This week, we will mostly be concerning ourselves with injury obsessions and permutations…
Movers’ Day and Saving Private Dupont
The move past the halfway point of the pool stages usually occurs in an atmosphere akin to the third day of the Masters: Movers’ Day. Teams charge into contention. Teams crash out. Statements are made. Form curves are defined. Probable opponents, too. Fans start to believe they know.
It’s the moment in the last tournament in which Japan beat Ireland. In the one before, when Wales sent England crashing out. In the one before that Ireland stunned Australia. And in this tournament, it surely brought the curtain down on one of rugby’s more colourful careers, not to mention furrowing a few brows in Europe’s second tier and sending the hosts into a state of melodramatic panic.
‘Saving Private Dupont’ was the headline of France’s Midi-Olympique on Monday. Not since David Beckham walked into a surgery and told a physio his foot felt funny has a nation’s fortunes seemed to hang so completely on a sportsman’s obscure bone. Beckham made the metatarsal famous; thanks to Antoine Dupont and Johan Deysel, we all now know what and where the maxillo-zygomatic zone on a person is.
So much attention has been heaped upon the injury that it was mildly surprising the operation Dupont had on Sunday was not broadcast live on TV. Much chat revolves around Dupont wearing a mask a la Imanol Harinordoquy a few years ago, but the big Basque himself may have inadvertently put an end to those considerations by describing his own impressions of said mask: “I couldn’t see a thing.” Perhaps ok for a hard-running number eight, less optimal for an all-seeing scrum-half.
Not that Dupont is not the world’s best in his position or extremely important to France’s operation, but France does seem to hang an awful lot of faith and confidence on one player rather than in its very fine team.
Many visiting fans mentioned this; indeed that, the desperation to somehow get Dupont fit for the eventual quarter-final would be more disruptive than simply accepting that he’s bust his chops (Welsh for a fracture in the maxillo-zygomatic zone) and won’t be fit in time. But the French fans are verging on hysterical.
When I opined to one that Maxime Lucu would be a more than able deputy, his reply was, “There is not one universe in which I pick Lucu over Dupont.” That’s a fair point, but there’s not many universes in which Lucu, as a starting scrum-half for your team, is a palpable weakness either.
It feels as though if France don’t move on before the quarter-final and prepare for a post-Dupont era, they are unlikely to be moving on from the quarter-final either.
Visiting the cauldron
Aside from France’s bittersweet win, the build-up to the weekend seemed to be dominated by Australians. Quite how Matt Williams has managed to make his voice so loud so suddenly is beyond us, but his description of South Africa’s 7-1 bench split as ‘not morally correct’ was some way wide of the mark. If you’ve got it, use it.
It certainly felt more morally correct than once again watching a New Zealander with singularly Samoan heritage be so instrumental to Ireland’s excellence. More on that match shortly.
Loose Pass travelled to Saint Etienne for what I thought might be one of those ‘nothing to lose, throw it all at them’ clashes between Samoa and Argentina, in a stadium nicknamed ‘the cauldron’ for its high sides and ability to keep noise inside.
The Puma fans were making noise alright, from the moment they arrived at Lyon station in thousands to cram into trains for the short ride up the valley – a logistical challenge that proved to be one of the better managed by our hosts. The game itself was a bit of a damp squib, though, and not just because of the thundershower that drenched the first half.
Even in the warm-up, Samoa were clearly undercooked, while both a dreadful decision to yellow card Samoa’s Duncan Paia’aua early on and Australian Nic Berry’s desire to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk took the sting further out of their game. Argentina rumbled to victory, giving the hordes of travelling fans an excuse to help the cauldron boil in hair-raising style, but it’s a win that should fool nobody.
Rugby World Cup buzz
Nobody could possibly be fooled by Saturday’s early action, either. The structures of European rugby have needed a rethink for a while now, and the emergence of Portugal as a genuine threat to Georgia’s sub-Six Nations hegemony adds further impetus to this.
A draw was not unfair to either team, even if heartbreaking to the Portuguese, in what was very much one of the games of the tournament. To paraphrase that Frenchman: in no universe do we think that Portugal or Georgia would pose an immediate threat to full-strength Six Nations teams, but in no universe either would it be not worth letting them have a go more often. Italy have been at it for 23 years now, and the rewards are there. Rugby needs this.
England’s destruction of Chile was clinical. Henry Arundel’s quintet of tries should also, however, fool nobody; only one of them was an actual finish beyond merely catching and running, neither things that anybody deserves hero-worship for.
Marcus Smith’s display was much more worthy of consideration, but it seems his talent is wasted on an English structure that emphasises straight lines and belligerence and little more.
Fiji spent part of the weekend serenading King Charles at their team base; England will also have to hit more of the right notes with the ball in hand if they are to progress in that likely quarter-final.
Loose Pass took both of these games in Lyon, by some distance, the best of the venues served up so far. Beautiful autumn weather helped, as did the collective chefs and waiters of Lyons bouchons, whose hearty food and full-bodied wines prepared all gathered Welsh and Australians – and not a few Kiwis and Italians – for the evening’s feast of rugby, all shoulder-to-shoulder in the Lyon old town.
Also remarkable is the number of faces and friends made along the World Cup journey that you end up meeting twice, an aspect remarked upon by several people who have been here for the duration. Lyon seemed to bring many of these together on Saturday, and it created a great buzz.
Kicking woes and owies
If Antoine Dupont’s cheek is keeping the French preoccupied, the same is becoming more and more true in South Africa of Handre Pollard’s calf.
Siya Kolisi’s impassioned defence of Manie Libbok’s kicking inconsistencies rang beautifully true to all the values of rugby, team and brotherly love last week, but the inescapable truth of Saturday is that those inconsistencies have now cost them a crucial game.
A game widely regarded as one of the modern classics, too. This was rugby at its most visceral, defences tearing up at manic speed, rucks a flurry of hard body parts and smacking flesh, a fervent crowd singing and shouting and running the whole gamut of emotions.
It’s significant of South Africa’s undamaged confidence that chapeaus have largely been granted to the Irish by South Africans when even Loose Pass thought that although Ben O’Keefe did an excellent job of managing the game in general, Ireland got a lot more from him than the Boks did.
A game played in good spirit and enjoyed by all; a real shame then that so many have chosen to try and stir up a storm over Ox Nche’s ‘stamp’ on Josh van der Flier’s hand. The incident is inconsequential at worst; it ought also to be borne in mind that Van der Flier is not injured as a result. If 120-plus kg of Springbok prop actually stamped his studs onto your hand, there’d be more to talk about than a little owie.
The otherwise prevalent good sportsmanship post-match also might have something to do with the fact that whoever won or lost this game had an awkward quarter-final anyway, so that a loss was not the train smash it might have been in a less lop-sided tournament, along with the fact that these two are now, barring upsets, quite clearly heading for a replay in Paris in five weeks’ time. The Boks may have lost, but they’d fancy their chances in a rematch. Assuming, of course, they have a kicker. How is that calf, Mr. Pollard?
Eddie Jones’ achievements and Wales’ final four run
Scotland had a kicker, a playmaker and a game-breaker, while Tonga were every bit as disappointing on Sunday as Samoa had been on Friday. Also disappointing the entire weekend, but particularly in the Scotland game, was, once again, the disunity evident from one game to another among the match officials regarding head contacts.
Sunday offered a finale of sorts, but hardly the nail-biter envisaged. Lyon continued to impress as a venue, not least by dint of the nice big screen next to the stadium, which all could use to watch the Scotland-Tonga game in comfort before the Wales game, making the long, long tram trip from town far more palatable.
A few media outlets had already pointed out that Eddie Jones did not seem attached to his team or focussed during the warm-up (although perhaps due in part to the Japan interview rumours), but in truth, the Wallabies, in general, looked like a team just tired of being from start to finish.
Whether that is a part of the Jones effect or not is for the players to say, but what was very obvious was that neutrals were, by and large, squarely for the Welsh, while the round boos echoing around the arena every time Jones was on screen gave you an idea of why.
Australia just faded away as the evening went on, a microcosmic version of Jones’ results since the World Cup Final defeat in 2019. A waspish, controversial character at best, he has become everybody’s favourite pantomime villain over the past four years, an unfortunate spot towards the end of the career of one of rugby’s great coaches.
He may have overstepped his marks recently, but his achievements should not be forgotten; however, many croissants and baguettes are, at his own behest, thrown in his direction.
Nor should Australia’s ability to bounce back next time. If any country exemplifies what can be achieved with a little unity and single-mindedness, it is currently Wales, who remain well on course for a semi-final that you’d have been laughed out of any pub in Wales for predicting not three months ago.
It has not gone unnoticed among the faithful of both that the weekend’s results potentially put Wales and Ireland on a collision course in the semi-finals, not an outcome you’d have considered over the summer, but one that now looks as tantalising as any Lyon menu du jour.
READ MORE: Who’s hot and who’s not: Ireland win a classic, Wales stand up and Antoine Dupont’s injury
The article Loose Pass: Rugby World Cup diary on Movers’ Day, Eddie’s legacy and that Springboks ‘stamp’ appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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