Rugby World Cup 2015: The Offload — Sam Burgess, Michael Cheika and the art of tournament play

WHY England’s Sam Burgess obsession leads only to confusion just as Michael Cheika’s clear vision pays dividends. Get all your must read RWC news here ...

Notes from a small Island

EXACTLY what tournament-play means has been rammed home at the Rugby World Cup because getting selections right, dealing with the inevitable injuries, the value of a clear team identity and riding momentum have all multiplied in importance, writes Jim Tucker.

No team is immune from the turbulence.

Take key selections for starters. The South Africans messed up royally by playing pint-sized five-eighth Pat Lambie against the Japanese because his natural instincts are to shift the ball.

He never challenged the line or brought his big forwards into battering ram mode nearly enough. He was part of the greatest backfire in World Cup history.

Equally, England’s obsessive desire to play Sam Burgess at inside centre has dictated their entire mode of back play and restricted it by doing so. Sure he can dish an offload in contact.

But, England have two of the tournament’s most potent wingers in Jonny May and Anthony Watson yet you’d hardly know it with the limited chances that are created for them.

England coach Stuart Lancaster has one of the biggest calls of his career to make which is whether to dump Burgess to the bench and go back to something resembling a true backline.

Former Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer led the Wallabies to 1991 World Cup triumph and had to make one of the hardest selection calls of his career along the way.

Ginger flanker Jeff Miller starred against Ireland in the thrilling quarter-final escape in Dublin yet Dwyer went for more size and pulled a shock by playing Troy Coker in a remodelled backrow at No. 8 in the semi-final and final.

Gutsy, controversial but the World Cup was won.

How important Michael Cheika’s “team identity” mantra was in the run to the World Cup is paying off. There is no English-style confusion about playing style with the Wallabies.

They’ll have a crack, they’ll use the full width of the field and they’ll get No. 1 weapon Israel Folau involved — three runs in the first three minutes against Fiji. They’ll contest ferociously at the breakdown with David Pocock, Scott Fardy and co and they’ll tackle and scramble to the 84th minute if need be.

The All Blacks? They’ve known their identity for a century.

Losing skipper Jean de Villiers (broken jaw) has stripped South Africa of their super-settler in midfield. How they bounce back in bigger games will be intriguing.

The Welsh got huge value from fullback Liam Williams in the upset of England when he stepped into the boots of the injured Leigh Halfpenny so replacements can soar.

Losing Wycliff Palu and Will Skelton to injury is not a disaster for the Wallabies if there are players who grab the opportunity to shine instead. Read Ben McCalman, Dean Mumm and maybe Sean McMahon.

Momentum. It’s so important. The English looked like they’d just been lost in a storm in the Bermuda Triangle at full-time against Wales.

They hit a submerged rock and have life vests on right now.

Sadly, killer instinct to finish off a wounded opponent isn’t always a strong suit of Wallabies sides. They have to find it early Sunday morning (Australian time).

The Wallabies can sail into the quarter-finals with a weekend win over England at Twickenham and with huge momentum.

Lose and they are the team scrambling and sweating big-time heading into their final pool match against Wales.

Being a tournament and the decisions that forces under pressure is what makes the World Cup such compulsive viewing.

What you might have missed

Many spies with many lies

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It’s a mantra that has served the British tabloids for decades and, with their national rugby team on the verge of blowing their World Cup before it’s even properly started, the red tops have returned to the safe rock of over-hyped sensationalism to deflect attentions.

The Sun newspaper barked ‘For your tries only’ from its front page, apparently having unearthed a plot by the English to spy on the Wallabies’ team training, a move that left the Australian’s ‘furious’, it says here.

It’s a cracking yarn. Though, sadly, not wholly accurate. Someone from the Wallabies staff was required to clear out someone with a camera around their training session in Bath, yes. Almost two weeks ago. But covert spying and fury from our boys? Hardly …

Coach Michael Cheika explains: “I don’t know anything about it” … “We don’t even know what we’re doing so how is anyone watching us going to know what we’re doing.” … “It is what it is. If that’s what it is, that’s what it is. I’m not worried about it.”

Spanish lessons

If Springboks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was as proficient at clutching Japanese rovers as he is at clutching straws maybe South Africa might not have got themselves in to this sorry mess in the first place.

Looking around for positives following their seismic defeat to Japan (that was only partially made up for with a solid win over Samoa) Du Plessis cast his view well beyond the confines of world rugby and came up with a very tenuous reason to be cheerful.

A team can falter on opening night and still go on to be champions, he said, because it’s been done. Spain’s footballers lost 1-0 to Switzerland in their first game at the 2010 World Cup, you see, a tournament the Spanish then went on to win.

That’s a Spanish team who were at that time one of the greatest ever to play their sport; who dominated the game against a rival only a couple of steps down the standings with a long history of playing the game; who defended for their life and then pulled off a smash and grab against the odds win. Sound familiar? No, no it doesn’t, but still …

“We can see it’s been done and we want to hang on to that hope and give hope for our nation,” said Du Plessis, trying to convince himself as much as anyone else. And failing.

Twitter, do what you do

*To explain the genesis of Jones’ tweet, you need to know your 1980s European football, a bit, when Norway beat the English and the local commentary got a little carried away and pulled out this sensational piece of England bashing:

What you might have missed

The city that never sleeps

Wales’ victory over the English was, obviously, bad news for the hosts in a sporting context. Very bad. But it may have been a real boon for, erm, Georgia. Why? Because the locals in Cardiff so enjoyed sticking one over their neighbours that the party to celebrate ran well in to the night.

There was precious little sleep to be had in the Welsh capital, temporary residents of which included the All Blacks squad, preparing for their next pool match against the European minnows (Georgia, not England, to be clear).

With Richie McCaw’s much needed beauty sleep thus interrupted, do the Georgians have a chance of catching them napping and pulling off an even bigger shock than the Japanese last week? Unlikely, but we can all still hope.

“I don’t think some of the guys got a lot of sleep,” admitted second row Sam Whitelock, getting his excuses in early.

Video of the day

Romanian scrum-half Florin Surugiu turned a crushing defeat into a personal victory by proposing to his girlfriend on the famous Wembley turf.

The 30-year-old played the final 12 minutes of the 44-10 World Cup Pool D defeat by Six Nations champions Ireland and then stayed on the pitch to propose.

Fortunately, she said “yes.”

What you might have missed

England’s stock plummets

If/when the Wallabies do a number on England this weekend and turf the hosts out of their own party early, the brokers and hedge fund managers who populate the corporate boxes at ‘Twickers’ won’t just be crying in to their warm over-priced beers at the home of English rugby: it will make their working week that bit more unpalatable, too.

According to a report in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, defeat — which would in all likelihood make England the first host nation to fail to get out of the pool stage — will knock a whole chunk of value off the stock market over there, to the tune of “hundreds of millions of pounds, if not billions…”

“Research by Professor Alex Edmans, of the Business School, found defeat in major sporting tournaments can have a direct impact on the markets the following day with depressed traders not performing at their best.

“Although football had a far greater impact, the study found that losses in major rugby tournaments could see markets drop by 0.15 per cent in that nation the next day.”

Picture of the day

What you might have missed

Just when you thought it was safe ...

Japan’s victory over South Africa will live long in the memory, but the morning after is also one Akihito Yamada will never forget. The day after Japan’s greatest rugby victory, the Brave Blossoms winger was stung by a weever fish during a recovery session in the sea off Brighton, forcing him to miss the second game against Scotland.

Yamada suffered the sting on the fourth toe of his left foot, which swelled to a point where he could not wear a shoe for several days.

“It hurt like crazy,” Yamada said. “At first, I thought I sliced my foot on a rock but the pain kept getting worse and worse and the locals told me it was a weever fish. I can’t believe I’m the only one who was stung when we were all in the wide open water.

“I’m never going in the ocean again.”

Yamada expects to make a full recovery in time for Japan’s next Pool B game against Samoa in Milton Keynes on 3 October.

Nothing lost in translation

And speaking of the Japanese, their defeat to Scotland may have brought them back down to earth a touch. But they’ll always have Brighton.

And we’ll forever have the opportunity to listen to the culmination of the match with Japanese commentary to bring a smile to our cynical faces when times get tough.

You may or may not be able to understand what is actually being said. But even if your Japanese begins and ends with ‘Arigato’ and ‘Sushi’, you can still fell the man’s unbridled incredulous wonder and passion.

In numbers

89,019

The number of fans who were their to watch Ireland’s win over Romania at Wembley, a record attendance for a Rugby World Cup match.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: The Offload — Sam Burgess, Michael Cheika and the art of tournament play