Rugby, France World Cup kicks off with what looks like a final

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Speaking of rounds, this was the tenth World Cup, 200 years after rugby was “invented” in 1823. In fact, it happened at a university in the town of Rugby, England, when, as the story goes, student William Webb Ellis suddenly ran over with the ball in his hands during a football match and threw it over the goal line.
This sport still has loyalty and discipline as its principles on the pitch, but at the “administrative” level, money is sometimes more important than football, and the romantic aspect is largely left aside. This was demonstrated in the summer before the World Cup, full of “box” games played at top speed, which undoubtedly brought satisfactory economic results, but also serious physical consequences. For example, Italy lost Tommaso Menoncello to injury, by far the most dangerous attacking midfielder since Ange Capuozzo. France will have to give up the excellent fly-half Roman Ntamack, and several other teams also paid the price.

A worthy finals challenge

On Friday night, the match between France and New Zealand, third and fourth in world rugby, began to look like an exciting final, with the hosts competing for a trophy they have never won and the All Blacks suddenly able to answer a series of questions. Despite their recent triumph in the southern hemisphere “championship”, questions about them remain. The fact that these giants of world rugby are in the same group as Italy, and only two teams from each of the four groups will continue, explains all the difficulties facing the Azzurri. This young team has shown improvement (although it has only lost one game in the 2023 Six Nations) and must convincingly beat Namibia tomorrow afternoon and Uruguay in 12 days. Then it’s a matter of giving it your all against New Zealand – the seventh time in ten times that New Zealand has been in our group… – and against the hosts. 99% is not enough to win, but it is of great significance for the Men’s World Cup under the yet-to-be-determined coach Kieran Crowley (Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada will take his place).

Eight meetings over the weekend

We start with a very rich weekend, with eight matches. Only Uruguay, Tonga, Portugal and Chile remain unchanged and are not the favorites. History tells us that only one of rugby’s traditional powers has never reached the semi-finals of the World Cup: we are talking about Ireland, which this year, after winning the Six Nations, began to rise to the top of the rankings. The Green Army has been drawn in the most difficult group (South Africa are the defending champions and heavyweights in terms of physicality and strength, while Scotland is the emerging power of the moment), but they can go to the end. In the southern hemisphere, Argentina and especially Australia are a step behind, while among the great countries of the Old Continent, England and Wales – hopefully with good results – should now turn around compared to recent years.
New Zealand, South Africa and (twice) Australia have won the four World Cups of the last millennium. The only success for a European side, England, dates back 20 years, with New Zealand and South Africa each taking home a few trophies since. It would certainly not be surprising for one of the two to win again. However, as the headline in Rugby World, the world’s most widely circulated “oval” magazine, put it, “For the Northern Hemisphere, if not now, when?”.
site*
Group A: France, Italy, Namibia, New Zealand, Uruguay
Group B: Ireland, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga
Group C: Australia, Fiji, Wales, Georgia, Portugal
Group D: Argentina, Chile, Japan, England, Samoa
*The top two advance to the quarter-finals
Weekend Games
September 8: France-New Zealand (Paris, 9:15 p.m.)
September 9: Italy-Namibia (Saint-Etienne, 1pm); Ireland-Romania (Bordeaux, 3.30pm); Australia-Georgia (Paris, 18:00); England-Argentina (Marseille, 9pm)
September 10: Japan-Chile (Toulouse, 1pm); South Africa-Scotland (Marseille, 5.45pm); Wales-Fiji (Bordeaux, 9pm)
Other Italian competitions
September 20: Italy-Uruguay (Nice, 5:45 p.m.)
September 29: Italy-New Zealand (Lyon, 9 p.m.)
October 6: France-Italy (Lyon, 9 p.m.)
33 Azzurri
Props: Pietro Ceccarelli (Perpignan); Simone Ferrari, Ivan Nemer and Federico Zani (Benetton Treviso); Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma); Marco Riccioni (Saracens)
Prostitutes: Luca Bigi (Zebre); Eparahame Fewa (free agent); Giacomo Nicotera (Benetton)
Second row: Niccolò Cannone and Federico Ruzza (Benetton); Dino Lamb (Harlequins); David Ceci (Zebras)
Third line: Lorenzo Cannone, Toha Halafihi, Michele Lamaro, Sebastian Negri, Giovanni Pettinelli and Manuel Zuliani (Benetton)
Scrum halves: Alessandro Fusco (Zebre); Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton); Martin Page-Lello (Benetton); Stephen Varney (Gloucester)
First half: Tommaso Allan (Perpignan); Giacomo Da Rei (Benetton); Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier)
Center forward: Juan Ignacio Braxton (Benetton); Luca Morrissi (free agent)
Defenders/wingers: Pierre Bruno (Zebre); Angie Capouzo (Stadium de Toulouse); Montanna Ioane (Olympique Lyonnais); Paulo Odogwu (Benetton); Lorenzo Pani (Zebras)
Italy vs Namibia
Allen; Capouzzo, Blakes, Morrissey, Ioane; P. Garbisi, Vanni; L. Cannone, Lamaro (captain), Negri; Ruza, Lamb; Ferrari, Nicotera, Fischetti. Available: Fewa, Nemer, Riccioni, Ceci, Zuliani, Peggy-Reiro, Odogwu, Bruno
Rugby World Cup Hall of Fame
1987: New Zealand; 1991: Australia; 1995: South Africa. 1999: Australia. 2003: England; 2007: South Africa; 2011: New Zealand; 2015: New Zealand; 2019: South Africa
International ranking
1. Ireland; 2. South Africa; 3. France; 4. New Zealand; 5. Scotland; 6. Argentina; 7. Fiji; 8. England; 9. Australia; 10. Wales; 11. Georgia; 12. Samoa; 13. Italy; 14. Japan; 15. Tonga; 16. Portugal; 17. Uruguay; 18. Use; 19. Romania; 20. Spain; 21. Namibia; 22. Chile; 23. Canada; 24. Hong Kong (85 other countries follow)