Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
RWC 2019 saw records broken. Below is a breakdown of the accomplishments made at the tournament hosted by Japan, the first RWC held outside of a Tier 1 country.
TV RECORD
Japan vs Ireland received 30 million television viewers in Japan. This was a record high for viewing numbers within any country for a RWC match. For Japan vs Scotland the record was broken as 54.8 million watched it live. This was a larger number than from the FIFA World Cup Final from 2002 which Japan also hosted.
CARD MANIA
RWC 2019 saw referees handing out more cards than in all prior editions of the tournament. The eight red cards was a reflection of the cracking-down on dangerous play. The effort to reduce injury saw the level of tolerance drastically altered.
WOODEN SPOONER – EUGENE JANTJIES
Namibia are winless in RWC matches. The Africans have played at all RWCs over the period of 1999-2019 with scrum-half Eugene Jantjies appearing in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. His 14 losses are a RWC record which surpassed Romania’s Ovidiu Tonita. The cancellation of Namibia vs Canada may have seen this changed, then again it could have been extended to 15 defeats.
ZERO POINTS
Four pool games of RWC 2019 saw a team kept scoreless. This matches the record from RWC 2007. Interestingly all four sides to score zero points were different in both RWC tournaments. In 2007 the teams were England, Namibia, Romania, and Scotland. In 2019 they were Canada, Samoa, and Russia (2). Russia’s double is a record though overall Namibia has been scoreless three times.
TIER 2 REPRESENTATION
Of the competitors classified as Tier 2 only Canada, and Japan continued their tradition of having appeared at all RWC tournaments. For a variety of reasons Fiji, Georgia, Namibia, Russia, Samoa, and Tonga, Uruguay, and the USA have not competed at all prior RWCs.
DOUBLE FOR FRANS STEYN
In winning the RWC in 2007 and 2019 Frans Steyn matches the mark set by his teammate from twelve years ago, Os Du Randt. Both players won the RWCs early and late in their careers. Could there be a player from the 2019 side who will be a part of a possible winning campaign in RWC 2031?
RECOVERY FROM DEFEAT
South Africa’s RWC 2019 title win over England marked the first time in RWC history that a team had recovered from a pool defeat to go all the way and win the RWC. South Africa rebounded from a loss against New Zealand to defeat Namibia, Italy, Canada, Japan, and Wales before then claiming their third RWC title.
SPRINGBOKS ECLIPSE ALL BLACKS
In winning RWC 2019 South Africa officially match New Zealand with three RWC titles. The numbers, however has come from two less RWC appearances. Due to political isolation there was no place for the Springboks at RWCs 1987 or 1991.
POOL D – FULL HOUSE VICTORIES
In Pool D Wales went undefeated; Australia defeated Fiji, Georgia, and Uruguay; Fiji defeated Georgia; Georgia defeated Uruguay; and Uruguay defeated Fiji. In other words every team won at least once. Never before has this happened in a RWC.
SOUTH AFRICA SCORE A TRY
It took three RWC Finals for South Africa to score a try. Not only did they finally win the RWC with a try but they did so with a double. Wingers Makazole Mapimpi, and Cheslin Kolbe were the scorers.
