First the fixtures: (BST times)
WXV1
Saturday, 5 October
United States v France (Langley Event Centre, Langley, 20:30)
Canada v Ireland (Langley Event Centre, Langley, 23:45)
Sunday, 6 October
New Zealand v England (Langley Event Centre, Langley, 21:00)
WXV2
Friday, 4 October
Wales v Italy (Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town, 15:00)
Saturday, 5 October
Japan v Scotland (Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town, 13:00)
South Africa v Australia (Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town, 16:00)
WXV3
Friday, 4 October
Madagascar v Hong Kong China (The Sevens Stadium, Dubai, 16.00)
Saturday, 5 October
Fiji v Samoa (The Sevens Stadium, Dubai, 15.00)
Netherlands v Spain (The Sevens Stadium, Dubai, 17.30)
The second round brings its own menu of excitement and doubt
WXV1 sees two winless sides meet first. If les Bleues lose to the Eagles, then we’ll know something has gone radically wrong in French systems. This is their chance to show their true standing.
By contrast Ireland will be buoyant with confidence as they take on the Maple Leafs. The odds are, they won’t manage two great wins on the trot. They’ve enjoyed a wonderful renaissance over the past few months; beating the Black Ferns was the cherry on the cake. But it was by two points, with a very late try and a conversion in-off the right-hand post in the dying seconds.
The Maple Leafs too are a squad on the march, now a proud second in the world; they must be favourites to win. The irreplaceable Sophie de Goede? They’ve managed perfectly well without her, thank you.
Can the Black Ferns at last put matters to rights? They have to stow nagging thoughts of past failures away in a small box as they take on the Red Roses again. The margin was only two scores at Twickenham.
In WXV2 Wales have similar problems; they are on a bad trot. Loud criticism comes from the valleys concerning the coaching and the inabilty of players to match their performances in the PWR when they wear red. The Italy game will be decided in the head as much as on the pitch.
The two other games look more predictable: Scotland should have too much power and skill for the Sakura, and the Wallaroos’ all-round ability should keep the big Boks’ pack under control.
One of the weaknesses of this year’s draw appears in WXV3. Two pairs of near-neighbours (allow some geographical exaggeration here) sees four sides meet who play each other back home all too often. Fiji and Spain will be the strong favourites to continue their unbeaten runs.
Madagascar have taken on Columbia’s role of last year as back-markers. Now the Makis have the chance to show a much improved perfromance against the side ranked closest to them, HKC.
Repeated Errors?
The WXV committee gave deep thought to the running of their second adventure. Yet certain shortcomings remain.
Most obviously attendances; criticism comes from all quarters. Why these minute gates for such big occasions? In the case of levels one and two, even matches involving the home team are leaving vast tracts of empty terracing in view. Is responsibility for publicity clear: the host nation or World Rugby? Either way, it’s a huge let-down.
One simple answer: a strong national club structure builds its own fan-base. That in turn brings more supporters to watch the national team; but it operates only in France and England.
Commentary
This has varied from the outstanding to the unacceptably inept.
The vastly experienced Rikki Swannell has confirmed her position as the pre-eminent female rugby commentator in operation. Her delivery is clear, her understanding of the game profound; she remains laudably impartial and does her homework to the standards of a Bill Mclaren.
At the other end of the scale we have a co-commentator who is obviously using her second language haltingly, and offers no insights beyond the glaringly obvious.
Pricing
At Langley tickets range from $25 to $49. In Cape Town the range is R 10.00 (Children) to R 35.00. For WXV3 it’s free entry.
There you have the two approaches to price-setting. First on the principle, the higher the charge, the more worthwhile the match seems to be and the bigger the gate. At the other extreme: “Roll up, roll up! All the fun of the fair for nothing!” Neither is working at present.
Why has the committee not found a solution – or does none exist?
Guess what!
WR spends a lot of time and trouble inviting predictions for matches. I have to wonder whether that is the best way to capture a worldwide audience. 8% of responses got the Ireland-NZ result correct. Were 8.1% of them Irish?
