Scored by Jerome Kaino, a wing forward, after what the radio announcer called a “basketball pass” over the head of South African defenders.
New Zealand guilty of more penalties in this game than would have been expected and their defense has been suspect at time. Most of the penalties have come at the loose play — offsides in most cases.
One hundred and eleven points scored in two games and a difference of only five between the winners (South Africa and Australia) and the losers (Wales and Scotland). Both of these quarter-final games in the Rugby World Cup were decided in the final five minutes. (Not so in the other two quarter finals: New Zealand disposed of France 62-13, and Argentina had a surprisingly easy time against Ireland, 43-20)
South Africa was down 19-18 with five minutes to go when a try by Fourie du Preez gave the Springboks the margin they needed to beat Wales on Saturday.
Bear with me while I relive it:
Time: 7:45 Penalty kick by Handre Pollard. Score 3-0 South Africa
11:03 Penalty kick by Pollard. 6-0 South Africa
13:52 Penalty kick by Dan Biggar. 6-3 South Africa
15:35 Penalty kick by Pollard. 9-3 South Africa
17:37 Try by Gareth Davies, conversion by Biggar. 10-9 Wales
19:31 Penalty kick by Pollard. 12-10 South Africa
41:12 Drop goal by Biggar. 13-12 Wales
HALF
47:00 Penalty kick by Biggar. 16-12 Wales
51:45 Drop goal by Pollard. 16-15 Wales
60:26 Penalty by Pollard. 18-16 South Africa
63:25 Penalty kick by Biggar 19-18 Wales
74:25 Try by Fourie du Preez. 23-19 South Africa wins
Obviously helps to have a high-percentage kicker on the field. Pollard missed two penalty kicks, and Biggar had one hit the upright and fall back into play. In between all the scoring by kicks, there was some furious loose play and some exciting runs. Both tries scored came from remarkable ball handling, especially the Wales try after Biggar gathered in his own kick and made the pass to Davies as he was tackled.
Both teams played hard; the clock ran out with South Africa ahead.
No complaints.
Plenty for Scotland. Papers Monday morning screaming about how the Scots were robbed “at the death” and bringing special attention to the post-game dash into the tunnel and out of the public eye by referee Craig Joubert.
Scotland had the lead over Australia, 34-32, with less than two minutes left in the game when Joubert called Scotland’s Jon Welsh for being offsides. At worse, it looked like accidental offsides to me, which would have been a scrum to Australia. Mick Cleary in The Daily Telegraph on Monday dissects the play this way:
Scotland throws to the back of a lineout but David Denton can’t handle it. My friend Eddie, who went to the game with me, points out that had Scotland secured the ball in the lineout and kept possession for less than two minutes, they would have won.
But they didn’t. Instead, the ball was knocked forward by Scot wing forward John Hardie. The ball careens into Australian Nick Phipps and then to the ground. Welsh falls on the ball and is called for being in an offside position. As Cleary says in his report, “Joubert ruled that . . . Welsh was in an offside position following the initial knock-on by John Hardie.” But if Phipps was intentionally trying to play the ball — after the match he said he was — and then knocks it forward, that puts Welsh onsides — he’s in front of the Australian player.
To me, it looked like the ball bounced off Phipps and went to the side of Welsh, who turned and fell on the ball from the Australian side of the play. But after Phipps touches the ball, it’s in open play and Welsh can play a loose ball from any direction.
Robbed at the death, I say.
Indulge me now while I relive it:
Time 8:29 Try by Adam Ashley-Cooper. Score 5-0 Australia
12:51 Penalty kick by Greig Laidlaw 5-3 Australia
18:00 Try by Peter Horne, conversion by Laidlaw. 10-5 Scotland
20:12 Penalty kick by Laidlaw. 13-5 Scotland
29:36 Try by Drew Mitchell. 13-10 Scotland
32:21 Penalty kick by Laidlaw 16-10 Scotland
38:36 Try by Michael Hooper. 16-15 Scotland
HALF
42:00 Sean Maitland is called for intentionally knocking the ball forward. Scotland playing with 14 men for 10 minutes.
43:00 Try by Mitchell, conversion by Bernard Foley. 22-16 Australia
47:00 Penalty kick by Laidlaw. 22-19 Australia
53:12 Penalty kick by Foley. 25-19 Australia
58:12 Try by Tommy Seymour. 25-24 Australia
64:16 Try by Tevita Kuridrani, conversion by Foley. 32-24 Australia
67:48 Penalty kick by Laidlaw. 32-27 Australia
73:21 Try by Mark Bennett, conversion by Laidlaw. 34-32 Scotland
78:10 Penalty kick by Foley. 35-34 Australia wins.
Besides the bad call at the end of the game that gave the win to Australia, I think that all yellow cards given for an intentional knock on are too harsh. Even if the player knocks the ball forward intentionally, I think it should be a penalty kick only. For one thing, that would take refs off the hook in deciding whether the play was an intentional foul. And yellow cards should be reserved for dangerous play, not mishandling.
You have to love tries that pop up out of nowhere, usually the result of an alert player taking advantage of the other teams’ mistakes or capitalizing on their own good play. That was the case for two Scotland tries. Finn Russel gathered in an Australian kick he blocked and then tossed the ball up to Tommy Seymour who was in good support and went in for the try.
Mark Bennett scored his try by stepping in front of an Australian back, intercepting the intended pass to that back and dashing in for a score under the post.
Worth the price of admission, robbery and all.
Your faithful reporter missed the post-game media conferences after the U.S. loss to Japan. The game ended at 21:35 (as they say over here), and the last train to Oxford and the apartment left at 21:59. So there wasn’t really any choice about it unless Kathy and I wanted to sleep in the Gloucester streets overnight.
She didn’t.
We rushed to the train station.
So the quotes here of what was said at the media conference come from the Rugby World Cup media site.
You will see that USA Head Coach Mike Tolkin is optimistic to the end, which may not sit well with some readers. I have said in earlier posts that I was skeptical about such optimism and whether it was justified given that the Eagles did not win a game or earn a bonus point in the Rugby World Cup standings. U.S. rugby fans keep being told to look ahead four years to the next World Cup, and judging from Facebook comments on earlier posts quoting Tolkin, that is no longer satisfactory.
I report here the quotes from the Rugby World Cup. That doesn’t mean I agree with them, as seems to have been the impression of an earlier post.
On where the match was lost:
“It was pretty clear we made some simple errors,” Tolkin said, “and whenever we scored we allowed Japan straight back into the game. We had momentum and then let it slip at critical times which was disappointing today.”
On the development of tier-two nations:
“I think it’s certainly a big stepping stone; the margins of victory have been far lower than previous tournaments. There haven’t been the massive blowouts in certain games and every game has been tough, so I think it will be interesting to see what happens in 2019 with tier-two teams.”
On his team’s World Cup performance:
“I think it has been the best we’ve ever performed. We have been consistent in every game and showed moments of brilliance and periods of good play, unfortunately our game management and other areas let us down.”
I thought Chris Wyles, the team captain against Japan, had a more realistic and pragmatic outlook. Here are his quotes from the Rugby World Cup media site:
On the team’s performance against Japan and the tournament overall:
“It came down to consistency, which is the story of our World Cup. Playing some good rugby, but not for the full 80. Credit to Japan, it shows what you can do if you have four years to prepare.
“We were in it against Samoa, good first half against Scotland, and showed some glimpses tonight against Japan. Disclpline throughout has been an issue for us, pushing the boundaries when we need to stay composed.
“No excuses, but it’s difficult with some of our guys playing domestic rugby in the States, and we need to find a way to get everyone on to a level playing field.”
On the ability of USA to compete at a higher level in future:
“There is a lot of talk about our potential, and it is up to us to find the formula to make that happen. We haven’t come away with a win, and we had one win at the last World Cup. So we have to find that formula.”
On being involved in the first try against Japan, and scoring a try himself:
“Any time you play in a World Cup it’s an amazing experience – until you’ve played in one you won’t understand it. But you want to win, not just take to the pitch and lose games against the top teams. So we’ve got four years in front of us to prepare for the next one.”
So now it is on to the quarter finals with Australia and Wales from Pool A meeting South Africa and Scotland from Pool B; New Zealand and Argentina from Pool C meeting Ireland and France from Pool D. Should be some good games in there. We will be at six of them.
Before we start the roll call of all that the United States did wrong in losing to Japan, let’s acknowledge that Japan did many things right.
In beating the U.S. Eagles 28-18 Sunday night in the Rugby World Cup, the Brave Blossoms had the ball out quickly in all phases of the game. Their defense covered the field and mostly contained the U.S. backs. Their set play was superior to the Eagles’ and they took advantage when the U.S. did something wrong.
And the wrongs they did too often put a stop to something they were doing right. The U.S. played ferociously at times, kept possession for loose ruck after loose ruck only to turn it over because of knock-ons or penalties. There was hard tackling by the Eagles, but also some missed ones that set up tries for Japan.
Three minutes after the U.S. opened the scoring with a penalty kick by Alan MacGinty, the Japanese center, Craig Wing, ran through the U.S. defense. He kicked ahead and the Japanese had quick ball out of the resulting loose to overlap the U.S. backs and give Kotaro Matsushima a clear run in for the try. The conversion put the U.S. down 7-3 not seven minutes into the game.
The next 10 minutes saw Japan in possession of the ball steadily, but the Eagles had chances negated by mistakes:
At 18 minutes, the Eagles set up a rolling maul, had it out and a cross kick to the wing looked like it could succeed, but the play was called back to a penalty by the U.S.
At 19 minutes, the U.S. kicked to touch at the five-yard mark on a penalty but the lineout throw was not straight and Japan chose a scrum and kicked to get out of trouble.
At 24 minutes, the U.S. had another lineout and got it right this time, winning the ball and then keeping it through several loose phases until they were in front of the Japanese goal. The ball went out to the backs and a long skip pass put Takudzwa Ngwenya away for the try. U.S. leads 8-7
Any momentum there might have been from the try was quickly extinguished as the U.S. forwards couldn’t handle the return kick, a Japanese player kicked through and the Japanese set up a rolling maul that eventually puts Yoshikazu Fujita (a winger in a rolling maul!) in for another try. The conversion by Ayumu Goromaru was good, and the States team is down 14-8.
At 33 minutes, the Eagles are caught offsides and the penalty kick by Goromaru has the United States down 17-8.
At 37 minutes, the Eagles stole a loose ball from Japan and a high kick was well covered with Zach Test tackling a Japan back in goal. The U.S. won the scrum at the five, but the Eagles couldn’t get the ball out of a maul and the ref awarded a scrum to Japan. The U.S. forwards were called for illegal scrummaging and Japan kicked to touch to end the half, leading 17-8.
At 44 minutes, U.S. penalty gave Japan three more points. They lead 20-8.
Ten minutes later Japan was called for not releasing and MacGinty added another three. Japan leads 20-11.
At 61 minutes, U.S. prop Eric Fry was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes for deliberately kicking the ball out of the loose. Japan kicked to touch, won the lineout and Amanaki Mafi dived over for the try. They lead 25-11.
The United States scored one more try on a long pass by MacGinty directly out to fullback Chris Wyles, who was alone on the wing and went in for the score. MacGinty converted and the U.S. were within seven points, 25-18, just a converted try away from a tie. And if nothing else, coming within seven points in a loss would have given the U.S. one point in the standings, erasing the awful zero that is there now.
But at 77 minutes, the Eagles commit one more mistake, not letting the ball out in the loose, and Japan scored three more on the penalty kick, winning 28-18, leaving the U.S. with no wins in the tournament and no points in the standings.
For Japan, a win would make their third place finish in Pool B look a bit healthier, but even with a five-point bonus win they would fall a point short of taking the runner-up spot from Scotland.
It could have been much more meaningful if on Saturday Samoa had defeated Scotland. Then a win by Japan over the United States would have put Japan through to the quarter finals. Or, the U.S. Eagles could have played spoiler to Japan and helped the Scots through. But Samoa couldn’t quite get it done, losing 36-33.
In the quarter finals, Scotland will play Australia, the winner of Pool A after defeating Wales Saturday 15-9. South Africa gets Wales in the quarter finals.
New Zealand and Argentina advance from Pool C, but won’t know their quarter final opponents until after the Franc-Ireland game on Sunday.
A win by the Eagles on Sunday would do a lot to restore some belief in the outlook by U.S. Coach Mike Tolkin that things are headed in the right direction for U.S. rugby. After the 64-0 drubbing by South Africa, fans could rightfully be skeptical of Tolkin’s optimism.
As he says in the video above, the U.S. did pretty well in the first half (as they did against Samoa and Scotland), holding a full Springbok team to 14 points from two tries that came only after they had to “work their way down the field.” Then, as he says, South Africa got going in the second half, scoring 50 points.
Tolkin sees the problem correctly — many young players in the lineup with little experience at the international or World Cup level. He saw good performance by individuals but not as a team.
For the game on Sunday, Tolkin is starting 13 players who were not in the South Africa starting 15. Only Samu Manoa at No. 8 and Zack Test, a winger, remain from the game played on Wednesday.
Tolkin said he was also frustrated with the four-day turnaround between the two matches and said he “was not alone in that.”
“I’m sure the Rugby World Cup will look at that.”
As for U.S. rugby, he says things will get better.
“Four years down the road, it will be interesting to see what happens in the game,” Tolkin said in calling for international rugby to continue investing in “tier two” nations.
As he said after the Scotland game, the U.S. side would improve with more professional experience.
“Half my guys will have to go to work on Monday,” Tolkin said, and that will not mean going back to play on professional teams in top tier nations. It will mean resuming jobs as plumbers, fitness trainers, etc.
But Tolkin says he thinks that is about to change and predicted professional rugby union competition in the Untied States “soon.”
I like the idea, but I remain skeptical.
Two South African players scored five of the team’s 10 tries, and the Springboks took complete control of the second half and buried the U.S. Eagles 64-0 in the Rugby World Cup.
Bryan Habana, a South African back, scored three tries and Francois Louw, a forward, also put in two five-point tries.
Four other Springboks collected tries with the 10th one coming from a penalty try awarded for the U.S. team collapsing the scrum. The Springbok dominated in all phases of the game, and the Eagles rarely had possession of the ball and never produced anything from it.
A last-minue spurt by the U.S. ended with Lwazi Mvovo kicking a dropped U.S. pass into open space and going 70 yards for one more horror in a house of them for the Eagles.
South Africa easily picked up the bonus point for scoring four tries and will finish as the winners in Pool B over Scotland, who play Samoa on Saturday. Even with a bonus point on Saturday for Scotland, it would fall a point short of South Africa’s total.
The Springboks will have to wait until the Australia-Wales games on Saturday to see which one finishes as Pool A runner-up and will meet the Springboks in the quarter finals.
The U.S will have one more chance to win a game in this World Cup when they meet Japan on Sunday in Gloucester
Beat South Africa today, and then Japan on Sunday. That’s the task ahead for the United States Eagles in the Rugby World Cup if they want to assure themselves a place in the 2019 tournament in Japan.
Advancing through Pool B to the quarter finals is now out of reach for the Eagles, but getting a RWC win and saving face is still possible for the U.S.
Knocking off the Springboks is a tall order although it’s been done. Japan surprised South Africa and the world by doing so in the first weekend of the tournament. But since then South Africa has shown they have moved beyond that loss, defeating Samoa and Scotland convincingly.
U.S. Coach Mike Tolkin has made several changes in his lineup. He may be resting his best players for the Japan game on Sunday, the last game before the quarter finals start the next weekend.
Tolkin said after the loss to Scotland that he still thought the U.S. could win games in the tournament. We’ll see.
Most of the pools have been sorted out for what teams will advance to the knock-out rounds. But there are still some games this weekend that will have a big impact on what comes next:
Pool B: Samoa vs. Scotland on Saturday. The Scots would love to have this win and a bonus point for scoring four tries. It’s their last game of pool play and they trail South Africa 11-10 in the standings. Whichever team goes out the winner will play the runner up in Pool A.
Pool A: Australia vs. Wales on Saturday. Right now they are tied in the standings with 13 points a piece. Going out as the pool winner would probably mean meeting Scotland in the quarter finals instead of South Africa. That would be my choice.
Pool C: New Zealand plays Tonga and Argentina plays Namibia. Barring an even bigger surprise than Japan over South Africa, the All Blacks and the Pumas will win and go out 1-2.
Pool D: Italy vs. Romania on Sunday will probably determined who takes third place in the pool and wins a guaranteed trip to the 2019 RWC. The stakes are higher for this time around in the game between France and Ireland on Sunday. They are tied with 14 points apiece, and the pool winner will likely face Argentina in the quarters, much preferable to taking on New Zealand.
USA vs. South Africa starts in an hour and 15 minutes.
It was like watching a semi bearing down on you on one of England’s one-laned, unnamed roads. Like watching a big tub of lard coming down the airplane aisle, hoping he doesn’t take the seat next to you. But in this case I knew he would, his muffin top spilled onto me as he sank into the creaking seat.
Worse yet he had an iPad to shoot photos. Maybe the worst thing ever to have a camera lens attached to it. It’s like shooting pictures with a sheet of plywood. No big deal, right? He snaps a couple shots and the blackboard comes down, right? Wrong. He’s shooting video and its like being at the drive-in, the screen held out there for all of us to see what a shakey, worthless waste of space on his memory chip it is.
Only thing that would have been worse is if he put it on a selfie stick.
Meanwhile on the field, Canada let the game slip away 17-15 as the Romanian forwards took over, pushing in two tries. The Canucks kicked away too much possession and stopped going to their backs — their strong point in the first half.
You know those big white wrapped bales of hay? Bruce and I were squeezed in between two of them for the Canada-Romania game in the Rugby World Cup.
I’d say that the two pseudo sumos on either side of us were the two largest people n the Leicester Stadium except that there had to be two like them on the other side to keep the stadium from tipping over
I’ve been more comfortable as a hooker at the bottom of a collapsed scrum.
And the guy behind me has obviously been deprived of human contact and was trying to make up for it by pressing his knee into my back. At least I hope it was his knee.
One more thing: The Romanians are the slowest team to ever walk a pitch, which is what they do to every lineout as their trainers run out with water bottles.
I’m hoping Canada annihilates them in the second half. The Canucks are ahead 8-0 at half.
Sorry, there should be no cheering in the press box. Wait. I’m not in my comfortable press seat with a table for my laptop.
I’m so spoiled.
But I’m taking sides and also hoping Mr. Blimpy can’t waddle back up to his seat.
Four Seattle Saracen rugby players will play for the United States against South Africa in Wednesday’s Rugby World Cup game in London.
Louis Stanfill and Matt Trouville, who play second row for the Saracens, will take those positions for the United States Eagles, who are looking for their first win in the international tournament. Stanfill and Trouville make their first tournament start in the game at The Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Olive Kilifi will also play in the forwards while Shalom Suniula will be in the backs.
Suniula, at stand-off, will pair with Niku Kruger at scrum half.
“Niku and Shalom are a dynamic pair who have been playing within our system all year and know it well,” said Mike Tolkin, U.S. head coach.
The South African team showed its vulnerability in the first weekend of the tournament, suffering an upset loss to Japan. Since then the Springboks have gone on to beat Samoa and Scotland, the second place team in Pool B.
The United States has lost to Samoa and Scotland and will play Japan on Sunday, Oct. 11.
The Pool B winner and runner-up will play against Australia, who eliminated England from advancing on Saturday, and Wales, who also beat England, the first host nation for the Rugby World Cup to fail to advance through preliminary play.
According to USA Rugby, qualification for the knockout rounds from Pool B is still up for grabs. The Eagles need two bonus-point victories – as well as a non-bonus-point loss for Scotland in its final matchup with Samoa – to have a shot at progressing to the quarterfinals. Bonus points are awarded to teams that score four tries in a win.
With a third-place finish in Pool B, the U.S. could earn automatic qualification to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.
(Photos from USA Rugby)