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Following Chile’s loss to England at the World Cup, Los Cóndores Head Coach hit out at World Rugby. In his post match interview, Lemoine complained about how the sport is being run by World Rugby to ESPN Argentina (in Spanish).
“The early minutes of play were good, but after we disappeared. The truth is that I have been in this for years and we have been asking for the same thing for years: to have these experiences before playing at World Cups.”
Lemoine played for his native Uruguay at Rugby World Cups 1999 and 2003. He was involved in unsuccessful qualifying campaigns for Rugby World Cups 2007 and 2011. His final cap was against Romania, a match in which saw the Europeans secured the final place at the World Cup.
Following his retirement, Lemoine became a coach. He had experiences to share which included playing in England for Bristol and in France for Stade Français, Montauban and Valence de Agen. He helped turn Uruguay around; under Lemoine, Los Teros qualified for Rugby World Cup 2015.
Lemoine coached Germany in 2018 before becoming Chile’s Head Coach. The combination of bringing in Lemoine, High Performance Investments and Super Rugby Americas saw Chile improving dramatically.
Lemoine scored tries against Samoa and England at Rugby World Cup 2023. The latter was a 111-13 defeat in Brisbane. Opportunities for the players to prepare by playing against Tier 1 teams then were not common. Why has this not changed?
Neither Chile nor Uruguay were able to secure matches against Tier 1 teams before Rugby World Cup 2023. Uruguay lost to Italy several days before Chile faced England. Los Teros defeated Fiji at Rugby World Cup 2019 yet missed out on Tier 1 opportunities in between World Cups. Uruguay’s only Tier 1 fixture was away to Italy in 2021.
World Rugby does not organize international competition in a manner which facilitates Tier 1 vs Tier 2 matches. Speaking about this in relation to Chile’s loss to England Lemoine commented:
“It is like a show, in that on the one hand we are the clowns and on the other there are the owners of the circus. I have already found this to be repulsive.”
“The players gave what they could and all the energy that they had. This is what it is about, isn’t it? Trying to see that the show goes on, but it is very unfair because they don’t know the attack speed of nor the destructive capabilities of the other teams, and well, there we are in the middle, trying to look like something but being something else.”
“The players are empty, they gave it their all. They deserve everything and I hope that people will continue to recognize them. But, the truth is that 71-0 is a terrible thing. If we look at the numbers it will be very difficult to continue growing.”
Chile qualified for Rugby World Cup 2023 as Americas 2. Los Cóndores defeated Brazil and lost to Uruguay before facing Canada home-and-away in an elimination series. Chile won to advance to face the USA. Los Cóndores lost at home but then made history in Denver, Colorado to qualify.
England did not compete in qualifying. The top three per pool from the previous Rugby World Cup qualify automatically. This means 60% of the places are determined before the knock-out stages of the prior Rugby World Cup have begun.
Hours before Chile faced England in Lille, Portugal and Georgia competed to a 18-18 draw in Toulouse. Georgia defeated both Italy and Wales in 2022; however, there is no pathway for Georgia into the Six Nations and no requirement for any of the six to qualify so long as they finish in the top three of their pools.
Fiji defeated Australia 22-15 in St. Étienne. The teams occasionally play but the matches are limited to friendlies; there is no Oceania Cup involving the top teams from the region. The best from Asia (Japan) could join Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga in a Six Nations doubling as qualifying.
A lack of innovation comes hand in hand with protecting the British & Irish Lions. British & Irish Lions tours continue to the same three destinations on a rotational basis. World Rugby should be more concerned about the global game than about the British & Irish Lions tours. The Lions do not play in the Olympics nor in World Cups.
The 2025 British & Irish Lions tour is to Australia. The same country will host Rugby World Cup 2027 and also hosted Rugby World Cup 2003. It went from Australia 2003 to France 2007 and will go from France 2023 to Australia 2027. Italy’s bid for 2015 and 2019 was unsuccessful. Argentina and Italy pulled-out of bidding against France for 2023.
World Rugby’s three key people are Chairman Bill Beaumont (England), Vice Chairman John Jeffrey (Scotland) and CEO Alan Gilpin (England). Beaumont played a total 41 caps for England and the Lions. Three of his caps were against apartheid South Africa. He played 8 countries but never played against a Tier 2 team. Gilpin erroneously stated that Uruguay will gain from eligibility changes.
Chile face Argentina in Nantes in their final pool match of their inaugural Rugby World Cup campaign. The referee is not a Spanish-Speaker. World Rugby did not appoint Spanish-Speaking referees for the World Cup. World Rugby last did so in 2003. No Argentine referee has ever officiated a Rugby Championship match nor a Tier 1 vs Tier 1 match during Beaumont’s years in charge.
Not only does World Rugby need changes but they are long overdue.
