2023-10-12 07:53:06
The final phase of the Rugby World Cup begins this weekend with four quarter-finals scheduled for October 14 and 15. Two matches pit the four best teams in the world against each other and the other two matches bring together teams ranked between 6th and 9th place in the world. A significant sporting imbalance which can be explained by the precocity of the draw for this competition.
Published on: 12/10/2023 – 07:53
5 mn
“A lot can change in three years.” As on the field, Scottish fly-half Finn Russell had a good inspiration on December 14, 2020, the day of the draw for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He was then invited to react to the presence of Scotland in a very tough Pool B alongside South Africa, Ireland, Tonga and Romania.
Several French personalities presented themselves that day on the stage of the Palais Brongniart to draw the names of the 20 teams divided into five hats, according to their ranking at world level, hat 1 bringing together the four best. The names of the twelve qualified teams were then known, those who had finished in the first three places in their respective groups during the 2019 edition. And the creator Christian Louboutin was responsible for drawing lots from the four teams from hat 3 in which found Scotland, then the 9th nation in the world.
As Finn Russell anticipated, a lot of things then changed for Scotland, which experienced great sporting progress and moved to 5th place in the world rankings in February 2023. A position which would have allowed it, at the time of the draw, to appear in pot 2 and thus avoid the teams occupying places 6, 7 and 8 in the world ranking. Ditto for Ireland which went from 5th nation in the world in January 2020 to first in July 2022.
Read alsoThe quarter-final program
These inevitable sporting variations have fueled a lively debate since 2011 on taking into account the world ranking to constitute the different hats. England was thus a victim during the 2015 World Cup organized on its own soil: the draw was made on December 3, 2012 and the English, then fifth in the world, found themselves in a difficult group with the Australia (3rd) and Wales (9th) from which they failed to escape, failing to qualify for the final phase of a World Cup for the first time.
An “unfair” draw for Sexton
The controversy logically resurfaced at the time of the draw for the 2023 edition. Actor Jean Dujardin placed France in Group A a few minutes before cook Guy Savoy did the same with New Zealand. Interviewed a few minutes later, Antoine Dupont, who already sported a beautiful cockade over his right eye, said that one of his first World Cup memories was the quarter-final between France and New Zealand in 2007. , when he was only 10 years old.
Jean Dujardin was one of the ambassadors today to draw the pools for the 2023 Rugby World Cup ???? pic.twitter.com/ngiu8XLz8e
— Jean Dujardin (@FanJeanDujardin) December 14, 2020
Sixteen years later, Antoine Dupont is the captain of a team preparing for a quarter-final of the World Cup against South Africa, a match which sees the 2nd and 3rd nation teams pitted against each other, according to the latest world rankings. of the oval planet. Another quarter-final will offer a duel between the first (Ireland) and the 4th (New Zealand). In the other two quarters, Fiji (8th) will challenge England (6th), and Argentina (9th) Wales (7th).
This disparity in levels causes many regrets among rugby fans who know that two of the best national teams in this competition will have to leave this weekend. And some players themselves expressed their disappointment, like Irish captain Johnny Sexton. “The draw took place three years ago, and seems unfair today. But it is like that, and we will have to be ready to face New Zealand,” he confided, Saturday October 7 , after his team’s big victory against Scotland.
An “obsolete” formula currently being modified
Aware of this lack of sporting fairness, World Rugby, the body which manages world rugby, announced six months ago its intention to change the drawing methods for the next World Cup. “We use the world rankings, which is the best representation of the strengths and weaknesses of a team, but it was done at a time which, compared to now, may become obsolete,” conceded Alan Gilpin, general manager, in April. of World Rugby.
The date of the draw should therefore be postponed. If it happened until then more than three years ago, it was to allow the host countries to benefit from a long period of organization and marketing of tickets (2.6 million for the 2023 edition). The supporters of the 12 teams already qualified thus knew the schedule of their protégés very early and could plan their trips more easily. This is not the case for the World Cup or the Olympic Games, competitions in which supporters often buy tickets without knowing the details of the event they will attend.
Also read: Rugby World Cup: how to raise the level of small teams?
The 2023 Rugby World Cup should therefore be one of the last to experience these sporting disparities. Some commentators did not hesitate to criticize this French edition which looked like a “farce”. The word is notably used by the old English hooker Brian Moore in The Telegraph. “I don’t care about the practical considerations behind this draw. It can now be seen as a blunder and World Rugby must find a way to prevent this from happening again,” wrote Brian Moore. An error which the XV de la Rose hopes to take advantage of to continue to advance in this competition, by beating Fiji on October 15 in Marseille.
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