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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - The frisky start by a handful of the World Cup’s underdogs has encouragingly continued, with Six Nations stalwarts Scotland leaving it late to finally make safe their encounter with Georgia on Wednesday.
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The Scots could not get over the try-line at Invercargill, with Dan Parks’ boot accounting for all their points, and until the 76th minute the underdogs, incredibly, were still within the seven-point gap before going down 15-6.
As astute television commentator and former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes observed in the last quarter, it was like watching a boxing bout where one fighter (read: Scotland) seemed to boss almost every round, yet the opponent was always only one big, tantalising punch away from landing the sensational knockout.
And that environment always makes for good sports viewing.
Uncompromising and beefy up front, ultimately the Georgians’ glaring lack of backline skill or explosiveness cost them dearly.
But let’s put this result in some perspective: this was the very same Scotland who had beaten the defending RWC champions, the Springboks, at Murrayfield well less than a year earlier, admittedly in genuinely awful, more obviously leveling conditions then (I know - I was there).
So it does pay indirect tribute to Georgia’s resolve and paints a further picture of a rugby landscape just beginning to “even up” - which must only be of benefit to the game’s pulling power and competitiveness globally.
Several gurus have picked up on the initial promise of several minnows at the tournament, with England coach Martin Johnson suggesting last weekend was “one of the best of pool rugby in World Cup history”.
And on this very website, the cerebral former Bok assistant coach Alan Solomons has noted in his latest column: “The tier-two nations have punched well above their weight.”
Certainly the IRB bosses must be delighted by the start-out efforts of several less fashionable countries, in a tournament remembered for such gruesome occurrences as New Zealand 145 Japan 17 in Bloemfontein (1995) and the Australia 142 Namibia 0 outcome in 2003.
In each instance the winning side dotted down 21 tries, which is hardly a desirable state of affairs.
Thus far, at least, there appears to be a collective determination by the unfancied teams not to throw in the towel at any stage.
Just one bit of supporting evidence came in another match on Wednesday, where Samoa beat Nambia emphatically enough 49-12 but the south-west Africans somehow managed to produce a strong finish (including a late consolation try) despite the physical battering they had taken and open-side flank Rohan Kitshoff’s late sin-binning which left them a man down and seemingly in danger of more “total” surrender.
But we also shouldn’t count our chickens before they are hatched.
As the World Cup progresses, the minnows will obviously become more vulnerable than most to key players succumbing to injury or sheer fatigue, so best judgment on any tightening of the historical imbalance in standards is best left for two or three weeks ahead, isn’t it?
After all, the likes of Russia, who play Australia in their last pool date on October 1, and Canada, up against the flowing might of the All Blacks a day later, may not be throwing too much spirited leather by then.
They could be punch-drunk, instead …
Some true mismatches of the last three World Cups:
2007
Australia 91 Japan 3, New Zealand 108 Portugal 13, New Zealand 85 Romania 8, France 87 Namibia 10.
2003
Australia 90 Romania 8, Australia 142 Nambia 0, England 84 Georgia 6, England 111 Uruguay 13, New Zealand 91 Tonga 7.
1999
New Zealand 101 Italy 3, England 101 Tonga 10.
Cape Town - The frisky start by a handful of the World Cup’s underdogs has encouragingly continued, with Six Nations stalwarts Scotland leaving it late to finally make safe their encounter with Georgia on Wednesday.
Click to BUY the new Drifta Mobile USB Decoder
Click to BUY the Rugby World Cup 2011 Game for Xbox
The Scots could not get over the try-line at Invercargill, with Dan Parks’ boot accounting for all their points, and until the 76th minute the underdogs, incredibly, were still within the seven-point gap before going down 15-6.
As astute television commentator and former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes observed in the last quarter, it was like watching a boxing bout where one fighter (read: Scotland) seemed to boss almost every round, yet the opponent was always only one big, tantalising punch away from landing the sensational knockout.
And that environment always makes for good sports viewing.
Uncompromising and beefy up front, ultimately the Georgians’ glaring lack of backline skill or explosiveness cost them dearly.
But let’s put this result in some perspective: this was the very same Scotland who had beaten the defending RWC champions, the Springboks, at Murrayfield well less than a year earlier, admittedly in genuinely awful, more obviously leveling conditions then (I know - I was there).
So it does pay indirect tribute to Georgia’s resolve and paints a further picture of a rugby landscape just beginning to “even up” - which must only be of benefit to the game’s pulling power and competitiveness globally.
Several gurus have picked up on the initial promise of several minnows at the tournament, with England coach Martin Johnson suggesting last weekend was “one of the best of pool rugby in World Cup history”.
And on this very website, the cerebral former Bok assistant coach Alan Solomons has noted in his latest column: “The tier-two nations have punched well above their weight.”
Certainly the IRB bosses must be delighted by the start-out efforts of several less fashionable countries, in a tournament remembered for such gruesome occurrences as New Zealand 145 Japan 17 in Bloemfontein (1995) and the Australia 142 Namibia 0 outcome in 2003.
In each instance the winning side dotted down 21 tries, which is hardly a desirable state of affairs.
Thus far, at least, there appears to be a collective determination by the unfancied teams not to throw in the towel at any stage.
Just one bit of supporting evidence came in another match on Wednesday, where Samoa beat Nambia emphatically enough 49-12 but the south-west Africans somehow managed to produce a strong finish (including a late consolation try) despite the physical battering they had taken and open-side flank Rohan Kitshoff’s late sin-binning which left them a man down and seemingly in danger of more “total” surrender.
But we also shouldn’t count our chickens before they are hatched.
As the World Cup progresses, the minnows will obviously become more vulnerable than most to key players succumbing to injury or sheer fatigue, so best judgment on any tightening of the historical imbalance in standards is best left for two or three weeks ahead, isn’t it?
After all, the likes of Russia, who play Australia in their last pool date on October 1, and Canada, up against the flowing might of the All Blacks a day later, may not be throwing too much spirited leather by then.
They could be punch-drunk, instead …
Some true mismatches of the last three World Cups:
2007
Australia 91 Japan 3, New Zealand 108 Portugal 13, New Zealand 85 Romania 8, France 87 Namibia 10.
2003
Australia 90 Romania 8, Australia 142 Nambia 0, England 84 Georgia 6, England 111 Uruguay 13, New Zealand 91 Tonga 7.
1999
New Zealand 101 Italy 3, England 101 Tonga 10.
