The Good, The Could Be Better, and the Bollocks

By The Spotter

Without further ado I give you my breakdown thus far of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with half the schedule done and dusted already.

THE GOOD

1. A dead set sporting miracle. The Brave Blossoms (even Brave Buggers would sound better, let’s be honest) of Japan beating the once-mighty Boks…The Morkels, Dr Danie, Hennie Muller, Frik Du Preez, Naas ‘Nasty Booter’ Botha etc…something weird, but brilliant happened on that Saturday a fortnight ago in little coastal Brighton, where a fair number of the locals apparently didn’t even know the city had a proper, competitive Rugby team of its own.

2. The full-to-bursting stadiums. 90,000 give or take for Ireland vs Romania… who’d have thought it?- although the cynic inside of me wonders just how many of that 90 were actually bona fide paying customers. At any rate, pretty incredible.

3. The open play and some accompanying great tries. In the main anyway. England-Wales was thrilling in other ways. Heck, even the traditionally rather flairless Canadians uncorked a brilliant score against Italy. And who says we need seven points for an unconverted try and one or two points for penalties and drop goals for more attacking Rugby? Hopefully we can now tuck that idea up in bed for good

THE COULD BE BETTER

1. The All Blacks. Well, what else would any self-respecting follower of our national team be expected to say?

2. The length of time it is still taking to set scrums. Trust me, this issue is close to the top of the main bugbears for sports fans from non-Rugby nations trying to become long-term Rugby watchers, never mind the frustrations for the diehards. At one point during the second half of the All Blacks and Namibia, the game stalled for a good five minutes while the referee fussed around trying to get the scrum right and the ball to emerge correctly. Message to World Rugby: Get the packs bound properly in formation first and then the push can come, as in the amateur days of international Rugby Union. (I was also going to complain about those interminable TMO replays, but that would get boring, just like that very phenomena).

THE BOLLOCKS

1 Ranting Chris Rattue of the NZ Herald saying that England were ‘arrogant’ in trying to gain a victory and four points in an impossibly tight group by driving over from a lineout metres from Wales’ goalline, in the process turning down a so-called ‘easy’ penalty kick attempt for a draw. Bollocks on so many levels; for a start the penalty was certainly not ‘easy’, unless Rattue means that attempts only five metres in from touch on the 22 count as ‘easy’ (and don’t give me that garbage that the form Farrell was in the kick was a cert- you can’t compare a last-minute pressure kick with other earlier efforts). Rattue also needs reminding that the kick actually had to go over to secure the draw. The way he rabbited on you would have thought it was all a big fait accompli. And not ‘arrogant’, rash at the most. Get a grip Chris.

2 The bonus point system. Dumb, dumb and dumber. Two points for a loss-give me a damn break! I’ve long despised this nonsense and I can’t believe World Rugby have lumbered their showpiece event with these confounded things. Think about it. South Africa suffered by far the worst defeat in their illustrious history in losing to Japan and yet they walked off the pitch with two points. Ludicrous! Just what on earth is wrong with two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss? If the line of thinking is somehow that looking at a table that has a high number of points registered on it suddenly makes the whole thing appear more interesting or marketable, then I am lost for words.

Anyway, all in all a very interesting journey so far.  And, as I have seen on a TV title, never mind the Bollocks…

To offer your opinion on this piece, or to correspond on anything else in the world of sport, email me at: talltree@xtra.co.nz  Put ‘Paul’ in the subject line.