Tier 2 rise has seen a cliche become reality

WE are definitely not taking — insert minnow team name — lightly.

It’s been a catch-cry across all Rugby World Cups since 1987 when powerful nations meet smaller ones and it has been, nearly always, barely disguised lip-service.

But in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, possibly for the first time ever, it is being said genuinely.

Leading teams aren’t taking the tier two teams lightly and for one good reason: under all the right circumstances, the so-called minnows have shown they can now swallow a much bigger fish.

“I think in terms of rugby in the world, these teams that were perceived as poor a couple of World Cups ago, have come a long way and they are actually really challenging,” Wallabies prop James Slipper said.

“You only have to look at the results in the last two World Cups … Japan have taken down two big teams in the past, and Uruguay have done the same. On their day, anyone can beat anyone.”

The Wallabies play against Uruguay in Oita and while many would still expect Australia to dispatch the world No.18, the Aussie camp is entering the clash with as stern a game face as they have ever applied against a smaller nation at a World Cup.

There is the fact Australia lost last start, and still have to bank more points in their last two games against Uruguay and Georgia to make the quarterfinals.

But the other fact is that Uruguay proved they’re no pushover when they pulled off their biggest upset ever by beating Fiji 30-27 in Kamaishi ten days ago.

The same Fiji who’d led Australia in Sapporo; albeit with a tough four-day turnaround.

The Wallabies scored 11 tries in a 65-3 win over Uruguay at the 2015 World Cup but the increased respect for Los Teros from Australia was seen in the team named by Cheika, where he kept his best prop Allan Alaalatoa in the starting side, named Michael Hooper to run on and instead of more experimenting, restored the starting halves from the opening game and from the Rugby Championship.

“I think they have improved all over the game, from their backs and their attacking shape,” Slipper said.

“They’re a team that likes to hold onto the ball and apply pressure to defences so we definitely respecting them because we know what they can do. We’ve seen what they did to Fiji earlier in the tournament so it’s going to be a hard match and one that we are looking forward to and training hard for.”

While there is still obviously some way to go, the rise of tier two teams has been one of the storylines of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Japan’s victory over Ireland moved them into a record high ranking of ninth, and coming after their win over the Springboks in 2015, did much to re-ignite conversation about whether new tier categories are required.

Fiji and Japan, and even Georgia, have shown themselves to be in the same zone as Italy and Argentina at least, and those two are tier one sides in major global competitions.

The growth of the tier two sides is no fluke.

World Cups have produced famous upsets or tight-run games — mostly through the deeds of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Argentina - but conscious of the fact tier two sides have mostly been turning up to world cups for three decades and getting heavily beaten, World Rugby have invested over $73 million in the last four years to assist high performance for tier two teams.

That’s meant funding experienced coaches and management (most of Fiji’s staff are respected Aussie and Kiwis for example) and to ensure more consistent Test rugby, running annual tournaments in the Pacific, Europe and the Americas.

It has finally seen many tier two sides given the necessary tools to develop rapidly, and World Rugby also evened out the World Cup scheduling in 2019, to eliminate the historically unfair timelines that sometimes saw minnows play four games inside 20 days.

And it’s working. In 2003 and 2007, there was debate about the World Cup’s legitimacy when

100-point thrashings were being handed out, but for the first time ever, the opening week at the 2019 World Cup saw all winning scores under 50 points.

At the halfway mark of the tournament, cricket scores appear to be a thing of the past. Only two games have seen halfcentury scorelines, compared to six at the same stage in 2015.

England coach Eddie Jones, who oversaw Australia’s 142-0 over Namibia in 2003, gave some rare praise to World Rugby for their tier two development work.

“You’re seeing the tier-two countries much better physically prepared,” Jones said.

“We’ve played against Tonga and America now and both of them had big, physical packs.

“They’re fitter than they ever have been and that’s a great thing for the World Cup, because we’ve got these tier-two countries fighting hard and it’s producing some great rugby.

“It’s a credit to World Rugby. They don’t get too many credits, but they should get credit for driving tier-two development. It’s great for the game.”

Both Australia and Uruguay are coming off last-start losses, and that’s enough for the Wallabies to have their heads switched on, said Slipper.

“It was disappointing with the result we had but essentially now it’s grand final week for us. Both teams have to win and we’re preparing like that every game,” he said.

“A lot of us, we want to perform in the jersey as well. The scoreboard is irrelevant. We want to go out there and perform and we, as Australians, perform, we are pretty confident of beating any team.

“For us that’s the most important thing, at training, making sure we’re getting it right, getting the process right and then we turn up on game day and put those processes into the field. Confidence-wise, starting the game strong is always helpful.”