Rugby World Cup 2011 - Scottish hearts broken by Ashton

THE pool stages at the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup are over and so are the hopes of twelve teams who were dreaming of reaching the final.  Quarter-final weekend will ultimately see eight of the top nine sides in the IRB rankings do battle; Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Wales, Argentina, Australia and France.  The team missing out is Scotland, who lost their proud record of having at least made the last eight of every Rugby World Cup competition. 

CRUSHED: Ashton finally put the knell in Scotland's hopes

    For a while on Saturday morning, it looked like the impossible might become possible, as Dan Parks kicked Scotland into a 12-3 lead against England in Auckland.  However, the English dug in throughout another scrappy performance from our boys.  Once again, Johnny Wilkinson had a shocking day with his kicking and surely, Martin Johnson has to consider picking Toby Flood as his no.1 choice at fly-half.  In the end, it was Chris Ashton who once again managed to bail out England.  Trailing 9-12 with three minutes remaining, Ashton finished off the one flowing move England were able to put together in the entire match.  It makes him the leading try scorer in the tournament and earnt us a 16-12 triumph.  It comes at a cost; with a dangerous tackle on Chris Patterson, Dylan Armitage was cited and since been banned from this weekend’s quarter-finals.  Scotland has been unlucky at the tournament, but when you fail to score any tries against Argentina, Georgia and England, I’m afraid it has to be an early flight home.

UPSET: Tonga celebrate a historic victory over the dismal French

     It could be worse, as you could be French at the moment.  They may be in the last eight again, but at the height of a national embarrassment.  They were dominated by a resolute and magnificent Tonga in Wellington and fell to a 19-14 defeat; one of the biggest upsets in Rugby World Cup history.  Only a late try from Francois Clerc was even enough for Les Bleus to secure the losing bonus point.  The French have looked atrocious from their opening match, but knowing them, they have a performance in them, so England shouldn’t take them too lightly.  For Tonga, victory meant like winning the World Cup to them.  It secures them an automatic place for the 2015 finals, at Canada’s expense.  However they will be regretting the loss to the Canadians, otherwise they would be deservedly in the last eight.  Unless they progress on Saturday, France’s rugby players deserve similar treatment to their football counterparts in the 2010 football World Cup; fly home in standard class!

     New Zealand received a hammer blow as arguably, the best player in the world at the moment, Dan Carter was ruled out of the tournament.  He looked in agony and limped away in tears after an Achilles tendon ruptured finished the 29-year’s old participation in his home tournament.  You wonder whether this is his last attempt at the World Cup, after injury ruined his 2007 campaign too.  The All-Blacks didn’t need him against Canada though, cruising to a comprehensive 79-15 victory, scoring twelve tries in the process.  Four of these came from Zac Guildford, while Miles Muliana returned from injury to cross once in his 99^th test for the hosts.  We’ll see how much Carter’s absence will now affect the New Zealand squad and also, the fans. 

    Wales banished their nightmare of Nantes 2007 in their revenge rematch against Fiji.  Samoa’s luckless and narrow defeat to world champions South Africa on Friday meant a bonus point was only required for the Welsh to progress.  The potential banana skin turned into a no contest encounter, with the Welsh cantering to 66-0 annihilation in Hamilton.  Welsh centre Jamie Roberts scored two tries in this emphatic performance.  The Welsh have looked very impressive in the pool stages, and can look forward to a very intriguing quarter-final showdown with Ireland on Saturday.  Fiji; quarter-finalists themselves four years ago, have had a dismal tournament.  No wonder; they even let Namibia score over 20 points!

     In the final pool match of this World Cup, one more quarter-final spot was up for grabs.  Ireland sealed it and it turned into a mismatch against Italy.  Once Brian O’Driscoll crossed the Italian try line in the opening stages of the second half in Dunedin, there was little doubt who was going to be the winning team.  On his birthday, Keith Earles touched down twice, as Ireland scored 27 unanswered points in the second half.  The Emerald Isle eventually won 36-6 and deservedly ended top of Pool C, leaving Australia with a much harder route now to the final. 

     Quarter-final weekend looks a very tasty one and at least three of the games look too close to call.  The final gets closer and with the hard-working minnows dispatched, the real action starts this weekend!  Good luck to the remaining teams left fighting it out for Rugby World Cup glory in 2011!

THE FINAL POOL RESULTS: Georgia 25-9 Romania, South Africa 13-5 Samoa, Australia 68-22 Russia, France 14-19 Tonga, England 16-12 Scotland, Argentina 25-7 Georgia, New Zealand 79-15 Canada, Wales 66-0 Fiji, Ireland 36-6 Italy

CLOSER: Just eight teams can still dream of lifting the trophy in 2011

THIS WEEKEND’S QUARTER-FINALS

Ireland v Wales, Saturday 8 October, from Wellington, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD,

England v France, Saturday 8 October, from Auckland, 8.30am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD,

South Africa v Australia, Sunday 9 October, from Wellington, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

New Zealand v Argentina, Sunday 9 October, from Auckland, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

Rugby World Cup 2011 - The Irish blow it wide open

RUGBY World Cup 2011 is warming up nicely and a shock result at the weekend blew the competition wide open.  Ireland produced a heroic display out of nowhere to defeat one of the pre-tournament favourites Australia in Auckland, 15-6.  Not only does it mean that the Irish should finish top of Pool C, it now means Australia, South Africa and New Zealand could well be in the same section in the quarter-finals.

LEADER: Brian O'Driscoll inspired Ireland to a famous win

    The Irish had laboured through their opener against the USA and few gave them much hope, but the scoreline didn’t flatter them either.  Two disallowed tries in the closing stages could have added even more gloss for the underdogs.  Two penalties each from Dave Sexton and veteran Ronan O’Gara, in addition to a Sexton drop goal were enough for glory.  Two penalties from James O’Connor was the only Wallabies response and by failing to get a bonus point for losing by less than seven points, it severely dents their chances of topping the pool.  Despite winning the Tri-Nations before the tournament, I didn’t predict much from Australia in this Rugby World Cup and perhaps, this result shows the inexperience at the highest level for this young crop of players.

     South Africa might have also made a very unconvincing start against Wales, but the defending champions are beginning to find their feet.  Six unanswered tries saw them easily brush aside a potential banana skin in Fiji at the weekend.  Their 49-3 demolition of the Pacific Islanders was followed this morning by a 12-try romp of Namibia at the North Harbour Stadium.  The 87-0 landslide of their African neighbours included a record-breaking try for Brian Habana, who became the Springbok’s leading try scorer in their distinguished rugby history.  However, Habana’s body language throughout was poor and he was substituted early in the second half, with doubts over the rest of his participation in the Rugby World Cup.  The margin of victory was South Africa’s biggest in RWC history and questions have to be asked of Namibia’s performance, as they simply rolled over and died.  I have to agree with Francois Pienaar, who is a leading pundit for ITV’s coverage and the winning captain of the 1995 South African team that Namibia are not up to this standard of rugby.  All the other minnows; Japan, Georgia, Russia and Romania have put in worthy efforts against teams of a higher standard in this competition, yet the Namibians continue to be left behind.

     Hosts New Zealand warmed up for their crunch Pool A clash with France at the weekend by overwhelming Japan 83-7 last Friday in Hamilton.  It was entertainment of the highest standard and Coach Graeme Henry will be delighted to see his side run in more points in the second half, following their stale performance after the interval against Tonga the week before.  John Kirwan, coach of Japan and part of the great All-Black team of 1987 was proud of the efforts his players put in and I don’t think there will be a more popular try scored in the competition than that by Japan’s Hirotoki Onozawa.  The whole crowd in the stadium cheered this try, which was nice to see.  Without Dan Carter, Miles Muliana and Richie McCaw, the All-Blacks looked very formidable.  Despite a 46-19 success over Canada in Napier on Sunday, the French still looked far from convincing, blowing more cold than hot.  They will do well on Saturday to repeat the stunning upsets of 1999 and 2007 against the hosts.

     Great is one word that can’t be used to describe England’s World Cup so far.  Unsavoury tabloid headlines of players drinking in bars and dangerous recreational activities such as bungee jumping dominated the build-up to the Georgia game at the weekend.  Martin Johnson was infuriated, but couldn’t really defend his players after a scrappy 41-10 triumph in Dunedin.  England did score six tries, with flying winger Chris Ashton and Shontayne Hape both crossing the Georgian try-line twice, as the European defence tired in the closing stages.  Despite the bonus point gained, the lack of discipline from England was shocking.  They gave away 11 penalties in the first half and if they do that in the knockout stages, forget winning the Webb Ellis trophy!  Toby Flood had a poor game at fly-half and has subsequently been dropped for the Romania game this weekend.  Johnson’s team need to put in a resounding performance on Saturday morning to silence the doubters once and for all.

    After their narrow and agonising loss to the defending champions the previous weekend, Wales bounced back impressively to overcome Samoa 17-10 in the early hours of Sunday morning.  A sole Shane Williams try was the difference in a hard-fought and bruising encounter, which was dedicated to the lives of the four Welsh miners who lost their lives in the tragedy last week.  This was a game that a Welsh side last year would have definitely lost, so it is encouraging to see them edge these narrow battles.

     Scotland didn’t play in this set of matches, but are injury-free ahead of their encounter with Argentina on Sunday.  No doubt they will have been interested to see the Pumas beat Romania 43-8 and signal their intent for this tournament.  Lastly, the Russian team has made its debut at the finals and despite two defeats; a narrow 13-6 reverse to the USA and a walloping against Italy on Tuesday, they have won the hearts of many neutrals for their intent to play proper rugby.  Apart from Namibia, the minnows of world rugby can be proud of their efforts at this Rugby World Cup as the gap continues to narrow between the heavyweights and the lightweights of the rugby union game.

THE WEEK’S RESULTS: Russia 6-13 USA, New Zealand 83-7 Japan, Argentina 43-8 Romania, South Africa 49-3 Fiji, Australia 6-15 Ireland, Wales 17-10 Samoa, England 41-10 Georgia, France 46-19 Canada, Italy 53-17 Russia, Tonga 31-18 Japan, South Africa 87-0 Namibia