The Diary: News, notes and quotes from the Rugby World Cup
stressed: Australia head coach Eddie Jones
Rugby World Cup organisers are confident that their 'bunker' card reviews are bringing more consistency to the game despite some debatable calls in this year's tournament.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend hit out at the television match official (TMO) and bunker review system after Afusipa Taumoepeau of Tonga only picked up a yellow card for a head-high tackle on captain Jamie Ritchie.
A yellow card can be upgraded to a red after officials review the action within eight minutes after a player has been sin-binned.
"The decision is explained to that supporters can have a better understanding," World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin told a press conference on Wednesday. "The strive for consistency is ongoing. Hopefully what everyone sees is that communication on the field is clear," he added, declining to comment on individual cases after being asked about the tackle that eventually ruled flanker Ritchie out of their Pool B game against Romania on Saturday.
"We've seen a number of incidents where foul play was reviewed and there was great consistency from the bunker," Gilpin said. "Rather than playing five or six replays on the screen when the crowds are excited we put it into a calmer environement. Every individual case has its specificities."
Thirty red cards have been handed out since the first World Cup in 1987, with a record eight in the previous edition in 2019.
At this year's World Cup, five red cards have been awarded after 24 of the 48 matches.
*****
was raining soup, Eddie Jones would bring a fork. And so it goes. Whether the beleaguered Wallaby coach did or didn't sit down for interview with the Japanese Rugby Union in August seems almost moot now. With Australia all but out of the World Cup, he's for the curly finger it seems.
And his friends across the Tasman Sea haven't delayed in putting the boot in, former All Blacks Andrew Mehrtens saying that the contact with Japan before the World Cup was a “horrific” look.
Speaking on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts program, Mehrtens reckoned: “It looks horrific, doesn’t it? Coaches are looking for opportunities – the same as national unions and clubs are looking for coaches at any time. You can’t just suddenly do it at the last minute. The timing of it just looks horrible. He [Jones] has come out with that patriotic flag-waving and [staying on] through to 2027, [saying] we’re going to do this and that. Until people know, they’re going to assume or speculate that it might have been about jumping ship sooner than that and going there, which looks awful in the context.”
Asked by media whether he had spoken to Jones about the furore, Wallaby skipper Wil Skelton straight-batted: “Nah, I don’t have to. I heard the press conference last night and I trust him in what he says. He’s a man of his word and he has the full support of the group.”
Not everyone is putting the boot in on Eddie. Former Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock reckons the RA have to stick by their man.
Mortlock described Sunday's defeat as a "train wreck", but urged rugby chiefs to back Jones to take the young Wallabies squad through to the next World Cup, which they host.
"As a coach and a leader, he's unaccountable and he says that," Mortlock told the BBC. "I respect him, in every sense of the word, that he wears it. The worst thing that Australia could do is suddenly get rid of him and say 'no, you're not the best man for the job' only after six months or whatever it has been. Back your man - you picked him for a reason. It was all about building for an amazing runway in the next four years," Mortlock added. Thee Wallabies host the British and Irish Lions in 2025 before a World Cup two years later on home soil.
***
So salivate over Bordeaux's (Toasted brioche, onion confit with Bordeaux red wine, ewe's milk cheese, shredded duck confit); Lille's (Sandwich bread, ham, cheese, beer), Lyon's (Rustic bread, rosette, butter, pickles) (Pita bread, andouillette gratin from Bobosse charcuterie, fried onions), the Focaccia di Mare in Marseille (Focaccia bread, mayonnaise, candied tomatoes, arugula, cuttlefish in oil marinade), Baguette bread, chicken, spicy sauce, Curé nantais cheese, Nantes salad), Nice's (Round bread, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, black olives, tuna, bell pepper, radish, onion, garlic, olive oil), Saint-Denis' (Traditional bread, Paris white ham, Pavé de Rambouillet, pepper mayonnaise), in St Etienne, and (Fresh hot dog bread from Saint Georges bakery, Toulouse confit sausage from Maison Garcia, violet mustard).
****
are, one presumes, 'taking all views on board', with regard to the eyebrow-raising news they are proposing to put some future Rugby World Cup games behind a paywall.
According to the Telegraph, World Rugby will soon go to market with the rights for the next two men’s World Cups, and the women’s equivalent. World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin said his priority was for the World Cup to reach the widest possible audience but warned that the governing body also has to capitalise on generating revenues.
Amazon Prime has entered the rugby market in recent seasons, streaming the autumn internationals in Europe since 2020, while Sky Sports has previously bid for World Cup rights.
Understandably at a moment when record numbers tuned into RTE's free-to-air coverage of the Ireland-South Africa game, the idea has gone down like a lead balloon among the proletariat.
A deal with a television provider that requires a paid-for subscription would be considered from the 2027 tournament in Australia onwards, Alan Gilpin added, “as long as there is a minimum commitment from them as partners to make the right content available”.
****
Mr Gilpin has also been floating the prospect of 24 teams at the 2027 renewal of the RWC - up four from the current 20 nations.
The governing body's preference is for six pools of four, with an additional round-of-16 stage. Two teams would qualify from each pool, plus four of the best third-placed sides. “The likes of USA, Canada, Spain, who missed out on this tournament, would be great additions,” Gilpin told The Times of London. “Are we going to host countries who have the infrastructure and facilities to cope with that? In the case of Australia and the USA (next two hosts), the answer is yes."
Having 24 teams would actually shorten the tournament by a week, he added. With an even number of sides in each pool, all teams would be able to play in each round of fixtures.
****
The history of the knock-out rounds suggests it will be fine margins that win games, and a kicker operating at 80% plus could be the difference between victory and a bitter defeat. There have been 14 tries scored in the previous eight World Cup finals, less than two per match, with 73% of the points in those deciding games coming from kicks at poles.
The tournament in France has already shown that when two heavyweights collide it is the boot that makes the difference. That was no more starkly illustrated then in Saturday’s epic in Paris as Ireland beat South Africa 13-8, with the latter throwing away 11 points from the kicking tee. It was not the only reason for the Springboks’ defeat, but a major one.
France fullback Thomas Ramos proved the match-winner when the hosts beat New Zealand 27-13 in the opening game, booting 17 points as the All Blacks’ Richie Mo’unga had a 33% success rate off the tee.
Fiji scrumhalf Simione Kuruvoli is not known for his kicking, but landed five from five shots at goal against Australia in the historic 22-15 victory for the Pacific Islanders.
Think too of the 18-18 draw between Portugal and Georgia that ended all square when both teams missed kickable shots at goal in the final few minutes.
The conditions so far in the tournament have been made for kickers with warm weather and the particular balls used.
Opta released figures early in the tournament showing each kick out of hand was travelling an average of 33.5 metres, almost three metres further than in the 2023 Six Nations and a full seven-and-a-half metres longer than this year’s Rugby Championship.
******
to camp Wednesday evening and training Thursday after taking advantage of a bye-week with a little family R&R since the weekend's win over the Springboks.
The bye week is a quirk of this tournament – and it means that were Ireland reach the final week of the World Cup they will have been away from home for nearly nine weeks – so understandably, the bulk of the squad have snapped up the chance to have a change of scenery.
Ditto England. The Guardian reported that Freddie Steward ventured more than 500 miles from their team base in Le Touquet to Nice while Disneyland has proved popular with players who have young families. Henry Arundell, fresh from his five tries against Chile, has made for Paris to familiarise himself with his new surroundings, having agreed a move to Racing 92 after the World Cup.
Johnny May, for his part, is not venturing far from the hotel because his wife, Soph, and newborn son, Jaxon, are in town. “The day goes in two-and-a-half hour blocks, and in that he needs a feed, a nap and a change and from then we go on to the next block,” he adds. “In those blocks we took him to the gym, I did a bit in the gym, we took him swimming in one of the blocks and we get our food in as well. It is a bit of a contrast and a different type of fatigue.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
