France-South Africa, Ireland-All Blacks… Why do the four best nations face each other in the quarters?

2023-10-08 12:02:17

France against South Africa, Ireland against New Zealand… We could easily imagine these immense shocks as a perfect poster for a World Cup final. It won’t happen. These four teams will instead face each other in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in France on the weekend of October 14 and 15. But why ?

To understand, we have to go back to December 14, 2020, the date of the draw for the World Cup pools. To fairly distribute the teams, we choose the world ranking established by World Rugby of January 1, 2020. In this game, the XV of France, host country, is only 7th and is therefore placed, like the XV of Clover (5th) in pot 2 with Japan and Australia. At the top of world rugby, a few months after its coronation in 2019, South Africa (1st) joins pot 1 with New Zealand, England, and Wales.

A later draw for 2027

Then, it took quite a combination of circumstances for the Blues and the All Blacks to fall together into Pool A, which intersects with Pool B bringing together Ireland and South Africa in addition to Scotland (5th nation world at the start of the World Cup). As a result, three of the five best nations in the world will not make it to the semi-finals. A draw which leaves the door open to other teams with two other less competitive quarters with a priori England-Fiji (which will play the winner of the France match) and Wales-Argentina or Japan.

The fault therefore lies in a draw carried out very early to allow better organization of the competition and optimal ticket sales by giving visibility to supporters around the world. A laudable intention at the start but also a “mistake” that World Rugby no longer wants to make.

“What we are going to do is try to have the draw for the group stage as late as possible so that there is more consistency around the balance in a group,” assured the president of the International Federation Bill Beaumont in the show The Breakdown. For the 2027 World Cup, the draw dates are not yet known. But everything will be done to avoid these dream posters this early in the competition.