Minnows thrill the crowds in the first round of Rugby World Cup 2007
“Nothing left but the crying” is probably the sentiment for many Irish, Welsh, Italians and Tongans this week as the pool stages end and the 3rd place finishers head back and start thinking about either retirement or the 2011 RWC in New Zealand. For a World Cup that was supposed to be a predictable spectacle by the ‘top-tier’ teams, the so-called ‘minnows’ flexed their might (and their hearts) and produced more flair and excitement than the championship favorites like France and the SANZAR nations. Here is how it breaks down pool-by-pool.
Pool A
As I predicted earlier, this pool was electric in the matches at the bottom between Samoa, Tonga and the US. Despite 4 defeats, the US posted respectable performances all around and nearly took the match against Samoa who also played well all around. But Somoa will be disappointed to finish 4th as they miss automatic qualification for the 2011 RWC enjoyed by the top-three finishers in each pool. The real excitement however was Tonga. First, they captured a 4-point win over Samoa and narrowly lost a 30-25 barn burner against South Africa (yes…SOUTH AFRICA). Unfortunately, England seemed to find some of their groove towards the end of the pool stage and relegated Tonga to an early trip home with a 36-20 defeat.
Pool B
Except for the match against Wales, Australia had an easy path to win the pool with a perfect 4-0 record. Fiji disappointed Welsh nationals around the world with a thrilling 38-34 upset that sent the men in red packing…noone saw that coming, not even myself. Even Canada and Japan kept this pool hopping with a determined 12-12 draw even though both teams leave the championship without a win.
Pool C
I don’t think New Zealand deserves much mention in this article except to note that their point differential at the end of the pool stage is 100 points more than the next closest team in all the pools. This pool came down to the Scotland v Italy clash for second place. Although I was rooting for Italy, the Scots dug deep and squeaked out a narrow 18-16 victory. Romania also rose to the occasion in a come-from-behind win over Portugal and a first-ever RWC victory.
Pool D
This pool always had the most exciting potential and the Argentineans made it even more unpredictable than I had expected. In addition to knocking the Irish from the tournament, they defeated France in the championship opener and went on to win the pool outright. They now head as favorites into a quarter-final match-up against Scotland which gives them a great shot of advancing to the semi-finals. Ireland seemed to collapse under the weight of their own expectations (hype?) with underdogs like Namibia and Georgia taking full advantage and making the Irish work for every meter and every point. In fact, Georgia played tough throughout the pool stage and impressed crowds at every venue, including the match I saw in Lyon against Argentina. France finally seemed to get serious after the loss to Argentina and posted authoritative wins over everyone else.
(On Oct 12th, 2007 at 5:58 pm)
This was not Romania’s first ever win. It was their fifth. In 1987 they defeated Zimbabwe. In 1991 they defeated Fiji. In 1999 they defeated the USA. In 2003 they beat Namibia.