Wales hoping for controversy-free win

The last time Wales met France, a red card for Wales’s inspirational captain Sam Warburton defined the team’s brave but ultimately unfruitful World Cup run.

Tomorrow’s referee, Craig Joubert, also courted controversy when his officiating of the final attracted criticism from the defeated French side as well as many neutrals.

And there will be a degree of apprehension before tomorrow’s game because of the significant role played by the officials so far in this year’s event.

Wales’s opening weekend win in Dublin – pipping the Irish 23-21 thanks to a last-gasp Leigh Halfpenny penalty – was overshadowed by two so-called “tip-tackling” incidents.

Halfpenny’s winning kick came after referee Wayne Barnes judged, perhaps harshly, Ireland’s Stephen Ferris to have lifted Ian Evans dangerously.

But Ferris’s sin-binning meant he received the exact same punishment as Welshman Bradley Davies, who committed a far more dangerous offence earlier in the half.

Davies was spared a red card – though not the wrath of the subsequent citing committee – on the wrongful advice of Barnes’s touch judge and fellow Englishman Dave Pearson.

Compatriot and former World Cup whistleman Fred Howard told The Cardiffian after the match he thought Davies deserved red: “Pearson was very wrong in recommending a yellow card for the first [Davies’s] offence,” he said.

Wales’s home win over Scotland was less shrouded in controversy, although Frenchman Romain Poite looked to have made an error in disallowing a Scottish score for an apparent knock-on.

But when Wales secured the Triple Crown thanks to a 19-12 triumph over England at Twickenham, it sparked a huge debate over whether David Strettle had touched down for what could have been an equalising try with the last play of the game.

Strettle later insisted he had grounded the ball despite the attentions of Wales’s George North, Jonathan Davies and Halfpenny. But television match official Iain Ramage decided the play was inconclusive, allowing Wales escaped with the win – and the Triple Crown trophy.

Wales will point to Alain Rolland’s dismissal of Warburton as proof Wales have not always benefited from controversial decisions.

But both sides will be hoping Mr Joubert plays a low-key role in the sides’ Six Nations finale and the game is not won or lost thanks to the interpretation of the man in the middle.

Plucky? Unlucky? No, it is more fundamental than that for Scotland

I do kind of feel sorry for Scotland, as - barring a real upset tomorrow - they look set to crash out of the Rugby World Cup at the pool stage.

But on the other hand, I don't. Honestly, I find them incredibly dull to watch. It is almost as if they suck the life, the creative spark out of every game they play.

Some will say that today Andy Robinson's men were plucky, were unlucky. It is true that the bounce of the ball could have gifted a try to Richie Gray, while Nick de Luca will have nightmares about his failure to cleanly pick up the loose ball with the tryline at his mercy.

Against Argentina, too, only Felipe Contepomi's offside forced Dan Parks to attempt a drop goal with his wrong foot - if it had been with his right, he would surely have slotted it and given his team a priceless win.

But while their defense has been admirable, their attack, so far as it is, has been dire. Scotland have managed just four (4) tries at this World Cup, fewer than Namibia, fewer than Russia. Indeed, only Romania - who ran the Scots embarrassingly close - and Georgia, who still have a game to play, have crossed the whitewash on fewer occasions at this tournament.

That those two have scored so few demonstrates, perhaps, that their pool stage opponents, Scotland included, have been mean on defence.

But Scotland will struggle to win either big matches or neutral support with their brand of anti-rugby and such an overreliance on the boots of Chris Paterson, Ruaridh Jackson and Parks.

Four losses, but the underdogs show their worth

Five World Cup matches so far – and five wins for the overwhelming favourites. But all four of the underdogs in today’s matches provided terrific excitement for neutrals and proved that the results of most pool stage matches can not be taken granted.

First up was Romania, who pushed Scotland hard and, before a Paterson penalty and a brace of tries in the last minutes from winger Simon Danielli, threatened to cause a massive upset.

As it is, the Oaks will feel hugely disappointed that they failed to secure a losing bonus point. Coach Andy Robinson has a lot of work to do, but he will be relieved that, thanks to Danielli’s second touch down, they wrapped up a bonus point that, simultaneously, they denied Romania.

Also in Pool B, England edged out top seeds Argentina 13-9 in a dire encounter that saw an incredible eleven missed penalty kicks. Before kick-off, the South Americans were regarded as such a shadow of the side that ensured they were ranked fourth in the world rankings that England were installed as 1/8 favourites.

But the Pumas led for most of the match in the swanky new Otago Stadium before a late score from replacement scrum half Ben Youngs gave England the advantage for the first time in an encounter that was dominated by both sides’ ill-discipline.

Martin Hernandez, Felipe Contepomi and – most surprisingly – Jonny Wilkinson had an appalling time kicking at goal. Argentina’s persistence in attempting to utilise Hernandez’s boot from penalties just inside the English half should be questioned. Indeed, the fourth time this happened (and the fourth time Hernandez sent the ball wide) was enough for those watching to seriously question the merits of electing to kick at goal despite, clearly not having a sufficiently able kicker.

Wilkinson was uncharacteristically off-target, allowing Argentina to retain a 9-3 lead, despite their own problems from the tee, before Youngs crossed to calm the visibly enraged Martin Johnson.

France made hard work of defeating a dynamic Japanese side, who pegged les Bleus back to a 25-21 lead with ten minutes remaining, before three late tries took away from the Brave Blossoms much of the credit that their performance in the first seventy minutes merited.

James Arlidge, Japan’s New Zealand-born outside-half, scored all of his side’s points, including two tries, and the Japanese, under coach John Kirwan, were very disciplined, rucked impressively and have a real livewire in left winger Hirotoki Onozawa. France looked on the rocks for periods in the second half, but had enough class in the end to wrap up the bonus-point win.

Today’s other match saw Fiji run in six tries – four from Vereniki Godeva – in a 49-25 success over Namibia, whose outside-half Theuns Kotze dropped three goals. The Africans scored two tries, including a magnificent one for second row Heinze Koll Fiji were impressive, but Namibia, the lowest ranked side in the tournament, will take pride in their plucky showing.

World rugby, too, will be heartened by today in which all four underdogs impressed, albeit in losing causes.

Rugby World Cup: Pool B preview

In many ways Pool B is the most intriguing of the group stage. England and Scotland will count themselves fortunate to have drawn Argentina, top Pool B seeds thanks to their ranking as the world’s fourth best team when the World Cup draw was made two years ago.

The intervening period has seen the Pumas slip below both the principal opposition nations in this group to ninth (with England fifth and Scotland seventh). The rankings reflect the fact that Argentina, who will join the Tri Nations next season, are a shadow of their 2007 team, which defeated hosts France twice to claim an impressive third-place finish.

Even so, the South Americans will be hopeful of progressing to the quarterfinals, most likely at the expense of Scotland – but a victory over England instead or as well is far from inconceivable. The recent warm-up matches showcased two very different England teams; against Wales (in Cardiff, and the second half at Twickenham), they looked poor. Nevertheless, flashes of excellence in the London encounter with the Welsh, as well as a satisfying avenging of their Six Nations loss in Dublin, indicated that an English side that can click will remain a distinct threat.

Manu Tuilagi, who bagged two tries in those warm-ups, is an exciting option that could solve Martin Johnson’s headache in the centre, although opponents will seek to exploit his distinct lack of international experience. Johnson will have been pleased with Jonny Wilkinson performances in those fixtures, but with the perennial threats of Chris Ashton and Ben Foden, he will be less reliant on Wilkinson’s left boot than when he lifted the Webb Ellis trophy himself in 2003.

Scotland have undergone a mini-resurgence themselves in recent years, although they are far from being a team that will automatically strike fear into the hearts of other top tier sides. Their warm-up matches consisted of a narrow win over Ireland in a dire contest watched by a more than half-empty Murrayfield. Considered as the second-worst team in the Six Nations for much of the previous decade, Scotland impressed in 2010, when they felt that they could have secured the Triple Crown. They followed this with a victory over World Champions South Africa at Murrayfield, but apparently let slip any gain in their disappointing Six Nations campaign earlier this year. Their forwards, particularly Kelly Brown, John Barclay and captain Alastair Kellock, remain formidable, but for too long their backs – with the exception of the pace of Max Evans – have remained relatively impotent.

The other two sides in the Pool, Romania and Georgia are, or course, very much weaker. Romania were a force in the early 1990s, a time which even featured a win in France against the national team. They have qualified for every World Cup, and will be looking to continue their record of winning one match at each tournament since 1995; however, they might find it tough against the Georgians, and the Oaks are certainly not helped by the withdrawal of winger Catalin Fercu, who refused to travel to New Zealand on account of his fear of flying.

Georgian rugby has been rising steadily in recent years. World Cup debutants in 2007, they came extremely close to providing what might have been the biggest shock in international rugby history when they were pipped 14-10 by Ireland; the so-called minnows failed to capitalise on late pressure in the encounter (and had a ‘try’ disallowed by the television match official), which they were leading after 55 minutes. England, Scotland and Argentina will be aware of Georgia’s potential, and should see them off, but the Lelos are sure to put up a tough, physical battle and will make life difficult for the more established nations, and I would expect Georgia to triumph over Romania.

Predictions:

Scotland 35-10 Romania
Argentina 18-27 England
Scotland 31-14 Georgia
Argentina 33-6 Romania
England 44-18 Georgia
England 67-11 Romania
Argentina 18-20 Scotland
Georgia 27-19 Romania
England 28-17 Scotland
Argentina 22-13 Georgia