Nearly-As-Good Sunday
Sunday rolled around with 3 great games lined up and while it didn't quite reach the heights of Super Saturday, it was another fantastic morning of World Cup rugby.
Sunday 22nd September 2019
Italy 47 - 22 Namibia
Italy started things off with a comfortable win over a spirited Namibia side, but perhaps the biggest talking point of that game came from their captain, Sergio Parisse, who at the age of 36 became only the 3rd player in history to play at 5 World Cups, an incredible achievement and testament to the importance of the man and his resilience over a 17 year long career. Italy looked fairly strong in their opener and stretched Namibia on many occasions, but it was the African side who scored the try of the match and maybe the tournament to date, after some slick handling. Neither of these sides will likely make it out of the pool with South Africa and New Zealand in there, so to finish third would represent an achievement in itself.
Ireland 27 - 3 Scotland
In the second game of the day, Ireland showed Scotland how to manage a game. Ireland were utterly relentless in their defence, rushing off the line to smash Scottish runners before they had any chance to get forward, it was a masterclass. Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg had no time to unleash their box of tricks, because the Irish simply didn't give them room to breathe. For Ireland, it was like looking at the 2018 version of the side, they controlled the ball, they kicked intelligently, ran with big ball carriers and they made smart decisions; most importantly they took their opportunities with ruthless accuracy. Scotland however looked like a side without energy and without any ideas, other than pulling the ball back behind decoy runners. The trouble is they did this all game without varying their attack, so the idea of them playing 2 big ball carrying centres seemed like nothing more than subversion, as they were never used properly. The game was crying out for Scotland to attack the gain line, instead they tried to play from everywhere to get wide and this just rushed their efforts and played right into Ireland's hands, in truth they never really looked like scoring. Ireland finished as comfortable winners and they should now progress as group winners. Scotland though need to address the problems that reared their head in this defeat, Japan and in fact Samoa will be gunning for them after this showing.
England 35 - 3 Tonga
England kicked off their World Cup campaign against a Tonga side 12 places below them in the world rankings. On paper, it seemed that this would be a heavy defeat for the Tongans and England would translate their warm-up form into a complete performance. For whatever reason, that never really happened. It certainly wasn't a bad England showing, but it fell way below the standards that many expected to see. Balls were dropped with serious regularity, England's big ball carriers failed to make their usual impact and there was a lack of cutting edge, at least until Jonathan Joseph came on. England had to wait until the 77th minute to get the bonus point try, and no disrespect to an incredibly committed and passionate Tonga side who will trouble France and Argentina, but it should've come a lot earlier. No reason to panic yet, it's a win and it's 5 points instead of 4, the good news is that England surely won't be that average again. I'm expecting a big response on Thursday against USA with a much changed squad. Players like Jonathan Joseph and Joe Cokanasiga have a real opportunity to shine and put their hands up for selection against the Argentinians, although I can't be the only person slightly concerned to see Billy Vunipola starting another game, he has played a lot of rugby and with his injury history, he must be due a rest soon, especially after that massive hit he took. I don't like talking about the officiating too much, but a big well done to the referee, Paul Williams, for letting common sense prevail by ruling that there was no foul play after Sione Kalamafoni had appeared to tackle Anthony Watson on the chin. On further inspection, it was seen that the tackle had first struck the winger's chest and with Kalamafoni already bent down to make the tackle, he couldn't have reacted to Watson at the last second.
