Latest / The Rugby Muscle Podcast / EPIC Round 5 and Pool Stages Reflections - Rugby World Cup Review

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EPIC Round 5 and Pool Stages Reflections - Rugby World Cup Review · The Rugby Muscle Podcast

• 0:00
  All right people the rugby world cup pool stages are over the quarterfinals are set and we can review these later in the week as we Get a little bit more excited But I think we wanted to spend some time reflecting on this pool stage and in this round five in particular because man What a weekend of rugby I didn't expect it to be as good as it was and actually the games that you thought That I was hyped for Ended up being, well, the one game at least that I was really hyped for ended up being, not necessarily a dud, but it wasn't a competitive game that I was hoping, whereas some of the other ones, I was actually considering recording this early Sunday afternoon, because I thought, well, once I've got the, um, Argentina, uh, Japan game out of the way.
• 0:46
  We can then just go ahead and start previewing the next round of the quarter finals.
• 0:50
  But actually we couldn't do that because I'm really glad I didn't do that because man, like we almost had England against Australia.
• 0:59
  We almost had, uh, I mean, we did have.
• 1:03
  Absolute shock upset with Portugal beating Fiji, but we'll save that little quick review until the end.
• 1:10
  We'll review the pools, pool by pool, I think we'll go through as, um, as the games were played.
• 1:17
  So New Zealand kicked off this final round by smashing Uruguay.
• 1:21
  Uruguay still looked good, but man, like, uh, you know.
• 1:24
  New Zealand, when they play teams that aren't on their level, they...
• 1:29
  Refuse to ever let teams even like bring the level of the game down.
• 1:33
  So They are just such a talented team that when they come up against good teams Other teams can rise to their level and then they're quite uncomfortable and you've seen You know with their losses that they've had this year and over the past few years Like how that happens, but when they are at Facing a team like they faced Italy last week that they faced Namibia like we haven't really Have we learned too much about this New Zealand team if they're gonna be prepared to what to?
• 2:00
  Be Ireland next week.
• 2:02
  We haven't we haven't really but they are still looking good We'll preview that game later on in the week, but New Zealand smashed it France against Italy France the same thing I said in the preview that You know, if Italy ever had a chance, this would be it.
• 2:17
  But then I also said, no, France is going to smash them and they did.
• 2:20
  Um, but this was the first instance of, well, you had New Zealand smashing it, and then you had, uh, France, like, showing all of that French flag, just getting all that hype with an awesome crowd behind them.
• 2:32
  But also, you saw something that is really, like, indicative of the minute.
• 2:40
  Some dodgy referee calls.
• 2:41
  I think like we've spoken way too much and credit to The players in this final round because I don't think there was a red card Even if there should have been or I don't think there was a red card let me know in the comments below if I was wrong, but these these referees like I don't really blame the referees because the way the game is now trying to be officiated makes it such a hard task for them to So like, and the way the game actually explains itself and the way the game is presented on the TV, like what it's trying to be is really, well it doesn't really know what it's trying to be because some of the refereeing decisions are just, um, confusing and some of them are very inconsistent and some of them, like, are just not explained, right?
• 3:35
  So for example, I'll highlight one here.
• 3:38
  Uh, well, in the Italy versus, uh, France game, you saw Italy score a try, and then it got chalked off because a guy rucked and slightly rode up to the, like, show me a ruck that, where you, you cannot watch it in really slow motion and decide that there is a fault somewhere where someone slightly touches their head.
• 3:57
  It's just not possible.
• 3:58
  And if you think about the law, the actual law, in the game where your head or your shoulders have to be higher than your hips when you're in the ruck, Like, that never happens.
• 4:08
  And when guys heads are so low at ruck time, of course they're gonna get their head, like, touched.
• 4:15
  But that's not what we're trying to stamp out.
• 4:16
  I don't understand that, and I think that was quite poor, um, to reverse that decision.
• 4:22
  And the other thing is with these referees, is we're talking way too much about them, and we're, and I think they, they know that they're on screen, so they're sort of, I feel like a lot of the stronger refereeing characters Uh, coming through.
• 4:34
  And they show themselves on TV because they explain what's going on very well.
• 4:38
  So the, you know, the fan watching the game thinks, oh, this referee is good because he's explaining.
• 4:42
  Like, Wayne Barnes is a perfect example.
• 4:45
  To an extent, Luke Pearce, but I think he's actually not that bad, but a lot of the, they, they, they talk you through everything they're seeing, and they're talking to the players like they're all mates, so they're explaining to them.
• 4:55
  But they're missing some fucking obvious things in the games.
• 4:58
  And they're making clear mistakes.
• 5:00
  This one.
• 5:01
  Was a clear mistake no way Should that penalty?
• 5:05
  I mean should that try have been?
• 5:07
  disallowed Not that it would have made a difference in the game but I think it was just, I think it was just really poor reference.
• 5:14
  And you know, rugby is such a game of momentum, which was again, was absolutely highlighted by this round of pool play.
• 5:21
  That, like, you know, if you were Italy, you'd still be miffed.
• 5:25
  And then once you, they've lost that momentum, and actually they'd lost the momentum way before this try had been disallowed.
• 5:33
  Like, it's very hard to come back.
• 5:35
  Rugby is a brutal game, as you all know.
• 5:39
  Um, and I think that it's when you are losing momentum, especially when you're in the last round of pool play.
• 5:45
  And, you know, after this, you're just going to go home.
• 5:48
  Like there has to be some level of, okay, well, I'm not gonna like.
• 5:53
  It's not even a conscious thought it's really deep down your subconscious You know You're just too tired to chase this guy or it's just not worth chasing this guy because you're probably not going to make it Anyway, because you've already lost your games so far or you're you know what I mean?
• 6:06
  And I think that happened.
• 6:07
  Well, it happened to italy about 20 minutes into last week when they just rolled over against New Zealand and I think had they not done that had they stayed in that fight they would have come into this game a little bit more prepared but how you can come into a game after a 90 point whoopin is is beyond me but yeah very interesting thought Italy have still got some way to go and then you know the fact that Italy did get their two wins but they didn't look convincing And they came into this World Cup in, you know, in a really difficult position to try and even get anything out of this group stage.
• 6:44
  But they come with a worse reputation than they went into it, and you know, you've got Portugal coming out of this, you know, on riding all sorts of momentum.
• 6:54
  So, it'll be interesting to see what Rugby does about it.
• 6:56
  I bet it's going to do absolutely nothing.
• 6:58
  So, whatever.
• 7:00
  We'll move on to Pool B.
• 7:02
  This was...
• 7:03
  It was supposed to be the game of the weekend.
• 7:06
  It's something that like Is is a good occasion for the rugby world cup like ireland against south africa, but I but You know, a part of the World Cup's charm is in what we saw last night, and then what we saw actually yesterday in general, on Sunday in general, and I'll get into that in a sec, but, because, and I say that because we've seen Ireland versus Scotland many a time before, and this time, yes, there was a lot more riding on it, a lot more riding on it, the stakes were really high, and I think, once Ireland took that early lead after a couple minutes, I thought, oh my god, you know, I previewed this video, I previewed this game, and With a video that had a lot of comments from Irish fans saying, There's no way Scotland are getting even any closer to this Ireland team.
• 7:51
  And you can see why they said that.
• 7:53
  You can see why this Irish community, or the Irish, are really behind their team.
• 7:59
  This Ireland team is, they're firing on all cylinders, man.
• 8:03
  Like, it's interesting to see why they're so good.
• 8:07
  But in this game, in particular, like, you just have to stand up and just say, Wow, what?
• 8:12
  What a performance.
• 8:13
  Because this Scotland team, like, they are good.
• 8:15
  They didn't roll over and they weren't necessarily overly poor or they haven't got poor players.
• 8:21
  They just couldn't live with them.
• 8:23
  They just could not live them and I will argue that they Tactically played it poorly They kicked for the corner early They got they got down their try and then they kicked for the corner for about 10 minutes They they should they had opportunities to take threes.
• 8:40
  I think there was at least two maybe three opportunities to take shots at goal where they all went for the corner and Even in earning those penalties work that they took to go for the corner They weren't really piercing the game line much.
• 8:55
  They weren't really getting, they were getting alright ball, but they weren't getting fast ball.
• 8:59
  And they definitely weren't getting over the game line.
• 9:00
  They didn't look like piercing this island defence.
• 9:03
  And on occasion, Ireland just have to give away a penalty.
• 9:06
  And they accept that, especially once you then don't capitalise on it.
• 9:10
  So if you kick for the corner, and you don't get the try.
• 9:15
  Like, it's the same thing that they did against the Springboks, like, you show them that they can compete harder at the breakdown, you show them that their defense is as strong as they believe it to be, so they're happy to keep giving away a few more penalties, and you lose the momentum as an attacking team, whereas if you take your three points, you build momentum, and they know that now, that they can't just keep giving penalties away, And because of that, they have to alter their defense slightly, plus with your, you know, your distance kicking game in general, like, that makes a big difference as well, but Taking the, I think Scotland just didn't, I think they forced it, and you've seen, you saw this in every game that could have been tight that became a bit of a blowout.
• 10:01
  When teams force it, and then they don't take their threes, that is when, uh, They just don't build any momentum and, you know, you saw it, was it last week or the week before with Australia?
• 10:13
  Yeah, the week before with Australia against, uh, Wales.
• 10:18
  They kept, they went for the three, they took it, they stayed in the fight, then they went for the corner after that and the game was gone after that because they, then they're chasing.
• 10:29
  Once you're chasing a game, unless you've got the talent of New Zealand or maybe even Ireland, Maybe Scotland because they did it a few years ago, but it's so hard.
• 10:40
  It's so hard.
• 10:41
  So I think they that and also as I said already because of the momentum because The physicality and the real tough nature is on on the mind.
• 10:52
  I think It's really difficult to compete especially with a team that's firing as well as Ireland Scotland just didn't have a chance, uh after that and I think like They rue that Also coupled with losing, uh, Jamie Ritchie really early on, who is an absolute weapon at the breakdown.
• 11:11
  He, like, when I was watching him quite a lot during the Six Nations, I really did think he was probably one of the best sevens in the world.
• 11:19
  He's very different to, like, a Josh van der Vleer, and very different to an Ardy Sevier.
• 11:23
  But man, he's, like, as far as turning ball over, he's probably the best.
• 11:27
  Other things, he maybe doesn't offer anything as much as like the, the running game that, uh, Ali Savir and van de Vlier offer, but he really does.
• 11:37
  He turns ball over as good as, if not better than anyone else in the world, and losing him probably took away that threat that Scotland could have had, and then Ireland just poured it on them.
• 11:48
  They took their tries so well.
• 11:51
  This is a team that is feeling themselves.
• 11:53
  And they need to be feeling themselves because they've got a tough game next week.
• 11:55
  We'll, we'll preview that, like I say, a little bit later.
• 11:59
  Um, yeah, I was, I was really impressed by Ireland.
• 12:03
  They're tackling as well on defence.
• 12:05
  As I said, Scotland had no, no, uh, momentum from their attack.
• 12:09
  They couldn't pierce anything.
• 12:11
  I think what they did really well, Bundy Aki especially, but Gary Ringrose as well, that they chop tackled over and over and over again.
• 12:21
  Scotland were looking to bounce out on the outside and get outside that 13 to counteract that rush up speed.
• 12:27
  They couldn't because they couldn't get a fend going because Ireland were right up there and around their legs.
• 12:31
  They couldn't get anywhere.
• 12:33
  And that was, that was really impressive to watch.
• 12:37
  Really impressive on the attacking side of things where they've got Uh, I think it's really impressive because of how well their forwards run and how they all know their jobs really well.
• 12:46
  They consistently get just enough over the game line to get ridiculously fast ball.
• 12:51
  They have some ridiculous pack.
• 12:52
  If you look at what they've got with Ty Byrne, um, Ian Henderson, Van de Vleer, um, Who else?
• 13:02
  Uh, Caelan Dorris.
• 13:04
  And then coming off the bench, Peter O'Mahony, of course.
• 13:08
  And then coming off the bench, you've got, uh, James Ryan, um, Conan.
• 13:14
  Like, this is, that's ridiculous, man.
• 13:16
  Like, those, that, I think Ireland are probably the best in the world from, say that, South Africans are gonna come at me with that, but I'd say Ireland are on that, like, especially they're all in sync, exactly for the style of play that they play, so You know, I've touched on thinking about why Ireland are so good, there is something to do with that, that they're all in sync, but I don't think, people say it's because of the Leinster connection, I disagree with that.
• 13:41
  And maybe that's just because I want to be a contrarian, but I disagree because I think they're just really good, they've just got really good players and they, I don't know if it's Leinster or it's the whole Irish system where they bring them up and they, you know, they find these kids at school level and they're all, you know, They all play a similar enough way, like they don't, it's not like in England where you've got Leicester playing a very different brand of rugby to Harlequins and both teams are successful and both teams have good players that England then have to pick from.
• 14:11
  That's a perfect example of a way of playing, of demonstrating this.
• 14:16
  Maybe even South Africa as well with the different players that they've got.
• 14:19
  You've got everyone buying into the same system, control from a really well run system from Ireland.
• 14:27
  And then they come up and they come through, they even identify players from overseas that fit their system perfectly.
• 14:34
  And they give them the time to develop.
• 14:36
  James Lowe has had the perfect amount of time to develop and now he is world class.
• 14:39
  Like he's not getting into, he wasn't ever making an All Blacks team, you know, like from where he was.
• 14:46
  Now he would.
• 14:47
  Same with Bandia Ki.
• 14:48
  Bandia Ki would get nowhere near that.
• 14:50
  Would have got nowhere near that All Blacks team.
• 14:52
  And now look at him.
• 14:54
  You know, he's in, he's going in against the All Blacks as the favourite.
• 14:57
  So, really, really interesting.
• 15:01
  Um, and I'm, I'm excited for this game next week.
• 15:03
  I'll preview it in the next video.
• 15:05
  But that's, ugh, gonna be fun.
• 15:08
  Tonga, yeah, beat Romania.
• 15:09
  Neither team have been impressive.
• 15:11
  I think that was to be expected.
• 15:13
  Then we have Paul D with, um.
• 15:15
  England and Argentina going through.
• 15:19
  Argentina edging Japan.
• 15:21
  That was a good game.
• 15:22
  Um, both teams just seem like they've just played decent enough rugby.
• 15:27
  This is where I think the rugby world cup has been divided into two separate competitions almost, and not the two separate competitions that you hear us start to get a bit momentum behind where we want the.
• 15:40
  You know, the top two teams from each pool qualifying for quarterfinals and then like a plate aka ally what they do in the Sevens now, this is uh, two different competitions where we've got pool a and pool b Smashing each other or at least the top two teams qualifying Smashing each other and then you've got pool c and pool d where you don't really know what to make of it because Like you could argue Like Argentina looked good, but they played Japan and Japan have been poor and same for England, you know, and then you say, well, Samoa looked good, but like they looked good against England because England aren't very good, you know, it's, it's really, it's hard to run the math because the way you could run it is say England scraped through against Samoa, even though they didn't play very well.
• 16:26
  Ireland did the same before the World Cup.
• 16:29
  Um, now this isn't given England excuses.
• 16:32
  England were poor.
• 16:33
  not poor in this game.
• 16:36
  but, it's just highlighting how the math kind of doesn't work out quite as, you know, you've got Argentina who, uh maybe it, maybe it does work out.
• 16:46
  This whole side of the, side of the World Cup is just a level below or a few levels below the other side.
• 16:53
  Argentina, you know, didn't look like they were ever gonna beat South Africa or Uh, New Zealand, this year.
• 17:01
  So, maybe we've put too much stock into them.
• 17:04
  Um, Wales looked good against Australia, but Australia looked poor.
• 17:08
  But then Australia did a good job the week before, was it?
• 17:11
  The two weeks before they left.
• 17:13
  And they, uh, did a decent enough job to, uh, keep the All Blacks within a score, I think, when they lost.
• 17:20
  Um, nearly won that game.
• 17:23
  But, maybe I'm misreading that and overthinking it.
• 17:26
  Anyway, let's just review these games.
• 17:27
  So, Argentina.
• 17:29
  No, let's do it finish off England Samoa England.
• 17:31
  Yeah, people can blame Ford Farrell and I definitely get that but I think the issue with England is when you've got Ford and Farrell you've got those two playmakers you need everyone else to be like a goer and Johnny May is not a goer anymore.
• 17:48
  Johnny May.
• 17:49
  I don't know what he offers a good kick chase and obviously England value that massively Cause he'd kick a lot.
• 17:56
  So having someone that chases, kicks aggressively, does his job that, knows what he's doing.
• 18:02
  Doesn't cock it up a lot.
• 18:03
  But, man, in attack he just doesn't look like he knows what he's doing.
• 18:08
  Um, He was, he was the best winger in the world.
• 18:12
  Like six to eight years ago.
• 18:14
  Now he's just, he is, he's not doing very well.
• 18:17
  And I think, yeah, and Freddie Stewart.
• 18:21
  Bless him.
• 18:22
  I love this guy.
• 18:23
  I think he's done really well.
• 18:24
  I just don't see him as he's not had the time to develop.
• 18:28
  He's just been shoved in there and then they're like the media liked him.
• 18:31
  He had a good few first games and then I think it was easy just to keep him in and you know, when you're playing international rugby, you want to keep somewhat of a settled squad and it was easy to say, okay, we're settling on him.
• 18:44
  He's going to be our fullback, but he's not, he's not Kicked on from there.
• 18:50
  He did great for a youngster and he's still doing great.
• 18:52
  If you think he's just a youngster, but he's now had a couple years experience and he hasn't developed.
• 18:57
  He hasn't developed the weak areas of his game.
• 18:59
  He still looks slow in defense.
• 19:02
  He still gets left wanting a lot of the time in defense and teams are now clued on to not necessarily what he's doing with the kick chase and with his kick receipts, but they're clue.
• 19:10
  I mean, they do.
• 19:11
  They don't kick to him anymore.
• 19:13
  But also when he runs hard that he's not making the same gains that he once was.
• 19:18
  I just think.
• 19:19
  I think I'd like to see a bit more improvement, but I think, right, I'll come back to that actually.
• 19:25
  So, they're missing just any sort of dynamism outside of Manu Tuolangi and maybe Joe Marchant, but Joe Marchant needs to get more involved in the game.
• 19:33
  He can be magic if he gets, like, touches with some room, but he's, like, he's being asked to do a lot, and I think it's not quite working.
• 19:43
  And I don't necessarily blame Ford.
• 19:44
  In fact, Ford just didn't, I mean England just didn't play well.
• 19:47
  They're getting slow ball, they're on the back foot, they're, they're, I think the biggest problem, like, is that dynamism in the backs.
• 19:54
  But that dynamism in the backs comes from a definite lack of go forward from the forwards.
• 20:01
  I don't see Tom Currie carrying, Tom Currie carrying like he used to.
• 20:06
  I don't see Laws carrying aggressively over the game line.
• 20:09
  Like Genge, these players, Jamie George.
• 20:13
  Oggi, like, we're not seeing it from these, this England pack.
• 20:17
  And having, uh, sung the praises of this Irish pack and then making the game look easy for the backs or the backs, just making it look easy because they've laid, laid the foundation.
• 20:29
  I just don't think England have any.
• 20:32
  And you can blame, um, who was his name?
• 20:36
  The, the scrum Half?
• 20:37
  You can blame.
• 20:39
  Why have I just spaced on his name?
• 20:40
  It doesn't matter.
• 20:41
  You can blame the scrum half who did, who did play poorly.
• 20:45
  Uh, Mitchell.
• 20:47
  Mitchell?
• 20:48
  I'll have to pause this and figure out his name.
• 20:51
  Yeah, Alex Mitchell.
• 20:52
  He had, like, he had a poor game, but he was getting such slow ball that, like, I don't know what he could have done with it.
• 21:01
  I mean, he played still, kicked poorly, but...
• 21:04
  Yeah, the game was he was the game was made hard for him Just like it's made hard for the backs because they just don't have that go forward ball So hopefully they've got a plan up their sleeve.
• 21:13
  I heard people say that They've had another go at strength and good like pushing another strength and conditioning Block because once they won the Argentina game, they basically knew that they should be going through I don't believe that but I could believe I mean, I don't, that's not happened, right?
• 21:31
  No one is trying to eke out an extra peak in strength and conditioning performance like in the next four weeks in a world cup.
• 21:42
  That doesn't happen.
• 21:43
  I should know.
• 21:44
  Um, TJ, I'm the guy behind rugby muscle.
• 21:46
  We do strength and conditioning here.
• 21:47
  So, oh yeah, let's plug that.
• 21:49
  You haven't said that.
• 21:49
  So links in the description below if you want training, coaching, all that good stuff.
• 21:54
  Um, There will be in the description below but you don't do that for sure because strength and conditioning Is the foundation for your performance now I could hear or I could Listen to someone telling me that actually it's not that they're Pushed themselves for strength and condition.
• 22:09
  They just had some brutal training sessions because they know what they need to do to prepare for um their semifinals And obviously this fiji game too, so they might have had like way tougher weeks the last three weeks Compared to You know what they would have done if they were doing normal test match rugby.
• 22:29
  I could believe that.
• 22:31
  And I'm potentially maybe hoping that as an England fan.
• 22:34
  Um, But we have to see it this week against Fiji.
• 22:38
  Because if you're, if you're, you're not going to push hard going into a knockout game.
• 22:43
  Especially against a team that you lost against only a couple months back.
• 22:47
  So, be interesting to see.
• 22:49
  Um, yeah I was disappointed I think.
• 22:52
  I don't, there's lots of different ways to change it up.
• 22:55
  I don't necessarily think it's about personnel.
• 22:57
  I just think it's about how they want to play.
• 23:00
  Like they just seem like they did seem like they were tired.
• 23:02
  They did seem like they were a bit like clunky and almost like a preseason type mentality where they just weren't firing properly.
• 23:12
  Um, they look rusty, which is weird for a team that have played, you know, as their fourth game of this World Cup and having looked decent enough before that.
• 23:22
  Maybe there's a level of physicality that they weren't quite ready for, or they haven't had practice of.
• 23:28
  Or maybe it's just that these players aren't as good as they once were.
• 23:31
  Maybe it is just that the, you know, again, this might, we were talking about this being the, uh, you know, sort of example of what we're seeing from rugby.
• 23:44
  Like, you see all these players and you hear, Um, everyone like the these Portuguese players in particular, but a lot of the other players you see them saying the commentators are saying, Oh, look, they're in the shop window.
• 23:57
  English teams can't afford to expand their squad.
• 24:00
  And if they do, man, you gotta pray for England rugby because like they the money is going away.
• 24:07
  And this premiership is definitely a clear mark below.
• 24:14
  Um, the French League and the U.
• 24:17
  R.
• 24:17
  C.
• 24:17
  And you've seen that from the last couple years of the Champions Cup and now you're seeing it in this World Cup.
• 24:23
  I just think the they don't have the week on week on week experience at this higher level or experience of a higher level of a tougher defense that they're going to come up against these next three weeks.
• 24:38
  You know, Marcus Smith looks so good, um, in the premiership.
• 24:43
  Mhm.
• 24:43
  But I haven't seen him look that great in the Champions Cup.
• 24:47
  I haven't seen him look that great in an England jersey because he's not afforded the space that he is in the Premiership because the Premiership level is not where it once was, and it's not at the level of the top Irish teams, especially in the URC.
• 24:59
  But all the URC really, um, Edinburgh, you look, you take them into account, they get regular matches against these Top quality teams.
• 25:08
  Uh, even the Welsh, they know what to expect.
• 25:11
  So they seem like a little bit more prepared.
• 25:12
  Whereas I feel like England are just still undercooked.
• 25:17
  But they didn't have to win this pool.
• 25:19
  They've got a quarterfinal against Fiji.
• 25:20
  If you'd have told me that that was going to happen at the beginning of the World Cup, I'd say yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 25:24
  Please, please, please.
• 25:25
  That's good.
• 25:26
  So, we'll take it.
• 25:28
  Uh, Japan got edged out by Samoa, I mean by Samoa, by Argentina.
• 25:33
  Argentina look good.
• 25:34
  Mateo Carreras.
• 25:35
  I mean, we're talking about strength and condition a second ago.
• 25:38
  That is a guy who is suited for rugby.
• 25:41
  Short, stocky, absolutely rapid, a strong fend.
• 25:46
  What a player.
• 25:47
  Argentina played decent enough.
• 25:49
  I think they switched off a bit too much.
• 25:51
  This would be a good game to watch them against Wales.
• 25:57
  Two teams full of passion.
• 26:00
  There's going to be no quarter given, there's going to be no heads dropping in those games.
• 26:04
  Um, we'll see.
• 26:05
  Both teams are liable to have a stinker.
• 26:08
  Argentina did against England and, you know, like Wales did.
• 26:11
  Also probably against England, but against South Africa before the World Cup.
• 26:16
  Whatever, we'll preview that a little bit later.
• 26:19
  Argentina and England going through and then we had the, the, definitely the game of the weekend.
• 26:26
  Maybe even the game of the championship, what it'cause it was a really good game.
• 26:29
  It was the same, it reminded me of when Japan caused their upsets.
• 26:33
  A lot of times when teams cause upsets, you see it, you know, from a tier two beating, a tier one, you see it because you know the tier one team sort of just plays pants and the game just gets dragged down and they get a few penalties and then it ends up being really tight.
• 26:49
  This wasn't this, this was a open game.
• 26:52
  Portugal coming out on top.
• 26:54
  I couldn't.
• 26:55
  I couldn't believe it really like they kept going with this open game and Fiji just couldn't get the momentum behind it and put this game to bed.
• 27:05
  I do think that there's an element of like I, I didn't actually allude it to with England against Samoa, but I definitely alluded to it earlier.
• 27:13
  If you're pretty sure that you're going to qualify, you don't want to like you are, you have got that quarterfinal, essentially your biggest match of your career in the back of your head.
• 27:24
  You're probably not going to do the things that you would do if this game was everything.
• 27:29
  And if this game was the biggest game of your life because you don't want to get injured.
• 27:32
  You don't want to risk yourself for the week.
• 27:35
  And you know that all you need is a losing bonus point.
• 27:38
  You know, and I think, I think Portugal took advantage of that.
• 27:44
  Portugal just kept going at them, kept going at them.
• 27:47
  And to have Portugal get that win is huge.
• 27:50
  It's huge because...
• 27:52
  Like, we've always been arguing for Georgia to potentially get promotional relegation to the Six Nations.
• 27:58
  Now we've got to make that argument for Georgia, I mean for Portugal.
• 28:03
  Um, and Portugal wouldn't even be in this World Cup if it wasn't for Spain.
• 28:12
  Firstly, for Spain playing their ineligible player.
• 28:16
  Um, they played a South African who had not been living in Spain long enough or had left Spain.
• 28:23
  And, uh, they'd qualified outright because they lost their spot.
• 28:28
  Uh, that meant that Romania qualified outright and Portugal had to qualify.
• 28:33
  Portugal then had to go and beat, um, well, they didn't beat them but they had to, uh, well, they had to win a qualification pool involving the U.
• 28:44
  S.
• 28:45
  who have a full, uh, semi professional but professional league.
• 28:49
  They have tons of money invested in their game.
• 28:51
  Portugal have nothing like this.
• 28:53
  Portugal weren't even supposed to be there and They managed to draw with USA to qualify On points difference because it was a pool stage They drew with them with a kick in injury time to do it and it was the same guy That's Samuel Marquez.
• 29:10
  And if we're talking about guys that are in the shot winner, my god This scrum half.
• 29:16
  I remember watching him in that, I watched that Portugal USA game and I watched this guy and I thought this guy is class.
• 29:21
  And he looked classy because he looked like a step above everyone that he was playing with or he looked like he's a typical French scrum half almost because he plays a lot of his rugby in, actually he is French.
• 29:30
  Um, plays a lot of, all of his rugby in France, played all about in France.
• 29:35
  This guy looks like he knows exactly what he's doing all the time.
• 29:38
  He never looks rattled.
• 29:39
  He always looks like he's trying stuff, he goes quickly, he just plays.
• 29:43
  To basically to his own tune, but he knows what his tune is I think Watching him nail that kick I was probably more nervous than he was.
• 29:54
  Nailing that kick, not only in the USA game, but now in this one.
• 29:56
  The two biggest results in the history of Portugal rugby.
• 30:01
  Absolutely amazing.
• 30:03
  Um, and it's a shame for Portugal now, because you ask that question, where do they go from here?
• 30:12
  Well, you know, those that watch rugby and follow rugby in Portugal are going to be chuffed.
• 30:16
  Those that don't follow rugby or watch rugby in Portugal probably don't even know that there is a Rugby World Cup.
• 30:21
  They don't even know that Portugal have a team in the Rugby World Cup.
• 30:24
  Which is a shame and that's something that takes a long term effort to to correct that cause And we need to we need to do stuff like this if we want Rugby like this because this was fun man.
• 30:36
  This pool stage was awesome.
• 30:38
  I haven't even touched on wales georgia I'll touch on that real quickly because um, you know, georgia look like they're in the fight.
• 30:44
  They they've developed, you know Georgia got the last 10 15 years have been a team where you know You know their pack are going to give you a good go, but you know, their backs are kind of clueless now They've had a good youth program set up.
• 30:57
  They've got their kids coming through and they've got good looking backs, but they just don't have the experience at this level.
• 31:02
  They've, they've had their wins and they get no reward for these wins.
• 31:06
  And, and, you know, now they're bottom of the pool stage and that's the reflection of them on this World Cup.
• 31:12
  And that's, I think that's unfair for the, the work that they've been putting in for these last four years.
• 31:18
  You know, I really do.
• 31:20
  I think that's a, it's a big, big shame.
• 31:22
  I think, um, We need to figure out what we're gonna do with these tier two teams, but it can't be what we've been doing you can't have this closed shop window or this closed window of Six nations and rugby championship and then teams choosing where to tour Mostly based on who's gonna give them the most money, right?
• 31:44
  That's one of the reasons why a bit of inside knowledge.
• 31:48
  This is very niche and we'll wrap up this video real quick, but New Zealand rarely play at Twickenham because England take all, I think they take a big percentage, if not all of the money of the gate receipts.
• 32:00
  Whereas when, wherever New Zealand go, they actually ask for, you know, a higher percentage cut of the, of the receipts because they've got their All Blacks brand.
• 32:11
  Rugby is run by money and, you know, you look in any other industry where you've got to look really long term for the gains that could be huge, right, oil and gas is another perfect example, the food industry, or you just keep doing it the same way and milking out the money for the next few years and don't, don't care about future generations and that's unfortunately what's happening with rugby.
• 32:37
  Like they're still, you know, Japan have come up and they've done a good effort, but they've just dropped back down.
• 32:42
  Georgia have come up, had a good effort, they're sort of, looks like they're on their way back down.
• 32:48
  This is just gonna be a repeated cycle.
• 32:50
  We, we, all we get is these World Cups every four years.
• 32:54
  To see fixtures like this and and enjoy it and then we go back right back to The fixtures that we see year in year out But with a little bit more prestige behind them a little bit more momentum behind them, which you know I'm still buzzing for I'm still properly excited for the games coming up this weekend But I've left this pool stage thinking that number one rugby is awesome The community around rugby is awesome but negatively number two number three rugby doesn't know what it is doing with its refereeing and I feel like There's a point where the refereeing, the referees and the rules are becoming more of a highlight than the game itself and that is detracting from the product of what rugby should be.
• 33:37
  And then number three, like, we are, we are making it difficult and more and more difficult for teams.
• 33:45
  To solve the issue of being world class, they're getting better at it because they're getting a little bit more funding and because the landscape that we're in niche sports are now thriving because you can find that community online and you can move.
• 34:00
  It's a lot easier to do stuff like that, but that's in every sport and rugby is going to have more and more competition around the world from all other sports.
• 34:08
  So if this sport wants to survive and wants to become a truly global sport and you hear that they're going to expand the pool safe to 24 teams, It's got to step it up.
• 34:19
  Well, this is a really long video.
• 34:20
  I hope you enjoyed it If you did hit thumbs up, let me know all your thoughts and stuff I want if you've made it to here Let me know some thoughts in the comments below of what I said.
• 34:28
  I really do enjoy reading your comments um, we will preview the Quarterfinals a little bit later in the week and we will um, we'll have some more videos coming your way So subscribe if you want to do that, like I say join me in the comments below hit thumbs up and i'll see you later