournament.

The USA also put in a strong performance against Ireland and more recently, Scotland were once again involved when Georgia ran them close in Invercargill. You could be forgiven for citing the Scots as the common denominator in this ‘rise of the minnows,’ but it has been noted throughout that the number of walk-overs continues to diminish.  

Let us compare a few of the so-called ‘minnows’ results from 2007 to 2011.

2007

Scotland 42-0 Romania

Australia 91-0 Japan

France 64-7 Georgia

2011

Scotland 34-24 Romania

France 47-21 Japan

Scotland 15-6 Georgia

This is a clear indication that the days of cricket scores are gone; every game is now a battle, a real tussle for dominance. Now and again there will be a big total scored, most likely during this tournament there will be at least one thrashing. But even then, the bigger sides will have to work hard for their points, much in the way New Zealand had to during the second half against Tonga.

It puts world rugby in a very healthy state and continues to add to the reputation and popularity of the world’s greatest game. As long as England don’t get caught up in a major upset, long may the rise of the minnows continue.