The All Blacks face a gruelling road to the final. Photo / Photosport
The challenge of winning a Rugby World Cup will be even tougher for the game’s top-ranked teams at this tournament given the draw.
The top five teams in the world - Ireland, South Africa, France, New Zealand and Scotland - have all been drawn in either pool A or pool B, making it more difficult for those countries to reach the finals.
“It’s patently ridiculous,” says Rugby Direct podcast host and All Blacks commentator for Newstalk ZB Elliott Smith.
“This was drawn in December of 2020. I think we might have been in lockdown at that point. I don’t know whether World Rugby just wanted to give the media some content to talk about, but it’s absolutely ridiculous to have the World Cup draw done three years out from the pinnacle tournament.”
The draw was done at a time when the world rankings looked quite different from what they do today. This means the other side of the pool is relatively weak, with an out-of-form England and Australia likely to compete with Argentina for the other final spot, Elliot tells The Front Page podcast.
“You should have to face some really tough games on the way to winning a World Cup. I don’t think another disagrees with that,” says Smith.
“But you should also get some reward for your world ranking at a certain point in time closer to the tournament. [That] would let you spread out the talent evenly.”
Smith says this doesn’t paint World Rugby in a positive light.
“There have been noises from World Rugby and their CEO Alan Gilpin that they’re going to change this for future draws. Look, you’ve got to pick an arbitrary cut-off date, but three years out from the tournament didn’t serve anyone well.”
Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear Smith break down the All Blacks chances and how the World Cup could play out.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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