Tag Archives: 2019 Rugby World Cup

Rory Best has spoken of his frustration at how comments he made in the media about Joe Schmidt have been negatively portrayed.  After blazing a trail through the competition in 2018, Ireland stagnated in 2019 with their poor form culminating in a dismal showing at the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Following that and his subsequent retirement from Irish rugby, …

For Rory Best, Ireland’s premature exit from the 2019 Rugby World Cup was not the way he would have wanted to sign off on his decorated career.  With the rest of the squad, there is an opportunity to right some wrongs by getting back on track at provincial level in the white heat of European Cup rugby and, of course, …

“You need to get rid of them quick,” is the almost instantaneous response from Ireland and Munster legend John Hayes when asked about how to deal with doubts as a player.  ‘The Bull’ knows more than most just how quickly confidence can drain from a squad ahead of a big tournament. Back in 2007, Ireland failed to get out of …

Warren Gatland believes that Ireland’s ego was one of the contributing factors to their downfall in 2019 which ultimately culminated in another quarter-final exit at the World Cup.  The former Wales head coach was speaking to Off The Ball during the promotion of his new autobiography, ‘Pride and Passion’. On Ireland’s disappointing World Cup, Gatland first offered the opinion that …

For Johnny Sexton, getting back out on the pitch can’t come quickly enough as he and the rest of his international teammates look to get their disappointing World Cup campaign out of their system.  The onset of the first round of Interpros this weekend, in addition to the beginning of the Heineken Champions Cup a week later will prove to …

According to reports this evening, Munster are set to sign two World Cup-winning Springboks ahead of the 2020/21 season.  The Irish Times report that Munster have secured the signature of powerful centre Damian de Allende. The 27-year-old scored a crucial try in the Boks’ semi-final victory over Wales before putting in a solid defensive shift against England in the final. …

South Africa are Rugby World Cup champions for 2019 after bullying England into submission in Yokohama. The Springboks came into the game as underdogs following England’s dismantling of the All Blacks last Saturday. Indeed, it was the All Blacks who inflicted a ten-point defeat on South Africa in Yokohama in their opening match of the campaign back in late September. …

In less than two years, Rassie Erasmus transformed the Springboks from a team in turmoil who were ranked sixth in the world to world champions.  Erasmus took over from Allister Coetzee at the beginning of 2018 in a dual role as both head coach and Director of Rugby. It is expected that he will continue as Director of Rugby after …

England 12 South Africa 32 South Africa are world champions for the first time since 2007 after they produced a performance based on a dominant setpiece to completely bully Eddie Jones’ England over the 80 minutes. England were under pressure from the off when Courtney Lawes gave away a simple penalty for not rolling away at the ruck. Luckily for …

With the 2019 Rugby World Cup set to reach the finishing line this weekend, the game’s governing body have announced the nominees for the World Rugby Team & Coach Of The Year accolades.  The Breakthrough Player Of The Year nominees were announced earlier this week and World Rugby have now revealed who is in contention for the overall team and …

England and South Africa have named their teams for Saturday’s 2019 Rugby World Cup final at the Yokohama Stadium.  Eddie Jones has named an unchanged starting XV from the side which brilliantly dispatched the All Blacks in the semi-final. This means that Jones will continue with the 10-12 partnership of George Ford and Owen Farrell. There is a change on …

Wales 16 South Africa 19 South Africa are through to the World Cup final for the first time since 2007 after they clinched a 19-16 win over Wales at the Yokohama Stadium. This match won’t live long in the memory as both sides deployed a tactic of kicking the leather off the ball at every opportunity. At halftime, the Springboks …

Owen Farrell and his teammates have explained why England lined up against the haka in a V shape immediately before kick-off in today’s World Cup semi-final.  As Ireland learned last week, taking a step forward against the haka doesn’t always result in an inspired performance but England decided to take a different approach for their clash with the reigning champions. …

The All Blacks’ dream to win a third successive Rugby World Cup came to a shuddering halt on Saturday as England produced a performance for the ages to completely dominate their opponents and emerge with a 19-7 victory.  The scoreline doesn’t do England justice as they should have won by much more and they will now look forward to a …

England 19 All Blacks 7 England have reached their first World Cup final since 2007 after producing a performance for the ages to beat the reigning champions 19-7 at the Yokohama Stadium. England were completely deserving of their victory and in truth, it should have been by a greater margin as they absolutely bested their southern hemisphere opponents in every …

France lock Sebastien Vahaamahina has received a ban as a result of the red card he picked up for elbowing Aaron Wainwright in the face.  Vahaamahina committed the offence during the second half of Wales’ narrow one-point win over France in the World Cup quarter-final at the weekend. The 28-year-old announced his retirement from international rugby the day after the …

England have named their team for Saturday’s crunch World Cup semi-final with the All Blacks at the Yokohama Stadium.  This weekend’s encounter looks set to be a memorable one and head coach Eddie Jones has made one big change to the side which eased past Australia last time out. George Ford returns to the starting XV at out-half which means …

The All Blacks have made one change to their starting XV from the team who beat Ireland 46-14 for their World Cup semi-final with England at the Yokohama Stadium on Saturday.  Steve Hansen has brought in Scott Barrett for Sam Cane. Barrett will start the game at blindside flanker which means that Ardie Savea moves to openside. On the bench, …