Gregor Paul: Why this could be the worst Rugby World Cup ever

Scotland have tried to play attacking rugby and pulled it off at times but have struggled with their ball retention and skill execution. Photo / AP

COMMENT:

This Rugby World Cup was tracking badly long before Typhoon Hagibis turned up angry and disruptive.

A tournament that promised so much after a thrilling early encounter between the All Blacks and South Africa has delivered almost nothing since.

Japan thrilled when they beat Ireland and Australia and Wales had an end-to-end thriller, as did Fiji and Wales, but that has been it.

The rest of the rugby has been mostly dire – a procession of dull games played by dull teams with dull coaches, refereed by weak officials who have been following the orders of a governing body determined to blow up its own sport.

This might even be the worst World Cup ever. The rugby was pretty bad in 2007 but 2019 is pushing hard to drag the game lower and convince the millions of casual viewers who don't know quite what to make of it all, to rush straight back to watching football. Or grass growing. Or paint drying. Anything other than rugby which at the moment, doesn't make sense, doesn't capture the imagination and is shockingly bereft of creative heroes.

None of the blame for this tournament being a horror show should sit with the hosts, who have been quite brilliant in every regard.

Scotland have tried to play attacking rugby and pulled it off at times but have struggled with their ball retention and skill execution. Photo / AP

Japan has upheld its side of things.

We could blame the officials and their mad boss who chucked them under the bus in week one for not following his ludicrous directive to send anyone and everyone off the field should they so much look at an opponent's head.

They certainly deserve some of the blame – not so much for the endless cards as that is what they have been asked to do, but their total lack of interest in whether teams or onside or offside is a killer.

Question: How hard can it be to work out whether a defensive line is behind the back foot or not?

Answer: Not hard at all and yet assistant referees who seem to have nothing other to do than raise their flag for a lineout, apparently can't do it.

They stand mutely and blindly on the sideline while game after game is reduced to a flurry of smash, bang, wallop in the middle of the field as neither team has any space in which to work.

Failure to keep teams onside is one of the biggest killers of creativity and it's no wonder World Rugby deputy chairman Agustin Pichot said it was driving him nuts and ruining this World Cup.

But while this failure by referees to police this one area has been complicit in making this World Cup entirely forgettable, it is not solely to blame for the bland, defensive nature of it all.

There are plenty of coaches at this tournament who need to ask whether they have any kind of attacking vision at all.

Most teams at this tournament can tackle the house down. Most can hold their shape and structure on defence through multiple phases, but how many can make a good pass under pressure?

France and Tonga have tackled well but failed to set the world alight on attack. Photo / AP

How many can pass and catch in slick formation or use their footwork to find holes? How many teams have used their attack as their attack and not their defence as their attack? And how many teams have played with such attacking freedom and spontaneity that kids around the world have looked on in awe and been inspired to dream that one day they will emulate all of what they have seen?

The answer at the moment is just two teams – New Zealand and Japan. Other teams such as Fiji, Scotland, Australia and Uruguay have tried to play attacking rugby and pulled it off at times but have struggled with their ball retention and skill execution.

And that's the biggest problem with this World Cup – not enough teams have turned up with the willingness combined with the ability to attack.

The majority are here to tackle and kick their way to victory and bore us all to death in the process.

Coaches have lacked vision and ambition and instead worked out a few years back that it's way easier to build a rush defence than it is a cohesive attacking plan.

And what we are seeing at this tournament is that many of the world's so called best players are in fact deficient in many areas but can mask it with their physicality and durability.

There is maybe some hope that come the knockout rounds we will see some dash to go with the bash, but when most of the teams who have made the last eight weren't able to pass and catch in the pool rounds, it's unlikely they will be able to do so when the pressure is even greater.

There's no point in expecting miracles. They aren't going to happen and what Typhoon Hagibis has done is provide a little breathing space to sit back and realise that it's been a stinker of a tournament so far.