2023-10-29 16:14:32
Sport feeds tears. May they be joyful, on the South African side, after the victory of the Springboks against New Zealand, in the final of the World Cup, this Saturday, October 28 (12 to 11). Or that they reflect the immense pain felt by the vanquished.
South Africa in the sky
In this shock duel between the two behemoths of the southern hemisphere, there could only be one winner. Ian Foster, who was playing his last match as All Blacks coach, understood this well. “It breaks our hearts, he said during the post-match press conference. I’m proud of how we hung in there. I couldn’t ask for anything more from the players. South Africa are a strong team, they played well and deserved to win. »
His South African counterpart, Jacques Nienaber, savored: “We had 62 million supporters, from all social backgrounds… We felt all the energy they sent us. » His team can now boast of dominating world rugby a little more. With this fourth title, South Africa now reigns alone at the top of the ranking ahead of New Zealand (3 titles) and Australia (2 titles).
A world championship with a disappointing level of play
The fact remains that sport is playful. The fate of the French team, eliminated by these same South Africans in the quarter-finals, on October 15, was a harbinger: the world champion team won its last three matches, each time, on the smallest margins, with one point of difference.
Beyond that, however, tight results were not the rule throughout the competition. The world championship organized in France suffered from a level of play considered low, and an ever-increasing gap between the small and large rugby nations. To confirm this feeling, it is enough to calculate the difference in the average score, during the group stages, between a team in the top 10 and a weaker nation.
The verdict is clear: the 2023 World Cup is the most unbalanced in twenty years. The gap had gradually decreased, going from 41.2 points in 2011 to 35.8 points in 2015, then to 34.6 points in 2019. But, in 2023, the curve was reversed and the gap reached 42 .4 points. We have to go back to 2003, during the Australian World Cup, to find an even more unbalanced competition, with a difference of 48.3 points.
For the Blues, the best is yet to come
However, this observation could be further reinforced in the future. The international body World Rugby found nothing better than to announce, on October 24, the establishment, from 2027 in Australia, of a world championship no longer with 20 but with 24 teams. Never short of thunderous announcements, the Federation has also created a new competition every two years: an unofficial world championship with the ten best teams in the world, plus two invited nations, in place of the traditional summer and summer tours. ‘autumn. This new meeting will automatically lead to a busier schedule. Bill Beaumont, president of World Rugby, seems visibly unresponsive to the numerous requests from international players to reduce it.
In this future which promises to be turbulent, and whatever happens, the main players of the French XV could be there for the meeting, in four years, in Australia for the World Cup. With an average age of 27 today, a large number of them will then be in their early thirties.
Coach Fabien Galthié is, for his part, reassured. He who had built his strategy on experience should continue with the dual desire to consolidate the collective experience of his team and to « caper » its players, that is to say giving them more selections. The example of the South African world champions should not push him to change his philosophy: during this world championship, the Springboks had an average age of 31..
“We think that this generation can do something for the World Cup in France, but also for the next one”, said a member of the French staff before the World Cup. With added experience, who knows what our Blues could have in store for us. First answers during the next Six Nations tournament, next February.
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The beautiful destiny of Deon Fourie
Each competition has its own beautiful story. South African Deon Fourie, 37, had only two caps before the preparation phase and the World Cup in France, as part of the Springboks team. Invited at the last minute by coach Jacques Nienaber, he is now world champion at an age when many would have already taken early retirement.
Better, the one who started on the bench against the All Blacks probably did not expect to come into play in the third minute of the final, replacing Bongi Mbonambi, who came out after a knee problem. Third line of work, he therefore replaced, at short notice, an internationally renowned hooker.
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