By Mitch Phillips
(Reuters) – Nothing sums up the unpredictability of sport better than the final seconds of the Women’s Rugby World Cup final when huge favourites England, after a 30-game winning streak, looked set for glory against New Zealand but ended up distraught.
England, much further along the road of professionalism than all of their rivals, arrived in New Zealand surfing a wave of confidence and duly reached the expected final against the hosts.
They were cruising at 14-0 up until a high-tackle red card for Lydia Thompson after 17 minutes swung things the Black Ferns’ way but even though New Zealand led 34-31 going into the final minute, England were offered a lifeline.
They kicked a penalty to the corner and prepared for a catch and drive routine that every rival had found almost impossible to stop for the previous three years and which had already yielded four tries in the final.
However, home lock Joanah Ngan-Woo had other ideas and soared to steal the lineout and the trophy as the Black Ferns triumphed for the sixth time in seven tournaments – with the last five wins being against England.
A record 42,579 Eden Park crowd roared in delight in a boost for the women’s game but, other than one semi-final where France missed a simple last-second penalty that would have beaten the hosts, it was largely a series of highly predictable mismatches with too few teams even marginally competitive.
New Zealand’s triumph, though, was a timely fillip for the hosts after their men’s team endured a first home defeat by Argentina and a home series loss to Ireland as they slid to an unprecedentedly low fifth place in the world rankings.
To nobody’s surprise, the All Blacks came roaring back to win the Rugby Championship for the eighth time in 10 years and then cruise through their European tour, denied a clean sweep of four wins only by England’s stunning comeback to snatch a draw.
Those frantic 10 minutes were probably the high point of England’s year and when they followed up with a sorry defeat by South Africa, the Twickenham fans booed them off in a rare sign of dissension.
This was the final straw for the RFU who sacked previously teflon-coated coach Eddie Jones nine months out from the World Cup which he had set his stall by.
Days earlier Wayne Pivac also paid the price for Wales’s torrid season, a home defeat by Georgia being the final nail in his coffin as Warren Gatland returned.
Georgia were delighted with the win, having earlier beaten Italy for their first Tier One scalp, but their pleas for more meaningful competition are likely to fall on deaf ears as the big nations show little inclination to change the status quo.
WORLD CUP
Portugal at least will bring a fresh face to the World Cup, having clinched their berth for only the second time with a dramatic last-gasp penalty win against the United States.
France go into 2023 as favourites to win the World Cup on home soil after success in 2022 with a Six Nations Grand Slam and European Cup triumph for La Rochelle, while Ireland are worthy of being ranked second in the world after another superb year.
There was a sharp reminder of the perilous nature of the club scene as English Premiership sides Worcester and Wasps went into administration.
Huge squads, high wage bills, low crowds and limited TV money have proved that the model is as unsustainable as it has always appeared since the game bumbled into professionalism 27 years ago.
An even blacker cloud – concussion – continues to hover over the whole game, brought into sobering relief by the death in November of much-loved former Scotland lock Doddie Weir from Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
A new study claimed that former Scotland rugby players were 15 times more likely to suffer from MND than the general public.
The legal action by former England hooker Steve Thompson and scores of others against various governing bodies claiming a lack of care continues to rumble on in the background, with World Rugby trying to find ways to reduce concussions as well as making the sport better at recognising and treating them.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)
