Round-Up: Day 6-9

Well how about that? Today is the day the World Cup was blown wide open, thanks to an inspired performance from a gutsy and passionate Irish side. Their 15-6 victory over Australia was far from pretty, but all that matters to 

Declan Kidney’s men is the end result; and what a result it was.

It was a try-less encounter, but what it lacked in five-pointers it made up for in drama and physical tenacity. Two penalties apiece for Sexton and O’Gara together with a Sexton drop-goal were enough to cause the competitions' biggest upset so far and put the Emerald Isle in poll position to top the group and avoid the likes of South Africa and New Zealand in the quarter finals.

The normally so fluent Australian side could only muster two James O’Connor penalties, and were far from their normal clinical selves; the Wallabies had many opportunities to create try scoring chances, but impatience proved to be their downfall as they forced the play in the final third. Quade Cooper was quiet and his loose reverse pass in the dying minutes; intercepted by Tommy Bowe summed up the Australian’s overall performance. O’Connor made good ground to haul the winger down metres short, but Ireland had the territory they required to close out the game and earn their first World Cup win over Australia.

In the earlier games, South Africa and Argentina both recorded confortable wins over weaker opposition. The Springboks beat Fiji 49-3, scoring six tries from six different scorers. Argentina got off the mark in the tournament with a 43-8 win over Romania.

Earlier in the week, a hat-trick from Alessana Tuilagi powered Samoa to a 49-12 victory over Namibia. The South-sea islanders looked sharp and clinical and could yet prove to be Wales’ undoing when the sides meet tomorrow in Hamilton.

Canada caused an upset as they beat Tonga 25-20, scoring three tries in the process. A try from Phil Mackenzie eight minutes from time proved to be the winning score as the Canadians secured a famous win.

Scotland secured their second win of the group stage as they struggled to victory over Georgia in Invercargill. In one of the most unattractive games of rugby you are ever likely to see, Dan Parks kicked all of the Scots points to keep their unbeaten record intact. Georgia continued to build on their ever growing reputation in the rugby world with a fighting performance.

New Zealand scored thirteen tries as they hammered Japan 83-7 in Hamilton. Richard Kahui and Sonny Bill-Williams scored twice each and fly-half Colin Slade scored 25 points in a convincing group stage win.

Finally, the USA made sure Russia’s World Cup debut ended in defeat as they ground out a 13-7 win in New Plymouth. Scrum Half Mike Petri scored the games’ only try with Chris Wyles adding two penalties and a conversion.  

Keep up to date with the RWC on Tournament Talk. Become a follower to receive updates from the blog by clicking on the option in the side bar. 

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.