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Rugby Union
International Test Matches
Australia v France 17/07/21
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<blockquote data-quote="BPM" data-source="post: 1049069" data-attributes="member: 59968"><p>As an England fan, I'd treat both as rivals so to give a neutral perspective, I think rugby in Australia and rugby in France are going in opposite directions.</p><p></p><p>Australia haven't won a World Cup in 22yrs so those wins are becoming less and less relevant. In England, people still talk about 2003, but that does successive sides no favours. The game is so different now.</p><p></p><p>Unless there's a crazy level of improvement between now and 2023, I don't see Australia adding to their two any time soon. Maybe in 6yrs but certainly not in 2 and even then, that looks somewhat unlikely given the declining popularity of rugby in Australia. Rennie is bringing through a promising group of players, but whether they'll make it at the highest level remains to be seen and there isn't a sizeable talent pool to continue to draw from in a weak/uncertain domestic competition</p><p></p><p>In comparison, France have a genuinely outstanding crop of young players led by a couple of top class halfbacks in Dupont and Ntamack. They will be very well placed to challenge in a home World Cup in 2023. If that's too soon, they have a conveyor belt of talent coming through and rugby has massively turned a corner in France in recent times. The success of their club sides (yes, money plays a big part) at European level and a very good domestic league will continue to feed that.</p><p></p><p>To put it another way, I think France have a very good chance of winning a World Cup on home soil and I think they're clearly on an upward trajectory. I wouldn't say it's likely, but it's definitely not inconceivable that they could match Australia's 2 World Cup wins in the next 10yrs. Sadly it looks Australia are going in a the opposite direction. IMO Rennie's doing as good a job as could be expected in trying to arrest the slide, but he can only work with what he has and is hamstrung by a lot of the external factors I mentioned in my previous post.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BPM, post: 1049069, member: 59968"] As an England fan, I’d treat both as rivals so to give a neutral perspective, I think rugby in Australia and rugby in France are going in opposite directions. Australia haven’t won a World Cup in 22yrs so those wins are becoming less and less relevant. In England, people still talk about 2003, but that does successive sides no favours. The game is so different now. Unless there’s a crazy level of improvement between now and 2023, I don’t see Australia adding to their two any time soon. Maybe in 6yrs but certainly not in 2 and even then, that looks somewhat unlikely given the declining popularity of rugby in Australia. Rennie is bringing through a promising group of players, but whether they’ll make it at the highest level remains to be seen and there isn’t a sizeable talent pool to continue to draw from in a weak/uncertain domestic competition In comparison, France have a genuinely outstanding crop of young players led by a couple of top class halfbacks in Dupont and Ntamack. They will be very well placed to challenge in a home World Cup in 2023. If that’s too soon, they have a conveyor belt of talent coming through and rugby has massively turned a corner in France in recent times. The success of their club sides (yes, money plays a big part) at European level and a very good domestic league will continue to feed that. To put it another way, I think France have a very good chance of winning a World Cup on home soil and I think they’re clearly on an upward trajectory. I wouldn’t say it’s likely, but it’s definitely not inconceivable that they could match Australia’s 2 World Cup wins in the next 10yrs. Sadly it looks Australia are going in a the opposite direction. IMO Rennie’s doing as good a job as could be expected in trying to arrest the slide, but he can only work with what he has and is hamstrung by a lot of the external factors I mentioned in my previous post. [/QUOTE]
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Australia v France 17/07/21
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