THE FOUR-YEAR wait begins and though it feels like that will be akin to a lifetime right now, it’s funny how things can move on quickly.
Before we know it, the URC will be up to full speed and the Champions Cup will be back in action, giving us big ties like La Rochelle hosting Leinster in December.
The 2024 Six Nations starts in 14 weekends’ time. It will roll around sooner than it feels right now as the disappointment over Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final exit lingers. Sure, we have to wait four years to find out if Ireland can finally get beyond that stage, but the Six Nations is always riveting.
With a two-Test tour to South Africa to come next summer, as well as the possibility of another Test for Ireland en route, there’s a huge amount to look forward to for the remainder of this season. That said, if you’re still wallowing in the hangover, it’s understandable.
This World Cup lived up to the billing. There were elements of disorganisation, particularly on the opening weekend, but the French certainly have brilliant stadiums and love their rugby. Record attendance figures and TV viewing numbers were important for World Rugby, while much of the rugby was riveting.
The best games were those involving the top-tier sides – South Africa, New Zealand, France, and Ireland. It remains a shame that two had to go out before the semi-finals, but these teams served us up some cracking contests. The opening game between France and the All Blacks was a great occasion, Ireland’s pool win over the Springboks was fascinating, the two quarter-finals involving this quartet were phenomenal, and the final was also an enthralling battle that went right to the death.
There were other highlights, several of which involved Fiji. They had a fine World Cup in reaching the quarter-finals thanks mainly to beating Australia, having marked their quality in a thrilling, narrow defeat to Wales in the pool stages. The Flying Fijians were later overturned by a Portugal team who won many new fans with their exciting style of play. The thought of the Portuguese hosting the 2035 World Cup with Spain is exciting.
Argentina and Japan served up an entertaining pool clash, the other two quarter-finals had plenty of drama even if they were lower-quality, while England nearly shocked the Boks in an absorbing semi-final that was a great contrast to the comparatively pitiful clash between the All Blacks and Argentina in the other semi.
The Springboks edged the decider to become just the second team to go back-to-back in the World Cup and while they have their detractors, they must be considered one of the best rugby teams ever. Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber are also certainly right up there as the greatest coaching duo. And in Boks skipper Siya Kolisi, rugby has a genuinely great person to be the face of the sport.
Sadly, France exiting at the quarter-finals took some steam out of this World Cup. The general interest levels on the ground dipped quite drastically, even if Stade de France still rocked for the final. Those Zombie nights Ireland had in Nantes and Paris will live long in the memory. Anyone writing them off clearly wasn’t there and unfortunately missed out on a special experience.
World Rugby probably hoped for a France v Ireland final, given the sheer electricity that would have generated in the stadium but also the additional numbers of visitors it would have brought to the city on the final weekend. There was a huge horde of Springboks supporters at the decider, many travelling from the UK, but Paris is a long way from New Zealand and the Kiwis were vastly outnumbered.
There seemed to be a majority of French supporters at the semi-finals and even the final, with many of them sadly focused on booing the match officials. They really have struggled to get over the perception that they were harshly treated in their quarter-final defeat to South Africa.
Like so many others, les Bleus now face that long four-year wait until 2027 in Australia, which will be a different tournament as World Rugby expands it from 20 to 24 teams.
Bringing more of the developing rugby nations along for the ride makes sense in one way, but it’s questionable whether four years will be long enough for the extra four teams to improve enough not to simply be cannon fodder for the leading nations.
The new format will mean a shift to six pools of four and the worry is that we will end up with lots of group-stage games that are not competitive. Still, the aim is growing the game and having more nations involved in the big show can hopefully inspire development across the board.
A new round of 16 will be interesting, with the potential for more knock-out jeopardy, but again we might be left with several poor contests given that four of the third-placed teams from the pools will still go through.
One welcome move is to make the tournament a week shorter. While that’s not ideal for player welfare, this 2023 World Cup did feel overly long. Having a rest weekend also meant there was less onus on fully unleashing all 33 players in every squad. The importance of the wider group should grow in 2027.
Australia is a sporting country but the fight to keep the nation engaged in rugby union is as fierce as it has ever been after Eddie Jones’ disastrous short tenure. A big rebuild is on the cards if they’re to get back among the elite in the next few years.
Every nation has their own challenges post-World Cup with retirements, coaches moving on, and weaknesses having been exposed. For Ireland, the post-Johnny Sexton era was always going to be daunting.
Andy Farrell, the new World Rugby coach of the year, is contracted until 2025 and is expected to be appointed head coach for that year’s Lions tour to Australia, but if he’s keen to lead Ireland until the next World Cup, the contract extension will almost certainly be his.
This four-year cycle ultimately ended in disappointment for Ireland and a few others, while the Springboks came out on top again. Bring on the next chapter.
