Rugby World Cup 2011 Review: Part 5

[M Two One]

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After Wales drew with Fiji back in the November last year with a dreadful performance there were sincere doubts over whether the Welsh would get past the pool stages. Unimpressive 6 Nations performances didn’t help them much either. However, over the course of the summer Warren Gatland took the squad twice to their now famous boot camp in Poland and it really worked out (although it should be noted that Ireland also went to the same camp in 2007 which didn’t do them much good).

The signs of the squad’s extreme fitness were already evident during the world cup warm up matches where even Adam Jones was playing 80 minutes. Wales beat England with sheer unbreakable defence and followed up against an older and rusty Argentina side. Wales just waited until the Argies were out of puff and then ran away with the match. Those two matches were a good sign of the performances that would define Wales’ world cup campaign.

Unfortunately, something else would define Wales’ world cupâ€"missed kicks at crucial stages. In the opening match, Hook missed a relatively simple kick, although it looked as if it went over and surprisingly there wasn’t a fuss was made over it at the time or afterwards. Also, Priestland missed a penalty and totally scuffed a drop goal. If it were the other way around, Morné Steyn and Morgan Parra wouldn’t have botched those kicks.

The same thing occurred again in their semifinal match with France with Hook, Stephen Jones and Halfpenny missing a combined total of 11 points. Even in the third place playoff, Hook again missed from in front of the posts. He was perhaps the only player not to leave New Zealand in credit, though it should be noted that he is not as good a fly half as he is a centre, simple as that. Apart from Hook, the whole side pretty much performed at their bestâ€"from Warburton who looks destined to be the Wales captain for many years to come, to newcomers to the national side such as Priestland, who unlike Hook, looked very composed at fly half.

Players that haven’t been called up to international side in years such as Bennett and Charteris played well too. Phillips and Roberts were back to their best and Halfpenny was a revelation at full back. Yet despite pretty much the entire side playing so well, one mustn’t go overboard as looking at just the results, Wales didn’t beat any side that was above them in the rankings coming into the tournament.

Wales must start backing up their performances with results, especially after their two Grand Slams, of which neither amounted to any long term success. Only Shane Williams from the starting XV will not be there for Wales in 2015, but if this side stays fit, there is a great opportunity to build a side capable of beating the Tri Nations powerhouses. - p.d.



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Australia went into the tournament with high expectations, having achieved the IRB number two ranking and defeating both New Zealand and South Africa to take the Tri-nations crown for 2011. They were drawn to play in Pool C with Ireland, Italy, Russia and the United States. Being the top ranked team in the pool, the Aussies were expected to qualify for the quarterfinals at the top.

Their first match against Italy was expected to provide some stern opposition for the Wallabies, particularly in the scrum, but they achieved a comprehensive victory in this match despite a slow first half. Australia’s next match was against Ireland, where things started to go wrong due to injuries and illness. Ireland really took it to them in the forwards, driving the Wallaby players back in the tackles. Australia, without Pocock to dominate the breakdowns, was unable to compete as well as they would have liked and the Irish outplayed them.

The loss to Ireland proved to be a grievous, but not fatal wound, as the Wallabies easily accounted for both the United States and Russia in their two remaining matches despite having to field number eight Radiki Samo out of position in the final match against Russia due to injuries. Reaching the quarterfinals as the second place qualifier from Pool C set up a highly anticipated match with South Africa. This was always going to be a closely contested match that could have gone either way, but with the injury early in the match to Springbok Heinrich Brüssow, the game was denied a match up of two of the world’s best open side flankers. David Pocock achieved dominance at the breakdowns and despite the Springboks having the bulk of the possession and territory, the Wallabies won the game by two points.

The buzz around the semifinal match against the All Blacks was electric, with many New Zealand fans in particular. Everything was set up for a close game, but right from the kick off the All Blacks dominated the match. David Pocock had obviously been identified as a potential threat and he was effectively negated at the breakdowns by the All Blacks running at him and forcing him to make the tacklesâ€"thus denying him the chance to pilfer the ball.

In the end it was a fourteen point win to the All Blacks, relegating the Wallabies to the third and fourth playoff with Wales. This match is probably the match that no one wants to play, but to both teams credit, they both played to win. Australia eventually prevailed, but not before they lost fullback Kurtley Beale and fly half Quade Cooper to injuries. Berrick Barnes controlled the game well and questions might well have been asked why he didn't start in the number 12 jersey earlier in the tournament.

The Wallabies chances were probably affected through the tournament by injury to key players, as well as some of their big name players, such as Quade Cooper and to a lesser extent Will Genia, not firing as expected. Australia’s core is still quite young though and will have benefited from their world cup experience, making them genuine contenders for the 2015 tournament. - S



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France came into the world cup with some decent warm up performances against Ireland following their shocking loss to Italy in the 6 Nations months prior. It was expected that having been drawn into Pool A with hosts New Zealand, as well as Tonga, Canada and Japan would give the French an easy ticket to the quarterfinals at the least. What did happen in the first round may likely not have been predicted by anyone. France’s first match against Japan wasn’t easy, even though the final score suggests otherwise. Anyone that watched this match could say that Japan gave everything they had that night and it showed into the second half. The Brave Blossoms nearly drew level with about a quarter of the match left to play, but eventually ran out of gas, which allowed the les Bleus to take over.

After beating Canada to an eerily similar final score line in their second match, New Zealand was next on the schedule. It was speculated that the French may throw the match, but Coach Marc Lièvremont’s post match reactions and their play suggested otherwise, even though the All Blacks had no difficulty dispatching their opponents by a twenty point margin. Tonga was last on the list and it seemed all likely that the French would be going through in second with New Zealand dumping Canada in their final match. However, things took a turn for the worst against the Tongans as the French were not only outplayed, but in general, just looked pathetic. Tonga secured the win and probably could have earned enough tries to put them through to the next round over the French, but they didn’t manage. From here, constant public conflict between Marc Lièvremont and his players reached a boiling point, which may have been to blame for recent performances. This left many wondering how bad it was going to get as the players no longer responded to their coach and apparently coached themselves through the next phase.

With England going through from Pool B in first, this meant a big rival showdown from the get-go. During the first half, les Bleus completely dominated by avoiding mistakes and playing with their heads up, while their opponents couldn’t pass to save their lives. France cooled off during half time and although they won by seven points, England did make a minor comeback late as best they could. It wasn’t a classic by any means, but it was enough to put France through to face Wales in the semifinals in a match that proved to be controversial. The French and the Welsh both started well and the match was looking to be a great one, but a red card following a tackle by Warburton on Clerc changed the face of the match and ultimately killed Wales’ chances of reaching the finals. France sat back after scoring what they believed to be a sufficient amount of points to earn the win, but Wales kept fighting back, only to ultimately lose by only one point in heartbreaking fashion. The French win set up a final against the highly favored All Blacks.

To say that les Bleus are a strange team is quite an understatement. On any given night France can either turn up leaving a pathetic mess with their tails between their legs, or smashing through the door with an odd air of confidence so strong that their sweat could be used to make perfume. The All Blacks took the lead with a try by Tony Woodcock fifteen minutes into the final, but a missed conversion by Weepu kept the match close leading into half time. Early in the second half, Stephen Donald converted a penalty, but not one minute after, the French roared back with a try by Captain Thierry Dusautoir and took over the match from there. Despite losing to Tonga and narrowly passing through to the quarterfinals, the French were the better team on the final night against the All Blacks and still couldn’t pull it off, losing by a single point.

Thierry Dusautoir deservedly earned the IRB International Player of the Year award following the tournament and is the first French player to do so since the legendary Fabien Galthié back in 2002. Wing Vincent Clerc had a great campaign, tying for first among try scorers with six to his name. Dimitri Yachvili did not disappoint either with excellent passing and kicking, finishing fourth among all point scorers despite swapping kicking duties regularly with fellow scrum half Morgan Parra (who also played well even after being moved to fly half effectively). Imanol Harinordoquy was brilliant at line outs, particularly against the All Blacks in the final. While there were plenty of other standouts, it must be noted that Maxime Médard did not play up to his standard by farâ€"making poor decisions in the back that hurt his team on several occasions.

While France may leave following a cruel loss, they also leave with a newfound respect by fans that originally thought they didn’t have what it takes to be one of the best. The future looks bright for the nation with plenty of talented young players climbing quickly through the ranks. France should be viewed in a different light at the next world cup. - M



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By most measuring sticks, the New Zealand All Blacks were favourites to win the 2011 Rugby World Cup. They maintained the number one IRB ranking for most of the four year period between cups and were playing with home ground advantage. The expectation from the players, management and the general public was that they would be the team that would lift the William Webb Ellis Cup at the end of the tournament, despite losing their last two matches prior to South Africa and Australia respectively. While these losses both occurred offshore, the question was whether playing at home would be an advantage, or whether the weight of expectation and the lack of a world cup ***le for 24 years, would cause them to succumb to the pressure.

The All Blacks were expected to qualify for the quarterfinals and easily accounted for Tonga and Japan before beating France by 20 points. While they were dealing with a number of injuries, confidence was high as they had effectively already qualified for the quarterfinals in first position by this point. With only Canada remaining in pool play and Captain Ritchie McCaw looking after his ****ling foot injury, the captaincy was temporarily handed to Dan Carter. However, Carter tore a muscle in his groin while taking his final kick at goal in the final practice before the match. The fly half is widely regarded as the best player in the world at his position and was considered crucial to the team’s chances of winning the cup. This caused a major case of jitters for All Blacks fans as Carter was invalided out of the tournament. Aaron Cruden was called into the squad as a replacement and understudy Colin Slade was given the reigns to steer the All Blacks around the park after only limited time on the field. The game against Canada was easily won, but the doubts still remained as the games were only going to get harder in the knock out stages of the tournament.

With the quarterfinalists determined, New Zealand faced a determined Argentine side, who were themselves, highly affected by injuries. The Pumas frustrated the All Blacks’ play by slowing the ball in the ruck and forcing their opponents to accumulate their boots in multiples of three through the boot of half back Piri Weepu. The All Blacks won the match by a considerable margin, but only managed to score two tries to the Pumas’ one. This was also veteran fullback Mils Muliaina's 100th​ match and as it turns out, his final match for the All Blacks as he too was injured and was replaced in the squad by Hosea Gear. An aggravated groin tear to Colin Slade prompted another replacement by bringing in the previously unwanted and unpopular (in some circles) Stephen Donald.

The win against Argentina set up a match against trans-Tasman rivals, Australia, in the semifinalsâ€"this was probably the match of the tournament for the All Blacks. Doubts caused by the number of injuries and whether the team could function as a cohesive unit, due to the changes in personnel, combined with the fact that the Wallabies had beaten the All Blacks the last time they played, had some fans wondering if the latter could pull off the win. Their game plan was well thought out and implemented well. David Pocock was nullified at the breakdowns and the dangerous Wallaby backs were denied quality ball. Young fly half Aaron Cruden was well supported by the rest of the team and ran with confidence. For their part, the Wallabies probably kicked to the All Black back three too much, with Dagg, Jane and Kahui turning in flawless displays under the high ball. This set up an unlikely final with fellow Pool A qualifiers France.

During the course of the week between the semifinals and the final there was a total reversal, with the fans developing perhaps over confidence and the All Black players getting the jitters. The French really brought their “Aâ€game and ended up losing in the cruelest of circumstances, by one point. This was a tight tussle, highlighted by missed kicks on both sides, with only one try a piece and maybe the best team on the night losing to the best team in the tournament. While winning the ***le was definitely a whole team effort, the squad benefited from the leadership of Ritchie McCaw as he played through all of the games with his foot injury. Jerome Kaino was probably the pick of the forwards and Ma’a Nonu and Israel Dagg probably narrowly beat out Cory Jane and Richard Kahui in the backs.

It's ironic that the All Blacks’ fourth choice fly half, the much maligned Stephen Donald, kicked the penalty that made the difference in the end. - S​

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