2023 RWC Buildup, Squads, Fixtures 'etc'

On the bulletins on the radio at 7:30 there was mention of harsh refereeing against the Fijians in last nights game on a channel that wouldn't really cover sports in any detail.

I don't think there was bias and I don't for a second think there was corruption, but certainly the optics of the refereeing performance are not good at all and I can understand why there is a lot of grievance about it. I can understand the Fijian yellow and why that differed from some of the other infringements, but I definitely think Wales were given too many second and third chances when they were under pressure.

World rugby need to get strict about down time during the games also. It appears to me after the weekend that teams are gaming injuries to add in additional water breaks and breathers when under pressure. I know we all comment about this in games and whether it's more a meme or has truth to it - what is going on this World Cup is excessive to a very obvious degree.

Muntz was a huge loss. Decision making, play making and whilst young he's an on-field leader - all attributes that would have made a difference and him being such a late withdrawal hurt Fiji and robbed them of their cohesion early on. Credit to them for almost getting back into it - and for me the better team in almost all facets of play bar the breakdown and lineout. Wales really frustrated them at the breakdown and made it hard for Fiji to win those 5m pick and go battles for a score. Wales that little bit more street smart which was the major factor in the cards also - there was a subtlety to Wales infringements whereas Fiji was a straight yellow all day.

Not being able to break down a 14 man England (with a poor defensive record over their last 10 games) suggests something fairly amiss. Neither Japan nor Samoa should pose threats but if Argentina play like they did yesterday both would fancy a crack at them. Argentina really were very poor, they weren't quite contenders before but after round one they look like they'll have enough to make the quarters but that's about it. Wales and Australia would both beat them.

For me NZ were the biggest flops, they're a better team than that and should be contenders. They look bent out of shape and indecisive, not to the extent England do - but an uncharacteristic lack of fluency has crept into their game the last while now. Definitely the team I'd rather face in the quarter final and I wasn't convinced of that at all before the match.

Scotland another disappointment. Were on top of South Africa for stretches of that game and playing good attacking rugby, but they had no composure inside the South African 22 and ultimately couldn't maintain possession through enough phases to break them down. There was a lot of debate around Russell before the game with some saying he was World no.1, others saying he is gifted but inconsistent and some that don't rate him at all. I'm in the gifted but inconsistent camp and yesterdays game is the match I'll point to in future when I want to emphasise that point. Had some lovely touches but wasted plenty of territory and opportunities overplaying. Scotland came out second best in terms of possession and territory stats and whilst South Africa had the upper hand at the breakdown - Scotland showed they could build fast ball and phases, they just couldn't do it consistently. Russell is incredibly impatient in possession and wants gaps to appear quickly, if they don't he forces it more and more until Scotland scupper possession with a poor pass, or a gifts an easy defensive read resulting in lost gain line or worse a hit behind the gain line. It's the same every time Scotland plays with Russell at 10 against any team that is happy to defend beyond 5 or 6 phases of opposition possession and can stay organised.

I don't understand how people can't see this with Scotland and Russell but it's fundamental in my mind as to why there is quite a level of disagreement around Scotland as a threat and Russell as an individual player. Russell doesn't play 10 for the Scotland team he has, he plays 10 for the team he wants to have and has never come close to fully adapting to Scotland's strengths and weaknesses. And consequently - it's what makes Sexton an Ireland great, he has fully integrated himself at the core of Ireland's playing style. Even the likes of Ross Byrne benefits from being the most similar to Sexton in terms of playstyle - without necessarily being the 2nd / 3rd best out half in the country.