‘Weaker’ teams deserve better

TWO weeks into this Rugby World Cup and the momentum keeps building. This weekend’s results, the All Blacks aside, have favoured northern hemisphere teams with the big games going Wales and Ireland’s way.

In the lead up to the Wales v Samoa match I watched a replay of their 1991 encounter. That match, played at Cardiff, will probably always rate as one of the great upsets in RWC history, Samoa defeating Wales, and in doing so displaying to the world for the first time the combativeness of the South Pacific island sides.

20 years on, Samoa was unable to reproduce that fairytale result but yesterday’s match did show how rugby has changed — in all but one thing.

The pace of the game we now witness is breathtaking. The 1991 Wales v Samoa match barely contained any second phase play and the only time it went to third phase Samoa scored.

Fast forward to 2011 and it’s a different story. The ball was in play for much longer periods, both teams went multiple phases and both defences were able to withstand the onslaught. There were big hits made by both sides and Wales made over 140 tackles during the match.

So what hasn’t changed? The importance of the scrum.

It is the only part of the game that really calls for a specific body type and mindset and it’s the one aspect of rugby that makes it the only team sport to cater for all shapes and sizes.

Last week the refereeing of the scrum was a talking point, especially the All Blacks v Tonga match, but this week it is the power of the scrum that has made its presence felt, and no more so than in the Ireland v Australia game.

It is possible to hide a player who is brilliant on attack but can’t tackle by shifting him out of the set piece defensive screen but you can’t hide deficiencies in props at scrum time.

If I had received a fee for every club or province which has asked me to get them a great tighthead prop I would be a very wealthy man.

Last Saturday evening the poor weather conditions may have played into Ireland’s hands. Coupled with that, Australia did not have the services of their openside David Pocock, which resulted in more scrums and less opposition turnovers and breakdown penalties.

The Irish front row of Mike Ross, Cian Healy and Rory Best was fantastic and they dominated the Aussie opposition at every set piece. I’m sure having the twin Munster tractors in the second row was no small help. With the scrum going forward, the back row could close down the Australian danger men and Ireland was able to control the game.

As in the England v Argentina match, New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence had the courage to make important decisions and to give penalties when they were warranted.

A new talking point this week has been the scheduling of matches and the effect this is having on the second-tier teams. While it may not be possible to extend the tournament out in terms of weeks, there must be a way of scheduling games so that all teams have adequate time to recuperate between matches.

Two games this weekend were affected by short recovery times. Samoa v Wales was very important for Pool D and the fatigue and lack of time to get injured players back into the team was evident in Samoa’s lacklustre performance. Samoa had played Namibia last Wednesday whereas Wales had enjoyed a week since playing South Africa.

Why should the top teams get seven days between pool matches while the others have to make do with only three or four? One has to feel for Georgia who, Ireland aside, was my team of the weekend. They had to line up against Scotland and England in just four days.

They were hugely competitive for much of the match against England and it was only midway through the second half when they ran out of puff and players. For most of the second-tier teams their biggest challenge is to keep their shape and discipline in the faster tempo of top international rugby. Outside of the RWC, these teams show they merit getting more games against the big guns.

Ironically, one Six Nations team had trouble with discipline when the game sped up. England gave away 14 penalties for ruck infringements. With 19 games of the 2011 RWC played, only four teams — New Zealand, South Africa, Wales and Ireland — will start the new week happy with their work so far.