If World Rugby was a Disney character, it’d be Goofy
Four talking points from the World Cup:
World Rugby red-faced
At a time when rugby needed quick thinking, hard work, and a clever plan devised years ago about what to do if typhoon hit, it got decisions that were logistically the easiest ones — to cancel — not move, games. World Rugby is superb at the looking after officials (they installed flat screen television sets above the urinals at Eden Park in 2011 so the pampered lords of the game didn't miss anything while they voided their free champagne during a match) but hopeless at doing the same for players and the fans in Japan.
Where’s Wally-bies?
Yes, it was only nine weeks ago that the Wallabies won 47-26 in West Australia. That's the Wallabies, who now have to stretch and strain to beat Georgia 27-8. In hindsight the Perth victory was an almost classic example of everything going right for one side and everything going wrong, including a red card with half the match to go, for the other. The 36-0 thrashing at Eden Park just a week after the Perth loss now feels like a much more accurate summation of where the two sides sit. At the heart of the Aussie meltdown is the fact they can't decide on a halfback/firstfive combination. Without players in nine and 10 who are in sync and on song you can't be competitive.
Weber hot like a BBQ
If there's one man who played his way into the All Black squad from a fair way out, and is now burning the house down in Japan when he gets the chance, it's Brad Weber. Self-belief leads to playing without fear, and the flash of daring when Weber flicked a behind the back pass for TJ Perenara's stunning try against Namibia was a perfect example of what happens when a player's mind is clear, and his imagination unshackled. The test experience Aaron Smith and Perenara have means Weber may not get the nod for the knockout games, but if injuries found Weber on the field, you know he's one player who will not be intimidated by the occasion.
Fast. But furious?
Eddie Jones is apparently working his England players so hard they're losing kilos and gaining aerobic capacity. That's smart thinking for when the rain goes. But given that most of England's forwards tend to be weightlifters who play rugby, rather than athletes, the key will be how much they can change in a short space of time.