How to win the Rugby World Cup - Perform your best
INTERNATIONAL RUGBY has become the sports version of Play Your Cards Right, minus the presence of Bruce Forsyth as a presenter, a survey of 100 people and a large number of TV viewers on Saturday night. At a time when rugby is being analyzed more widely and more deeply than ever. Rugby World Cup fans can buy Rugby World Cup 2023 Tickets from our website.
One area of the game remains so blatant that it makes you wonder why so many coaches aren’t involved. It’s simple: keep 15 of your players in the park and your chances of winning will skyrocket.
Despite the obvious bloodshed being said here, only one top international team will adhere to this policy in 2022, Six Nations champions France. Is it just a coincidence that the team that put the most pressure on them in that game was the only team that didn’t get a card for the entire game?
To answer that, we need to take you to the tidy clubhouse at Jerry Collins Stadium on the eve of the third Irish Summer Tour of New Zealand, where local reporters asked Irish head coach Andy Farrell a question about the high-tackle’s ruling.
Farrell deliberately paused before answering, stared at his inquisitor, and then quietly pointed out that the rules of the game were a bit like the weather. Complaining about it won’t change anything.
“There are teams that are playing on the edge, we want to keep the number of penalties low,” said Farrell.
This seems like a minor problem. But it’s actually a big one.
Staying your best is a rugby game right now, with successful teams preparing to lose certain clashes – and sometimes even score – in order to keep their full complement of players on the pitch. It paid off. Consider this statistic.
In this year’s match involving nine of the world’s leading teams – New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, France, Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland – the effect of yellow and red cards on the outcome was astonishing, with overwhelming numbers. The team outperformed their penalized opponent by 233 points during the sin-binning to 31 points.
This is the context we should use as we revisit Farrell’s philosophy. “There are teams playing in the margins; we want to keep the free throws low.”
Certain teams, especially New Zealand and Australia, are struggling to adapt and their DNA is still in the margins. Do you remember the All Blacks’ ferocity against Ireland in Dublin in 2016, when they lost to Joe Schmidt’s team in Chicago a few weeks later? Robbie Henshaw and CJ Stander, who both suffered concussions in that match, should never forget that.
Interestingly, looking back on these events six years later, neither Sam Cane nor Israel Dagg has been given a map to face these challenges. According to the rules updated today, they see red. Rugby World Cup fans can buy rwc 2023 Tickets from our website.
Such was the fate of Angus Tavao-Matau in Dunedin, with his high tackle on Garry Ringrose during the second Irish Summer Tour Test. Ta’avao-Matau’s red card, combined with yellow cards to Leicester Fainga’anuku and Ofa Tu’ungafasi, meant Ireland had a numerical advantage in 54 minutes of that test.
They were even better earlier this year, as they walked away from a tired England in the final quarter of the Six Nations, with a record win for Ireland at Twickenham. Their hosts’ careers were severely hampered by Charlie Ewels’ red card in the first minute.
Are these examples of Irish luck or good Irish behaviour?
Let’s look at the evidence.
Ireland has retained 10 or fewer penalties in 13 of their last 16 matches. They received two yellow cards in 2022, while their opponents received five yellow cards and three red cards. Ireland’s last red card came 15 months ago for Bundee Aki against England.
Has this meticulous approach paid off? Well, judge for yourself. Ireland has a numerical advantage of 198 minutes in the 640 minutes of this year’s international rugby. In that period, they beat their opponents by 23 points by 99 points.
This is the context we should use as we revisit Farrell’s philosophy. “There are teams playing in the margins; we want to keep the free throws low.”
Ironically, Ireland won important matches – against England at Twickenham and New Zealand at Wellington – while losing penalties. However, there is clearly a clear policy to avoid picking up cheap cards by repeatedly insulting and adjusting tackling techniques to reduce their yellow and red numbers.
This is the key to success. A low number of penalties helps – France is a textbook example of a team that has taken a naughty step. At the 2019 Six Nations, they had the highest number of free throws in the game when Jacques Brunel was their coach. This year they came second and won a Grand Slam.
But the low penalty kick alone is no guarantee as Ireland misses four penalties in the opening test of New Zealand’s All Blacks Tour at Eden Park. New Zealand won 42-19.
It’s the cards that cost the team. England looked like they beat Scotland in this year’s Six Nations until Luke Cowan-Dickie’s early intervention when he deliberately pushed the ball to the point of contact. They lost by three points and Cowan Dickey’s indiscretion and yellow card changed the game.
A week later we moved on to Scotland-Wales. At the end of it, there are only three points separating the edges. You may remember Finn Russell was shown a yellow card in the draw and Dan Biggar scored the winning goal in his absence.
It’s New Zealand v Argentina in Hamilton a few weeks ago. The All Blacks were chasing the game when Shannon Frizell was booked with 10 minutes to go. New Zealand eventually lost by seven points. It was the Cougars’ first away win over New Zealand.
The controversy over the weekend involved French referee Mathieu Raynal and his decision to penalize Bernard Foley for wasting time at the end of the 76-point thriller between the Wallabies and All Blacks.
“Man, this cost us the rugby championship,” Australian captain Nic White told Raynal afterwards.
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The obvious answer is, not really, but New Zealand’s relentless 21 points proved to be different. As Australia was reduced to 14 players at various stages of the game.
It often has. All told, the Wallabies have received 22 yellow and red cards in 29 games under Coach Dave Rennie and are currently at an all-time low in the world rankings, with Rennie’s win rate fluctuating below 40 per cent. They are a good example of a team not adapting to the new law.
They are not alone.
In their last two encounters, South Africa and Argentina had 10 players on the map, with 56 unanswered players. A team that had a numerical advantage under Simbin.
There are many more examples, the Welsh being the best of them all. Let’s go back to their South African summer vacation. Wales led 18-3 in the first Test of the series. Four yellow cards helped the Springboks make a comeback. South Africa won 32-29.
A year ago, at the 2021 Six Nations Championship. It was a very different story, with the Welshman maintaining discipline. While everyone else – including Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony – lost it. If playing 66 minutes with the extras helped Wales against Ireland. The dismissal of Zander Fagerson arguably had a greater impact the following week, with Wales taking victory from the jaws of defeat, the result of Fagerson’s red card.
Next up was England, with Wales taking penalties en route to winning the match. Then there was Italy, who coughed up 28 unanswered points from the Welshman when they had players in the bin. Wales is the champion.
They also become Grand Slam champions if they dodge a yellow card in the last ten minutes of their last title match with France. Unfortunately, the 12-point lead disappeared in the closing minutes when two of their players went into the sin bin.
Champions in 2021, Wales set the second-worst disciplinary record in 2022, indeed finishing the competition in the bottom two.
This is modern rugby. Those who play the best poker skills win in the end. It was only a matter of time before the secret got out.
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