Northern Hemisphere hopes already fading fast

All of the major teams at Rugby World Cup 2007 have now played one game and, while the quality of opposition varied, some teams have put in very good performances and others will have alarm bells ringing after poor showings. The divide between Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams has been obvious as the Southern Hemisphere teams have all played well, while the performances from their Northern rivals ranged from average to dreadful.

The opening game of the tournament saw France continue their patchy form, falling to Argentina in what many considered an upset. The French, who had won two warm up games against England, put in one of the worst showings since their football team lost to Senegal in the FIFA World Cup. Their forwards were incapable of winning quick ball, at times they appeared to deliberately slow down their own ball, while their back line appeared completely devoid of ideas.

On the odd occasion that France threatened, the determined and dogged Argentinean defence smothered them. When Argentina had the ball in hand, their high kicks frequently led to scoring chances as the French back three regularly failed to defuse bombs sent their way. France now must beat Ireland if they are to avoid becoming the first host nation to exit during pool play.

The polar opposite to the French melt down was the brutal and merciless dominance of the All Blacks against Italy. It was largely expected that New Zealand would rout the Azzuri, but few expected the All Blacks to be as polished as they were. Running in 11 tries and attacking from all over the park, there were few weaknesses shown by New Zealand, sounding a warning to the rest of the tournament.

The following game featured Australia against Japan, in a game which the Wallabies won convincingly. The Japanese may not have been much of a challenge for the Australians, but they looked crisp and efficient as they run in tries almost at will.

The defending champion English would have been looking forward to an easy run against rugby minnows the USA in their first outing, but instead turned in an awful performance will have the Springboks licking their lips in expectation. The Americans certainly punched above their weight, and if England captain had been shown a yellow card for his foot trip, the result could have been different.

South Africa showed they are a team in good form, putting away a bruising Samoan team in their Pool A clash. Despite giving up the opening try of the game, a Springboks victory was never really in doubt as their forward pack dominated the set phase of the game and their superior fitness allowed them to finish the game on a high note.

The final contender to play their first game was the Irish as they took on relative new comers Namibia. Like their English rivals they were expected to demolish their African opponents, but again like the English they were rusty and disorganised. Their set phase play was scrappy and a large number of passes failed to go to hand. Before the tournament people talked about Pool D being D for Death, it could turn into D for Dreadful.

Other results over the first three days saw Wales begin poorly against Canada before pulling away in a good first showing, while Scotland dealt to tournament new comers Portugal as was expected.

Some teams now have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid disappointment later on in the tournament, while others could find themselves fighting for their survival before pool play is over. One thing is clear already, the Northern Hemisphere teams, who are at the beginning of their season, have a lot more work to do than their Southern rivals.

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The Northern Hemisphere hopes already fading fast by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.