Rugby World Cup 2023 Review: What Happened?
The Highs & Lows of Rugby World Cup 2023
The centrepiece of the men’s rugby calendar has been and gone. France played their role as gracious hosts and welcomed nations from around the world to their cities for what is World Rugby’s jewel in the crown. The Rugby World Cup was a spectacle for many reasons, heart breaking defeats, contentious decision making and tales of underdogs springing surprises to the powerhouses in the sport.
Nations from all corners of the planet were represented giving the competition a truly global feel. No other tournament pits Chile against Japan or Uruguay versus Namibia. The lowest ranked teams mixing with the crème-de-la-crème of the sport is a trademark of World Cup competitions. We’re looking back at some of the highlights, and lowlights, of the Rugby World Cup 2023.
Rugby World Cup 2023 Atmosphere
I was lucky enough to be in France for the opening fixture, sandwiched into the fan park in Bordeaux for the clash between the hosts, France, and the All Blacks. The interest in rugby in France is at an all-time high and represented in no better way than enduring the hour-long queue to get a very expensive beer. Sadly, it was from the queue I had to spectate the large screen and meant I missed the national anthems and the Haka. However, the sound of the French national anthem ringing around Bordeaux was powerful and passionate, it more than made up for not being able to see.
In the stadiums themselves, there were some early teething problems with similar beer supply issues and delays in getting into the stadiums. A proud moment for Scottish and Irish fans in breaking the record in Paris for most pints of beer sold at a single event shows the jovial & hydrated nature of the crowds. Each fixture had a healthy mix of fans from the nations playing as well as interested French locals. There were live brass bands at most games filling some of breaks in play and a rousing rendition or two of Le Marseillaise giving each fixture a great atmosphere. France should be proud of the show they put on.
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The Underdogs – The Good
The beauty of a World Cup is often in the surprises that emerge along the way. People will always remember Japan beating South Africa in 2015 and way back in 1991 Wales were bested by the unknown entity of Western Samoa. 2023 was another tournament where surprises were on show. Fiji were outstanding in this tournament and pulled off a great victory against Australia in the group stages, to then also be beaten themselves by everyone’s new second favourite nation, Portugal.
The emergence of teams like Portugal and Chile has been a real positive of the tournament. They played with a freedom that many of the leading nations would dream of being able to. Attacking at every opportunity and putting their bodies on the line to defend every inch. Then there are outstanding individual performances, such as Manuel Ardao of Uruguay who was making turnovers for fun, breaking a men’s World Cup record along the way with 7 in one match against Italy.
The Underdogs – The Bad
A consequence of having the lower ranked teams in the World Cup is one that causes arguments amongst rugby fans. Some see the benefits of exposing the smaller rugby nations to the elite players in the sport. Whereas others feel that they offer little more than a training session for ‘tier 1’ teams. Often running up high scores and probably not learning much from the fixture.
South Africa pulled off four tries and a bonus point against Romania in just 12 minutes, the result completely decided before many in the stadium had even taken their seats. The Spingboks went on to score a further 7 tries in that match and didn’t concede a point to the battling Romanians. The Romanian side weren’t the only ones to be on the wrong end of a thrashing. Namibia, Tonga, Chile, Italy & Uruguay all had 50+ points scored against them in the group stages exposing the gulf between some sides in the tournament making the fixtures nothing more than a formality. This has led to calls for the format to be revisited to try and make more fixtures worthwhile. Meanwhile, World Rugby has announced that there will be more teams at the next World Cup, will this be good or bad?
The Ugly
For me, there has been a truly ugly and negative side of rugby shown in this tournament. Not the referees. For me, they did an amazing job under high pressure. Everyone makes mistakes, so it is not the referees that are ‘the ugly’. In no sport should there ever be a situation where a result of a game or acts on the field result in death threats via social media. Now, I am not saying you cannot have opinions and you don’t need to agree with everything that happens in a game. However, some of the reactions from so-called fans of the game have been abhorrent.
Cobus Reinach of South Africa, who himself had an amazing tournament, played a leading role in guiding South Africa past France in a very tense and closely fought Quarter Final which will go down as one of the best World Cups matches ever. To be overshadowed by him receiving death threats after that match, and what is worse was also aimed at his young family. Sadly, Wayne Barnes, the now retired referee, who has been at the top of the profession for many years and controlled an equally tense final has been bombarded with death threats too. There is no room for this behaviour in our sport.
How many people watch the Rugby World Cup 2023?
This World Cup put on an amazing show for Rugby, putting it in the shop window for casual fans to become a bit more engrossed by this sport we love. 2.4 million people flocked to French stadiums making it the best attended Rugby World Cup ever. There was a global broadcast audience of 800 million viewers to take in the 325 tries scored across the 48 games.
Records were broken by individuals in this tournament too, Sam Whitelock now has the most appearances at a men’s Rugby World Cup with 25 games. Owen Farrell overtook Jonny Wilkinson to be England men’s top points scorer with 1186 to his name. Johnny Sexton performed the same feat overtaking Ronan O’Gara’s Irish record and retiring with 1101 points to his name. Will Jordan etched his name next to greats such as Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana by matching their record of 8 tries in a tournament. Wales now have the record for most tackles in a game by making a colossal 252 tackles against Fiji in the group stages and Portugal were able to record their first ever win in a Rugby World Cup.
The Rugby World Cup brought people together from all over the world. These are just some of the highs and lows of the tournament and each nations fans will have their own spin on the positives and negatives. What were your personal highlights and lowlights? We would love to hear about them!
Words // David Jones
