Fiji’s stirring comeback brought the tournament alive, and Wales were magnificently brave if ham-fisted in the face of the late onslaught. It was rugby at its best.
But Wales had help.
English referee Matthew Carley allowed them to repeatedly defend illegally without a yellow-card sanction, leaving Fiji just short of time to complete their comeback victory in the Pool C game. By the time he did go beyond penalties and card a Welsh player, it was getting too late.
Oscar Kightley, host of Rugby World Cup on Island, had earlier opened an almost prophetic debate on whether Pasifika players are treated more harshly by referees.
Given that rugby has long treated the Pasifika countries as second-rate, it doesn’t take much of a stretch to see referees reflecting this official condescension.
In rugby’s crazy tangle of rules and interpretations, justice was not seen to be done at Stade de Bordeaux. After Wales escaped from their goal line, Fiji were immediately issued a yellow card for bringing down a maul.
That question from the Samoan-born Kiwi Kightley, a man of so many impressive parts, is still ringing in the ears.
Still, what a game. Fantastic. Read more >
The little white box and matching remote look cute, and they came with Sky chief Sophie Moloney’s personal stamp of approval in an ad campaign.
But ... right from the outset, strange things happened.
On trying to record a programme on day one, the little brat went on strike and the screen suggested I needed to upgrade my subscription. Huh?
It hasn’t got any better.
I spent a large part of the weekend fighting with it, wondering how we ever got someone to the Moon.
The problems feel endless. It’s hard to find where you left off in a recording, rewinds stop short, and on and on. At one point, this baby-faced entertainment assassin even refused to pause during a Women’s World Cup game. The whole thing is non-intuitive.
The old box had an excellent system, the main problem being a clunky remote.
Welcome home, clunky remote. Because the imposter is being sent back. Read more >
[Jamie Joseph would] be my pick for the new All Blacks coach alongside his mate Tony Brown, ahead of the widely popular Scott Robertson.
Joseph and Brown are a proven pair through thick and thin, including at international level. This choice would also give the All Blacks their first coach of Māori heritage. And that is important.
New Zealand Rugby moves in mysterious ways, but the recent story by NZME’s Liam Napier suggests that the national body will finally act in a decisive way before a World Cup. And this is the perfect time to quit smoothing the path for assistant coaches to take over, almost by default, because Ian Foster has clearly fallen short.
For Foster, leading the All Blacks to this year’s World Cup knowing he is - in effect - not considered good enough by his bosses would be tough.
But the All Blacks’ performances have veered between okay and rubbish under him and his record would look even worse but for French referee Mathieu Raynal’s ridiculous late ruling which led to Australia’s defeat in Melbourne last year.
Bottom line: NZR has two excellent candidates in Joseph and Robertson. I can’t wait for the new era to begin, so we can finally cut ties with that whole Steve Tew-Graham Henry-Steve Hansen-Ian Foster business. They had their successes, but it had become too in-house for anyone’s good. Read more >
The Springboks are the greatest World Cup team in history because they have overtaken New Zealand in the rugby intelligence department.
We like to portray South Africa as rugby behemoths and forget about their brilliant strategies. And South Africa would love us to keep thinking that way because it will enable them to keep leaping ahead.
We once led the game through rugby brains and for a long time wiped the floor with South Africa at all professional levels. But no more.
They took the variables out of a coaching change by allowing Rassie Erasmus to control operations in a groundbreaking overlord role. They have also powered up their forward pack, which is essential for the stresses of the World Cup tournament.
South Africa have thought their way out of a giant hole to win consecutive world crowns.
And yet they play different types of rugby and, aided by a mid-tournament substitution, re-wrote their game plan in France.
They have retained traditional strengths and added innovative edges, such as the Bomb Squad, developing a hybrid hooker-loose forward, and opting for scrums from marks.
They don’t stand on ceremony when it comes to team selections, picking for the task at hand the way football managers do.
More than anything, their extraordinary captain Siya Kolisi understands the power of representation, using South Africa’s plight as a nation to inspire his team and vice versa.
The All Blacks only lost the final by a point, but they are lucky that injured hooker Malcolm Marx wasn’t playing.
New Zealand rugby is best advised to turn a deaf ear to the inevitable referee-bashing from sections of the public and get their thinking caps on.
Congratulations South Africa. You are setting the World Cup pace. Read more >
It’s hard to recall a coach’s mojo and reputation collapsing so dramatically.
Noeline Taurua was the nation’s darling after her late elevation saw New Zealand triumph against all predictions at the last World Cup. But it all went horribly wrong this time in South Africa.
Pundits were completely baffled by Kelly Jury’s positional switch during the tournament, among a few other things.
Finishing fourth - along with that unfathomable draw against South Africa - represents a disastrous defence of the title.
There was also the bizarre business of pre-selecting a different team to play the final Constellation Cup games across the Tasman last year, which led to the star of two victories here - Peta Toeava - being excluded.
The Silver Ferns’ decline might be traced back to that decision, which saw them snatch defeat from the jaws of a series victory.
Toeava subsequently missed World Cup selection, a decision open to a lot of questions even before the tournament in South Africa.
Taurua got a lot of the credit for the 2019 world title, deservedly, so she has to cop the blame for the 2023 capitulation. She’s got plenty of credits in the bank, and enough to suggest she can turn this around. Incredibly though, there must now be questions about her position.
No one saw this coming. Read more >
Chris Rattue has been a journalist since 1980 and is one of the most respected opinion writers in New Zealand sports journalism.
