Reading Material
Martyn Thomas’ book ‘The World in their Hands’ has now been published, dealing in detail with the very first World Cup of 1991. Before he or another industrious investigator can offer a compendium on all nine World Cups – that last one lies in the future of course – you can enjoy Serge Piquet’s voluminous researches on http://les-archives-de-serge.over-blog.com). There he covers all the past RWCs plus much more.
As you have to wait a week from one round to the next in the coming RWC, you have ample time to digest at least some of his labours. They are fascinating.
The Black Ferns
New Zealand have brought in top 7s players, Fluhler, Woodman, Hirini and Fitzpatrick. Wayne Smith is intent on creating a free, open style of play, not least to exploit the talents of those backs. That then throws a weight of responsibility on the shoulders of the forwards (Hirini is likely to be one of them, as she was against England in 2017).
There have been injury concerns this week over Kennedy Simon, Alana Bremner and Tanya Kalounivale, all three forwards.
The Black Ferns’ trouncing of Japan (95-12) may have been just what the doctor ordered, but wise heads will counsel caution. The gap in ranking alone was enough to make that result a foregone conclusion.
It was the organisers’ express intention to fill Eden Park (current capacity 47.000) on the first day of the RWC. Ticket sales have now passed 30,000, which is encouraging.
Concern is being expressed about the venues chosen. None lies south of Auckland, much the biggest city in the country, but lying in the far north of North Island. How willing and able will fans be to undertake long journeys, not only from a place like Christchurch, halfway down South Island, but even towns spread across the north?
The reasons for that limitation were obvious in 2018, when the bid was put together. Keeping the twelve national squads relatively close together was a sensible compromise, to keep costs under control. Unlike the 2017 set-up where players were housed on university premises, this time hotels were promised.
If New Zealanders are not willing to undertake longish trips to see matches, then it puts the local populace under greater pressure to turn up in large numbers.
A recent O’Reilly Cup game against Australia in Christchurch drew just over 3,000 spectators. That’s when ground authorities find it sensible to direct them to the stand facing the main TV cameras.
In the massive arena of Eden Park the crowd for the Japan game looked sparse.
The bigger jump is to get fans turning up to watch two visiting teams. There is rarity value involved – the Black Ferns were playing Japan for the first time. But how full will the two other venues be for games involving, let’s say, USA v Italy or Fiji v South Africa? And it’s a 2-hour drive from Auckland to Whangarei.
The underlying fear is that the Black Ferns’ cachet lags too far behind the All Blacks. The disruptions that followed last autumn’s tour of Europe brought benefits that may yet have come too late to allow the Ferns to achieve what had always been the expected outcome: a World Cup win on home soil.
‘You won’t want to miss out on New Zealand potentially lifting a Rugby World Cup trophy on home soil’ runs the latest enticement to buy a ticket.
Can you trust bookmakers? They offer 1/2 on England gaining a third RWC trophy.
