Rugby World Cup: Fiji upset, Boks dazzle and Sexton class
Champions South Africa are in fine form and Fiji toppled Australia for the tournament’s first upset. The second round of fixtures at the Rugby World Cup had a little bit of everything. Here are four takeaways.
Flying Fijians
We’ve been hoping for an upset since the first match of this World Cup and yesterday it came. Fiji’s 22-15 victory over Australia was the island nation’s first against the Wallabies since 1954.
And in Saint-Étienne we saw a new side to Fiji, one where they took points on offer and built a score while capitalising on Australian mistakes.
It leaves Pool C finely poised with Wales leading the way, but the result will be one that goes down in Fijian folklore.
It’s good for the game, too, amid worries some walkover matches were turning off visitors.
Fiji are the second favourite team for many and their growth into an 80-minute team is one which will increase their support. They may yet face England in the last eight.
Bok bliss
The defending champions are without star hooker Malcolm Marx – out of the World Cup with an injury – and yesterday picked four scrum-halves in their matchday 23, without the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Vincent Koch. The result? A 76-0 thrashing of Romania, who reached the tournament after Spain were kicked out of qualification.
It was a ruthless showing from the Springboks, and one which adds a healthy points difference bonus to their Pool B standings – where they’re likely to be fighting Ireland for top spot.
Only New Zealand have been named back-to-back champions – in 2011 and 2015 – and the Boks will want the same honour, as well as being the first team to win four World Cups.
And on yesterday’s showing, they’re right in the mix.
Tier two talent
In their 27-12 defeat to France on Thursday, Uruguay put in a performance any side would be proud of given their pre-match billing. And combined with resilient showings from Chile and Portugal on Saturday, there’s a feeling that so-called tier two nations are closing the gap to some of the best.
But then you look at New Zealand’s 71-3 win over Namibia on Friday and South Africa’s 76-0 victory over Romania yesterday and realise that there’s an awfully long way to go.
Tier two sides need regular contact with the bigger teams, allowing them to slowly build towards success – Georgia have shown that over the last couple of years.
So why, then, does World Rugby want to ringfence the top 12 teams into a new competition from 2026 where access to external teams will be restricted?
Sport will only grow when 76-0 drubbings are a thing of the past, but in Uruguay there’s hope for others that the dark days of being on the end of a metaphorical spanking could come to an end.
Sexton class
He’s counting down the days until retirement but it is still possible for Johnny Sexton to hang up his boots with a World Cup winners medal around his neck.
And in Ireland’s 59-16 win over Tonga – in which Sexton scored 16 points – the Irish fly-half overtook Ronan O’Gara as his country’s leading Test point scorer. His 1,090 points have come in 115 caps at an average of 9.48 per game, and he has scored 18 tries, 176 conversions, 212 penalties and four drop goals.
He may not retire with a World Cup final appearance – it’s something Ireland have never got close to contesting before – but Sexton will forever be one of the greats of Irish rugby. And his class on Saturday demonstrated that.