The early World cup draw ruined the tournament pitting top teams up against each other and knocking them out too early. Why anyone would do this in December 2020 instead of 2022 is madness and something they must learn from, never repeating again.
This last weekend saw the quarter finals with the top 4 teams in the world up against each other. The All Blacks beat Ireland by 4 points and South Africa beat France by one point. These games could have gone either way and they were both very tight up until the final whistle. The problem is these should have been the semi final matches and not the the quarter finals.
If lessons are to be learned then doing the World Cup draw 12 months before the first match should be the answer and not 3 years before. Teams performances can change within 12 months let alone 3 years. Back then Australia was still seen as a decent team and would or should have topped their pool and would have changed things slightly.
The world cup draw made this an anti climax as this weekend which should be the best teams fighting it out for a place in the finals and we have Argentina and England who are not even a speed bump for the top 2 teams. We know anything can happen on the day but it is highly unlikely due to the tempo the top two teams have been playing at over the last few games. This is not something you can train for and why England and Argentina will be struggling as they have not experienced this for a very long time.
England are seriously weak and struggled to beat Fiji who they lost to not that long ago in their quarter final game. I know it is not their fault but England in the semi finals highlights the serious problem of the draw. Argentina defeated Wales which is not exactly setting the tournament on fire with both sides being considered weak.
I feel sorry for the French fans and for rugby fans in general as Ireland and France should be battling it out in the semi finals this weekend instead they were knocked out one week too early.
When you reach the knockout stages you want to see strength vs strength ,but by having the top 4 teams in the world in one half of the draw this is never going to happen. last weekend was a serious treat for rugby fans with this week feeling like a major let down.
We already know who is going to win and this is not counting the chickens either it is just reality. The final will be between new Zealand and South Africa as Argentina and England do not have the quality to even compete.
Looking back at the tournament thus far I hope Ireland and France learn from their experience and can do better next time around. Ireland do not have the depth in squad like other teams have and playing their strongest team in earlier games when there was no need may have actually cost them winning the world cup or at least getting to the final.
The group stages are serious matches, but not critical as you can afford to lose one and still go through like both South Africa and New Zealand have done this time around. South Africa won the last World Cup after losing their opening match and it is all about momentum and peaking at the right time with 7 matches being played in total. The knockout matches are the critical ones so rotating your squad protecting certain players is crucial.
This last weekend was actually quite funny with certain newspapers in the UK stating this could be a Northern Hemisphere white wash with Wales beating Argentina, Ireland beating New Zealand, France beating South Africa and England beating Fiji. This was never going to happen with only England the favorites for their Fiji clash. Knockout games in the World Cup are different to any other game and what teams prepare for over 4 years. I know South Africa has a plan in place and why you cannot look at their form 12 months out as they are using 60 or 70 players in a squad rotation. They do not care about the results like they would have years ago.
The only question mark this weekend is if any players get red carded as I just don't see any victory for Argentina or England by any other way. I expect both the favorite teams will rest one some players for the finals a week later which should have never been the case.