Is the World Cup kinda sh*t?

[Logorrhea]

Is it just me or is the rugby world cup a bit sh!t? As a tournament there are just too many one sided matches and the competitive ones don't really matter that much cause if you lose your still probably going to go through.

It all seems pointless up until the quarters and then we are out.

[dropkick]

From an Irish point of view it has been a bit turgid so far. The only shock has been our loss and Fiji losing. 2 teams I want to see doing well. All the refereeing decisions have gone against the weaker teams with the exception of our game against Japan.


Its not over yet though and will get more interesting from now on. A 1/4 final loss would be another disaster though.

[neiliog93]

Is it just me or is the rugby world cup a bit sh!t? As a tournament there are just too many one sided matches and the competitive ones don't really matter that much cause if you lose your still probably going to go through.

It all seems pointless up until the quarters and then we are out.

I don't think so. France were lucky to beat Tonga today, Uruguay beat Fiji, Japan beat us, how many shocks do you want? The alternative to some one-sided matches is to go the elitist route that World Rugby wanted 5-6 years ago and reduce the number of teams to 16. Don't think that would be good for the global game.

[Logorrhea]

Its not about shocks. Shocks don't make it a great tournament. I just look at the fixtures and simply don't care what the results are for 80% of the games because they really don't matter. For all the "shocks" that have happened the chances are that all the teams that are expected to qualify will still qualify. i just think its a flawed format.

Edit: Its not really anything to do with Ireland and our performance. Even if we were playing well the chances are we would have beaten Scotland, Japan, Russian and Samoa. We could easily have lost to SA or NZ (even at our best) and the tournament is over. 4 Years of work for one meaningful 60/40 game and a long trip abroad.

[blaker]

THANK YOU!!

I’ve been super meh through the whole thing. There’s practically no genuine jeopardy. Even where there kind of is, there isn’t really. Wales / Aus / Fiji - even aside from the URG loss there’s no way Aus or Wal should have any issues. Eng / Fra / Arg - same, and Arg/Fra are backmarkers anyway. Us/Jap/Sco - ditto. Most games have 20+ points margins. There’s also (generally) little diff between topping and coming second in your group (excl Eng).
Add to that the fact that there’s no discernible tactical progressions, emerging superstars or scintillating games and the fact that reffing and conditions are screwing many of the spectacles and the fact that the games are in the morning..... wet damp squib.

To be honest though, the reffing, saturation of rugby leading to over-exposure, lack of depth outside Top 8 etc - these are the games problems not the WC’s.

[TerenureJim]

Fiji should/would have beaten Australia but for ref decisions and then that group would have been very interesting, likewise Argentina could have beaten France and were looking good v England but no chance with the red card (right decision but could have been yellow just as easily). Wales beating Aus also fairly big result in terms of RWC history between NH and SH teams.

Uruguay, Georgia, USA even Namabia have all made serious progress teams aren't wiping the floor and setting cricket scores. Canada have been poor yes but they and USA have huge potential in four years due to new pro leagues. If Japan make the quarters they should be allowed into a new five nations SH tournament.

It's been a decent World Cup but yep early starts don't make it much of a talking point compared to other sporting events as there's limited shared community viewing which lessens the overall tournament buzz.

[Twist]

Yeah, the early starts don't help to create any buzz in our timezones but even for people with an unhealthy fixation on rugby and sport in general I think its been poor. It's also harder to see games than usual because of the channels they're on.

The Eng/Fra/Arg love triangle looked like being the most interesting thing about the groups, but the way that has played out has been a let down. The red card ended the Eng v. Arg game as a contest, and France looked against Tonga like they didn't deserve to get such a helping hand. They shouldn't trouble England in the group decider, and it won't really matter since both are through.

Fiji losing to Uruguay took the wind out of their sails, so I can't see them bothering Wales too much. Added to all that, the greasy conditions seem to be leading to plague of bad handling. NZ seem immune, but apart from that it's been really frustrating.

But for me the worst thing by far has been the refereeing. A crooked feed call that just happens to benefit the hosts? Yeah, that about sums it up. They got away with murder at the breakdown all through that game. Re-watching our loss to Japan only made Gardner's performance even worse, to the point of nearly being suspicious. I thin it may well have changed the outcome of what was a one-score game. Away from our group, smaller nations have generally got screwed. Are they not up against enough already? Fiji might well have beaten Australia had the laws of the game been applied, England would have accrued several cards by now. And what the f%~k is going on with the offside line? Is it just not a rule anymore? Remember when Joy Neville called a whole clatter of pens against us up in Ravenhill? That's what touch judges should be doing until players start playing by the rules. Combined with the greasy conditions it's making attacking rugby so hard to play that no sensible coach will allow his team to do much of it.

Roll on November and the Heinken Cup, says I

[backrower8]

Not just RWC-related. Unless I have a team involved, I find 90%+ of all matches poor to watch owing to the defence-dominated, collision-oriented and box-kick-obstruction nature of most games. Add to that the unofficial time-out that the scrum has become (worse in the humid RWC) and it is all, well, frequently boring.

The sport is not attractive to watch most of the time, even when my teams are playing.

On top of that, the saturation of social media and regular media with nothing interviews from coaches and players alike is a snooze-fest.

I am finding I am less and less interested in what was my greatest pastime.

[nc6000]

It is now.

[Logorrhea]

Just gone full farce now.

[Ruckedtobits]

Japan v Scotland has rescued it. Combined with World Rankings showing the top 8 have all qualified for Q/F is beginning to reclaim respectibility to the Tournament.

[Pilotman123]

Is it just me or is the rugby world cup a bit sh!t? As a tournament there are just too many one sided matches and the competitive ones don't really matter that much cause if you lose your still probably going to go through.

It all seems pointless up until the quarters and then we are out.

Totally agree, the 2015 and 2011 World Cup were much better and atleast games weren’t cancelled in those World Cups, this World Cup has been a disappointment so far

[Dexter]

Is it just me or is the rugby world cup a bit sh!t? As a tournament there are just too many one sided matches and the competitive ones don't really matter that much cause if you lose your still probably going to go through.

It all seems pointless up until the quarters and then we are out.

Totally agree, the 2015 and 2011 World Cup were much better and atleast games weren’t cancelled in those World Cups, this World Cup has been a disappointment so far

2011 WC was ruined for me by our coach getting stage fright in the QF and then the totally incompetent refereeing in the final.
Didn't think 2015 was any great shakes either... it's a sure sign I'm getting old!!

[hugonaut]

Is it just me or is the rugby world cup a bit sh!t? As a tournament there are just too many one sided matches and the competitive ones don't really matter that much cause if you lose your still probably going to go through.

It all seems pointless up until the quarters and then we are out.

Totally agree, the 2015 and 2011 World Cup were much better and atleast games weren’t cancelled in those World Cups, this World Cup has been a disappointment so far

2011 WC was ruined for me by our coach getting stage fright in the QF and then the totally incompetent refereeing in the final.
Didn't think 2015 was any great shakes either... it's a sure sign I'm getting old!!

England's group was massively upset. Lavanini [rightly] got a red after less than 15 minutes, which completely ended that match as a contest. The Argentines only had a slim chance in that game, but it practically fell to nil when one of their two best players [along with Matera] got sent off so early in the game. Then the England vs France match - which is always a tasty encounter between Tier 1 rivals - got cancelled. So that group, which looked to be the toughest in the tournament, bombed spectacularly.

Fiji's loss against Uruguay in their second game effectively ended their interest in the tournament. I was really impressed with Uruguay's competitiveness, fitness and spirit , but Fiji are absolutely loaded with talent and should have been able to put them away. If they were still alive going into the game with Wales, it would have been a more exciting pool for the neutral.

As it turned out, our group [which I was delighted with when it was drawn], probably ended up being the most competitive. Japan's emergence as an all-singing, all-dancing side has been the story of the tournament.

[Fireworks]

Japan v Scotland has rescued it. Combined with World Rankings showing the top 8 have all qualified for Q/F is beginning to reclaim respectibility to the Tournament.

Totally agree with the first sentence. The pools are never great as there are usually too many weak teams and too few really competitive games.

The cancellations have handed an advantage to England, France and NZ which does devalue the result unless those teams get turned over, fingers crossed from now till Saturday. The games should have been played even if they had to be moved a distance and played in a smaller empty venue.

[johng]

They think the World Cup is kinda sh*t?.....

It is now!!!