Forward Thinking (Vol 3, Iss 5): Booking Rugby World Cup 2019

With Tonga qualifying for Japan 2019 this past weekend Pool C is complete. The Oceania side officially joined Argentina, England, France and the USA in the Pool of Death. This serves as a reminder of the need to book Rugby World Cup 2019 appropriately.

Inappropriate Booking
The existing model of Rugby World Cups has been in place since 2003. That being four pools of five teams. In Rugby World Cups 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 there have all been glaring flaws in the booking of pool matches.

For teams including Argentina, Italy and Tonga the legacy of Australia 2003 was unfair match scheduling. Rivals had vastly different allocations for their four pool matches. Tonga faced Canada, Italy, New Zealand and Wales, playing four games in 14 days. The All Blacks had 23 days for the identical matches.

Italy had it the same as Tonga. This corresponded as 11 rest days for both countries. New Zealand had 19. Italian Coach John Kirwan threatened to pull out of the World Cup while Tonga’s Coach, Jim Love called it ‘totally ludicrous.’

Los Pumas played their fourth pool match before England had played game three. Moreover, it was so unfair that Argentina’s pool rivals, Australia and Ireland faced-off six days after Argentina’s campaign had ended.

Great improvement was made for 2007. Perfection was yet to be achieved though. Argentine stand-in captain Felipe Contepomi noted that having three rest days between playing against France and Georgia was limited. Georgia would themselves, would have a short recovery between facing Argentina and Ireland.

In Rugby World Cup 2011 Namibia had three days between playing against Samoa and Fiji. The Africans then had three days between facing South Africa and Wales. It was not a sporting schedule as Namibia was unable to adequately prepare as rivals, all of whom were stronger.

In 2015 Namibia had four days between facing New Zealand and Tonga. After a break they then had three days between playing against Georgia and Argentina. While World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper stated “we think we have got it right” the reality is the organizers got it wrong for Namibia.

When Japan shocked South Africa this was underlined. The Asians had just three days recovery before facing Scotland. The USA were in the same pool and given three days between facing South Africa and Japan. Neither Japan nor the USA had the means of competing to the best of their abilities. Instead they had to prioritize one of the two matches.

Appropriate Booking
The above underlines the obvious – priority must be given where it is needed most. Tier One powers have greater means of playing on a shorter turn-around. Moreover no Tier 1 side had to endure comparable scheduling to that of Namibia, Japan or the USA in 2015.

Those asked to back-up faced notably lower-ranked opposition. Australia had three days rest between facing Fiji and Uruguay, as did New Zealand between playing against Argentina and Namibia and France between games vs Italy and Romania. All three Tier 1 sides won both matches in question.

2019 Opening Match
Japan is in Pool A. Awaiting the Brave Blossoms are Ireland, Scotland and two qualifiers – Europe 1 and the Play-Off Winner. A win to open the tournament would be a tough ask against Ireland or Scotland. Facing a qualifier first up is therefore more interesting from a Japanese perspective.