Darry Worthington takes a look at the major Rugby World Cup 2019 news that has come out this past week.
There were some major talking points following this past week of Rugby World Cup action including some appalling officiating, a miraculous win and an incoming typhoon
Photo Copyright Steve Haag Sport – Hollywoodbets
Boks Bounce Back Against Neighbours
It was far from a polished performance from the Springbok ‘B’ side but they did manage to hammer their neighbours Namibia 57-3. The scoreline could have been far greater had Elton Janjties not had one of his worst days in a Green and Gold jumper.
The Lions pivot knocked multiple balls on and was also out of touch with the boot as he missed a number of conversions attempts.
Poor Officiating Continues
While this World Cup has been a truly special one, the occasion has been somewhat diminished by some poor officiating.
Frenchman Romain Poite and his TMO for Sunday’s clash between Australia and Wales, Ben Skeem, are in the spotlight this time around as they made some retched decisions during the pivotal fixture.
The poorest of the lot was Skeem’s decision to advise Poite to penalise Australia Samu Kerevi for leading with the elbow while he was carrying the ball.
Yes, to the letter of the law it should have been a penalty but one has to ask whether Welsh tackler Rhys Patchell went in with the right tackle technique as he was trying to make the hit above Kervei’s neck and thusly caught the big entre’s elbow.
A special mention must also go to Wayne Barnes who while awarding numerous scrum penalties to Georgia when they decimated the Uruguay pack, every time the two sides went to the set-piece, somehow allowed the Uruguayan front row to remain on the field. To drop three scrums on your own line is nothing short of cynical and should be punished regardless of whether you’re a developing nation or not.
Irish Woes
It was jubilation for the host nation this past Saturday as they beat the Irish 19-12 in one of the greatest Rugby World Cup upsets ever.
The Irish now find their aspirations of finishing at the top of their pool on a knife-edge as if Japan can beat all their remaining opponents – including a desperate Scottish side – it will see the Irish finish second in the pool and face a daunting quarter-final against the All Blacks.
To make things worse for the Irish, it was confirmed that they would be without eight-man Jack Cronan who broke his foot in training prior to the Japan game.
Typhoon Terror for Le Bleu
France would have been extremely nervous up until today when World Rugby confirmed their game against the United States would go ahead as Typhoon Mitag, which is set to hit Japanese shores on Thursday – won’t be as powerful as previously predicted.
Had the game been called off the French would have to settle for a 0-0 draw which would have thrown Argentina right back into quarter-finals contention.
