I have to say that I've been really impressed with Portugal, if they had more opportunities against top teams they'd be some side.
Would getting smashed by England, Wales, Ireland and France every year improve them?
Or would getting players from their bigger clubs into the professional European leagues improve them? Or ultimately setting up their own professional league.
Did Turkey improve at football from getting thrashed in qualifying for major tournaments or because they improved their own leagues?
Did Iceland improve because they got thrashed regularly or because they got more players into top academy set ups at a young age?
How did those Iceland players get spotted though? Playing against England and getting smashed? Who knows which came first, however there are no doubt players from Portugal who have been identified by bigger leagues and will move into better teams after this tournament and improve further. The problem is Tier 2 nations hardly ever play Tier 1 nations so turn up every 4 years with no experience against those teams and are now playing under a huge spotlight. It's fundamentally sporting elitism at the extreme. World rugby treats them like fodder.
Did you know when Fiji played England in a rare friendly a few years ago at a sold out Twickenham the Fiji players were paid a few hundred pounds each! England players were paid tens of thousands and God knows how much the RFU raked in on hospitality, tickets and booze.
Odds ,, bookies very uncertain who wins the thing .. Ireland and SA both 3/1, next come NZ and France at 100/30 .. big gap to England 11/1, then Wales at 19/1 .. for what it's worth I backed NZ ages ago at 3/1, at least they are rock solid pricewise lol
Is it just me or is there a lack of momentum in this tournament ,I started full of enthusiasm but that seems to be waning. Don’t know if it’s the gaps between games or perhaps they should have played all of the games at the weekends ….
Is it just me or is there a lack of momentum in this tournament ,I started full of enthusiasm but that seems to be waning. Don’t know if it’s the gaps between games or perhaps they should have played all of the games at the weekends ….
Lack of games, especially when many big teams didn't play last weekend Lack of jeopardy, as qualification is effectively just about all decided before the groups are finished.
To make groups of 5 exciting you need 3 decent teams in the group, AND for the final game to feature 2 of them.
Is it just me or is there a lack of momentum in this tournament ,I started full of enthusiasm but that seems to be waning. Don’t know if it’s the gaps between games or perhaps they should have played all of the games at the weekends ….
Lack of games, especially when many big teams didn't play last weekend Lack of jeopardy, as qualification is effectively just about all decided before the groups are finished.
To make groups of 5 exciting you need 3 decent teams in the group, AND for the final game to feature 2 of them.
To have that, you need to fast track more Tier 2 nations to Tier 1 standards. There aren't enough Tier 1 teams to achieve such excitement, without drastically reducing the numbers playing (and undermining the suggestion that it's a World Cup).
Or watch Ireland v Scotland at the weekend.
As an Ireland fan, I'm half expecting the Scots to win.
Is it just me or is there a lack of momentum in this tournament ,I started full of enthusiasm but that seems to be waning. Don’t know if it’s the gaps between games or perhaps they should have played all of the games at the weekends ….
Lack of games, especially when many big teams didn't play last weekend Lack of jeopardy, as qualification is effectively just about all decided before the groups are finished.
To make groups of 5 exciting you need 3 decent teams in the group, AND for the final game to feature 2 of them.
To have that, you need to fast track more Tier 2 nations to Tier 1 standards. There aren't enough Tier 1 teams to achieve such excitement, without drastically reducing the numbers playing (and undermining the suggestion that it's a World Cup).
Or watch Ireland v Scotland at the weekend.
As an Ireland fan, I'm half expecting the Scots to win.
I’d be questioning your heritage if you aren’t quite frankly 🫣😫😂😂😂
Ireland/Scotland .. make or break tomorrow evening, Ireland without the slightly injured and influential James Ryan, he's sure to come on if/when the going gets tough .. it is sure to be a humdinger, though the Scots need Ireland to totally collapse if they are to win ,, It ain't gonna happen i m o.. Scotland select the tough Ali Price at scrum half, Ben White the first choice so far is not even in the 23 ,, injured, fell out with Gregor Townsend ?
I love the RWC but they do have a really tough problem to solve in that how do you keep it interesting when there is such a massive gulf in the teams. The group stages have being going on for weeks and there arent many fans that keen to watch matches like last nights drubbing. I appreciate that the tier 2 nations need to play the top teams but I personally think they should do that outside of the RWC. Teams like Georgia, Portugal etc should be playing teams from the 6 nations every year and not just when the RWC comes around. Cut the number of teams in the actual RWC down dramatically so you dont get most of the group matches completly onesided affairs
Ireland/Scotland .. make or break tomorrow evening, Ireland without the slightly injured and influential James Ryan, he's sure to come on if/when the going gets tough .. it is sure to be a humdinger, though the Scots need Ireland to totally collapse if they are to win ,, It ain't gonna happen i m o.. Scotland select the tough Ali Price at scrum half, Ben White the first choice so far is not even in the 23 ,, injured, fell out with Gregor Townsend ?
I love the RWC but they do have a really tough problem to solve in that how do you keep it interesting when there is such a massive gulf in the teams. The group stages have being going on for weeks and there arent many fans that keen to watch matches like last nights drubbing. I appreciate that the tier 2 nations need to play the top teams but I personally think they should do that outside of the RWC. Teams like Georgia, Portugal etc should be playing teams from the 6 nations every year and not just when the RWC comes around. Cut the number of teams in the actual RWC down dramatically so you dont get most of the group matches completly onesided affairs
I love the RWC but they do have a really tough problem to solve in that how do you keep it interesting when there is such a massive gulf in the teams. The group stages have being going on for weeks and there arent many fans that keen to watch matches like last nights drubbing. I appreciate that the tier 2 nations need to play the top teams but I personally think they should do that outside of the RWC. Teams like Georgia, Portugal etc should be playing teams from the 6 nations every year and not just when the RWC comes around. Cut the number of teams in the actual RWC down dramatically so you dont get most of the group matches completly onesided affairs
same with cricket world cup
The cricket WC has too few teams, the rugby one too many...
I love the RWC but they do have a really tough problem to solve in that how do you keep it interesting when there is such a massive gulf in the teams. The group stages have being going on for weeks and there arent many fans that keen to watch matches like last nights drubbing. I appreciate that the tier 2 nations need to play the top teams but I personally think they should do that outside of the RWC. Teams like Georgia, Portugal etc should be playing teams from the 6 nations every year and not just when the RWC comes around. Cut the number of teams in the actual RWC down dramatically so you dont get most of the group matches completly onesided affairs
same with cricket world cup
The cricket WC has too few teams, the rugby one too many...
I know you can have some serious fast bowling and most of the players at the cricket World Cup are professionals but it can't be much fun, or safe, for an amateur fly half to take some poor pass while he is milliseconds away from being hit by a professional flanker.
Reminds me of that scene in brave heart. The Irish were sent charging in on the Scots, who also charged. They met in the middle of the battlefield and stopped short of each other before hand shakes and hugs were had.
I only occasionally dip in and out of England rugby, but I have never seen anything in Farrell other than being a good kicker who cannot tackle properly.
obviously to have so many caps there must be more to him than that but as a casual viewer I have not seen it.
Comments
Did you know when Fiji played England in a rare friendly a few years ago at a sold out Twickenham the Fiji players were paid a few hundred pounds each! England players were paid tens of thousands and God knows how much the RFU raked in on hospitality, tickets and booze.
Lack of jeopardy, as qualification is effectively just about all decided before the groups are finished.
To make groups of 5 exciting you need 3 decent teams in the group, AND for the final game to feature 2 of them.
Or watch Ireland v Scotland at the weekend.
As an Ireland fan, I'm half expecting the Scots to win.
Scotland select the tough Ali Price at scrum half, Ben White the first choice so far is not even in the 23 ,, injured, fell out with Gregor Townsend ?
I appreciate that the tier 2 nations need to play the top teams but I personally think they should do that outside of the RWC. Teams like Georgia, Portugal etc should be playing teams from the 6 nations every year and not just when the RWC comes around. Cut the number of teams in the actual RWC down dramatically so you dont get most of the group matches completly onesided affairs
Horses for courses!