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A brilliant first weekend of the Rugby World Cup has seen controversy, shocks and world class performances, but which teams have impressed the most so far, and which teams still have more room for improvement?
More Rugby World Cup:
» SPIRO: Pumas good, the All Blacks very good
» LORD: No surprises in Wallabies team
» Wallabies team announcement
» Rugby World Cup Winners and Losers
» Rugby World Cup fixtures
» Rugby World Cup results
» Rugby World Cup highlights
» Rugby World Cup news and opinion
Who was impressive?
Japan
Their first win at the World Cup since 1991 saw Japan defeat two-time World Cup winners South Africa, Brighton’s AMEX stadium on Saturday afternoon. It was one of the biggest upsets ever seen in rugby. They fully deserved the win, as they completely outplayed the Springboks.
They matched them upfront, at scrum time, and showed also that they had a very lethal backline, when fullback Ayumu Goromaru crossed the line, in a perfectly executed backline move, which carved open the South African defence. They have a three day turnaround, before facing Scotland on Wednesday, and it will be fascinating to see whether they can match Saturday’s performance and keep their winning momentum going.
France
This current French side has been all over the place in recent years, which has led to many people ruling them out of this World Cup. However, a convincing win over a motivated Italian side showed that they should not be underestimated.
Over the past few years they have looked dull, and almost lost at times, but they looked a completely different side on Saturday, as they played with pace and flair. Their off-loading game was extremely impressive.
Despite facing the most experienced front row ever to play in a world cup, the French pack were dominant at the set piece and were rewarded with numerous penalties. There were a lot of good individual performances from the French players, but the player who stood out most for me, was Louis Picamoles.
It appeared as if he had returned to his best form. He combined his brute force and power with his offloading ability, to play out a commanding performance.
Georgia
A powerful performance from Georgia saw them defeat Tonga 17-10. Many tipped Tonga to win this contest but the Georgians controlled the game and looked comfortable for the majority of the game.
Their forward pack is so crucial to their game plan, and they won the battle upfront with a powerful display. Their captain and main man Mamuka Gorgodze had a strong game as always leading from the front, and scored the opening try.
They showed that they are improving as always, with this win, as are so many teams. It feels as if the gap between the lower ranked teams and the higher ranked teams is closing. Teams like Georgia and Japan are leading the charge.
Room for improvement
South Africa
Despite Japan’s brilliance, there can be no excuses for a loss of that magnitude from the Springboks. They failed to really get a firm grip of the game, and it was almost as if they thought that Japan were eventually going to crumble.
The word complacent would be a huge understatement.
Their mind-set was all wrong. They didn’t have the best Rugby Championship coming into this – losing to Argentina for the first time ever in Durban – but they remained confident.
Head coach Heyneke Meyer insisted that they would be bringing the trophy back to South Africa. If they carry on performing like they did against Japan, then they will struggle to get out of the pool. No team has ever lost a pool game, and then gone on to win the World Cup, so the Springboks will have to create history if they want to bring the trophy home.
Their next game is against Samoa and they will need to win this comfortably in order to get their confidence back after that embarrassing display.
England
Although the hosts came away with a bonus point win over Fiji, the win was far from convincing.
They were poor at the scrum as they were overpowered by the Fijian pack on multiple occasions. The decision to bring Geoff Parling back into the team to sort out England’s lineout issues has seemed to affect the power in the scrum.
The lacked potency in the backline and they struggled to get any real momentum. Brad Barritt didn’t make many yards over the gainline in a unusually poor performance, as it looked like England were struggling under the pressure of playing in the opening game.
The subs injected some power into the game. Billy Vunipola and Sam Burgess finally got them over the gain-line and moving forward. They will need to improve when they face Wales on Saturday, as they will be facing a powerful and motivated Wales side, so they will need to physically front up in order to allow George Ford to engage his backline and put the like of Joseph and Brown into space.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.