IRB needs to end this lunacy
Columnist Grant Ball says the IRB needs to find innovative solutions to the match scheduling, which sees the smaller nations face an impossible task.
Namibia’s World Cup campaign typifies the minnows’ problems.
They’re in the toughest group, facing the defending champions South Africa, Wales, Fiji, and the tournament’s most physical side, Samoa. All that in 16 days. For essentially a group of amateurs to play the Springboks and Wales inside the space of four days is ludicrous.
The southern Africans’ plight was highlighted by the closing stages of their final match against the Welsh B team. Trailing 7-36 heading towards the final quarter, Namibia had already made over 110 tackles – four times as many as the Welsh – and eventually the result blew out to 7-81. A similar story occurred in their 0-87 loss to the Boks, with seven tries coming in the final quarter alone.
The topic of match scheduling has already been a controversial one throughout the tournament, with Samoa’s Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu launching a tirade against the IRB on Twitter after they lost to Wales: ‘IRB, Stop exploiting my people. Please, all we ask, is fairness. If they get a week, give us a week. Simple. #equity. #justice.”
He later added: “Ok, it’s obvious the IRB are unjust. Wales get 7 days, we get 3. Unfair treatment, like slavery, like the holocaust, like apartheid. F*** U. Give Wales 3 days off, and give Samoa a week!! We would kill them!!!”
Sapolu’s rant was the over the top, but it raises an important tissue.
The IRB have scheduled weekend games for the bigger nations to attract the most TV viewers to maximise commercial revenue, which will in turn be ploughed back into the Tier two and three nations. The idea of reducing the number of teams from 20 to 16 also goes against the idea of growing the game internationally.
But it does little good for Namibian rugby for their side to be hammered so convincingly, as was the case in the last couple of matches. Although Namibia didn’t concede 132 points like they did against Australia in 2003, it’s also debatable whether the smaller nations’ results have improved. The level of skill shown by the smaller sides has been decent, but many got overly optimistic after the first weekend.
Many pointed to Japan’s spirited performance against France as an example of their ‘improvement’, but in the World Cup eight years ago, the Japanese produced a similar result as they trailed France 20-16 at half-time.
The minnows have improved, but not to the extent that many believe. There have been no complete blowouts, but sides like that can’t be expected to perform to their true potential (which is the level they have to be at if they wish to be remotely competitive against top sides) with such a short turnaround time.
In the current scheduling situation, in some instances you have the minnows selecting their second-string sides. No offence to the minnows, but who wants to see England’s best against Romania’s second best? In the current set-up, that is happening.
There’s no doubt sides like Namibia value the experience of playing at the World Cup and would never criticise the format as they’re just happy to be there, but something needs to be done. Extending the duration of the tournament is also not possible, because the beauty of it is the concise nature. Planning when sides play each other is the best option, but that also hasn’t been helped by New Zealand’s time zone not suiting European audiences, who form the bulk of the viewers.
That Namibia also had to finish the Wales match with 14 men due to injuries highlights their plight. Players are so well conditioned that impacts are more strenuous than ever before and bodies take a beating. Employing 23-man squads is a possible solution. Australia also finished with 14 men due to injuries against America, showing that the IRB and those that sign TV deals are exploiting their most valuable asset – the players. There can be no debate that they play too much rugby.
The highlight for many rugby fans is seeing the underdogs produce a courageous performance and then getting behind them. Minnows must be given the best possible opportunity to do that, and playing four tough matches in 16 days isn’t the way.
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