The Rugby World Cup 2019 has gone into the knockout stages with 8 teams qualifying to play in the highly anticipated quarter finals after much drama of red cards, player suspensions and game cancellations due to typhoon Hagibis.
The drama kings
The Scotland Rugby Team – Last week, World Rugby announced that two games of the last pool match had to be cancelled due to typhoon Hagibis.
Those two matches were New Zealand vs Italy & England vs France with the possibility of other games being cancelled as well due to the weather (Namibia vs Canada was cancelled on Sunday) and the final game of the pool game between the host team, Japan vs Scotland was also under threat.
The Scottish team was unhappy, and threatened to take legal action against World Rugby. Meanwhile, Japan rugby fans were unimpressed with this display of aggression, seeing as there was nothing to be done against an act of nature. The game eventually went ahead with Japan winning the game 28 – 21 and the Scots were sent homeward to think again, following the drama they stirred at the World Cup.
Now, World Rugby is taking disciplinary action against the Scottish Rugby Union for remarks made by their CEO Mark Dodson, calling the world body ‘rigid’ and threatening legal action.
The unlucky ones
RWC 2019 has produced the most red cards in a single RWC tournament with a total of 7 red cards so far.
Most of them were due to the new emphasis on player welfare and safety.
For example, a connection of players head and shoulder is considered a dangerous tackle, under the World Rugby Law 9.13.
Many former players are criticizing how the law is being implemented in the RWC, saying it has made rugby ‘soft’.
This is because in some circumstances, the tacklers’ hands may slip, or the player that is being tackled falls down when a connection is made.
Only 2 players from that 7 who were red-carded were sent off because of other factors – Ed Fidow of Samoa (2nd yellow card) and Andrea Lovotti of Italy (Spear Tackle).
Photo: David Ramos
The unluckiest would be Bundee Aki of Ireland. The former banker turned professional rugby player from New Zealand was red carded in Ireland’s last pool match against Samoa at the 28th minute. With the high tackle sanction framework being put in place for this RWC, Aki was banned for another 3 weeks, effectively taking him out of the RWC.
Even the Samoan Coach, Steve Jackson is not in favour of Aki being sanctioned for the next game against the All Blacks.
"There are mitigating factors, the dropping height, all these things come into play, but it’s the toss of a coin at the moment. I’ve known Bundee a long time, he’s a great man, has great character and doesn’t want to do that to anyone. Hopefully the powers-that-be see some sense, and he gets to carry on in the tournament because he’s a great kid and deserves it. I hope no further sanction comes. Was there malice? No, it was just physical in the tackle, and being Samoan he always would be. They are asking players to make a decision in a split second about what kind of tackle they have to make, which is very difficult."
Photo: Clive Rose
The biggest winner
8 teams qualified for the quarter finals - New Zealand, Ireland, England, Australia, Wales, France, South Africa and Japan.
Japan qualified to the quarter finals for the first time since the tournament first took place in 1987 and is the first Asian country to go through to the knock out stages.
With home advantage and recent wins in their pool game, Japan have won a lot of support locally and internationally for they effort against tier 1 teams like Ireland and Scotland.
Win or lose against South Africa, we know one thing’s for sure - the Japanese players will play their hearts out in the hopes of creating history. Banzai!!
Catch all knockout matches of the Rugby World Cup 2019 LIVE on Bein Sports Channel 825 or Astro GO, free for all Astro Sports Pack Customers!
Listen to the preview of the matches as well as the post-match discussions on Scrumtime with Rugby Pundit, Capo Rod and the first Malaysian Professional Player, Marc Le via the SYOK app.
By: Capo Rod
Capo Rod is host of ‘Scrum Time’, Malaysia’s first rugby podcast, available on the SYOK app.
