A Free Passage Dodging The Top Seeds
Earlier this week we had the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw take place in Sydney Australia as they are the host nation for this event. It has taken a few days to digest the draw and this draw has been rigged by design to favor the Northern Hemisphere teams. This is just too obvious as the one side of the draw has the favorites and top seeds vs the other side which has the weaker teams. This is diminishing the credibility of the World Cup which is meant to be the pinnacle of the sport.
One would have hoped that the teams would have stood up and called World Rugby out for cheating. This should have happened immediately before the draw was completed with countries walking out in protest.
One has to ask why does the draw have to happen two years out from the tournament as it makes no real logical sense. The 2023 draw was done three years out and you can see again this was designed to favor the Northern Hemisphere. The top 4 teams in 2023 were all drawn in the same side of the pool whilst England were on the other side. By giving the Southern Hemisphere tougher draws it was aimed at knocking them out early which never materialized. We ended up with a SA vs New Zealand final and 2027 will not see that happen as the organisers planned one of those teams will be knocked out by playing both teams against each other in a knock out round.
We saw the World Cup Football draw take place 2 days ago and this is not rocket science how you protect the top seeds by placing them in opposite sides of the draw. The same happens in tennis where the top players are planned via the draw to only face each other in the later rounds. Upsets can and do happen and why sport is so fun to watch as anything can happen on a particular day.
When we look at the Rugby World Cup a Northern Hemisphere team has only won the event on one occasion in 40 years. This 2027 World Cup draw has been designed for the top seeds being South Africa and New Zealand to face off prematurely removing at least one obstacle for the Northern Hemisphere teams.
This rigging the competition will not help as we all know you have to beat the best to win so whether it is South Africa or the All Blacks in the final it makes no difference they have to be beaten. If you look at the draw it does favor England with the teams they have to face compared to the other side of the draw. Lets hope England are knocked out and they do not get to see the final.
This is still not a problem for the Southern Hemisphere favorites as by the time 2027 comes along they will be better prepared mentally and physically. Obvious cheating by the organizers will be an added motivational driving factor for SA and New Zealand which is that obvious and everyone knows what is going on.
The 2027 Rugby World Cup had an additional 4 teams added expanding the tournament to 6 pools. This was done on purpose so they could cover themselves when asked how they could mess up the pool draw. The World Rugby Board messed up the 2023 World Cup having the top matches played early which did not work out as they had hoped.
The funny thing is SA has played England in 2 World Cup finals and won each one comfortably so why do they even think they have a chance again this time. South Africa play England next year in June and expect to see a demolition job done on them. Both New Zealand and SA play each other 4 times in a test series next year which is going to battle harden both teams in preparation for the World Cup. The question is will these teams play any differently knowing they will be facing each other in the quarter finals of the World Cup the following year?
World Rugby has shown they cannot be trusted and this must never be allowed to happen again as this should be a level playing field and is clearly not level. Whoever came up with this plan should be removed along with those who supported this. Make no question about this back room deals have been done and I would go as far as to say those investors within the various Rugby Unions who sold shares are involved in all of this. The draw is all about the financials and what it offers to the country that wins the event. The marketing money generated through media and advertising is what this draw is all about and sadly not the sport. SA is one of the only countries left who controls their rugby 100% and having them win it for a third time in a row is what has been planned.