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The opening ceremony in the city was a nice reminder that rugby spirit and rugby values should be in the heart of everyday's life. In my opinion rugby should be a mandatory discipline in all college and Universities, at least one year, to teach some basic values of life.
The first game brought some surprises...
- Clearly the decision of the IRB to select only a few referees and to brief them over many days before the start of the competition to insure a more consistent referring (between Northern and Southern hemispheres) has worked, at least for the first game. The referee applied strictly the IRB rules for the tackles and ensuing rucks: release the ball or the tacklee immediately (some cases were the fastest whistles I ever saw...) and stay on your feet when getting to a ruck. The games of the Southern hemisphere I saw recently (first half of the last Australia NZ...) were worrying me...
I also noticed that the scrum commands were more spaced, as required by the IRB, except...PAUSE and ENGAGE were still close to one word... PAUUUUUUUUUUUUSE... ENGAGE! Let's wait for next referee...
- New Zealand won with four tries "copy / paste"... attack by the backs on the left side, full back 15 came to help before the winger, one tackle missed by Tonga, and one try... Copy and paste 2 more times, and you have three tries after three missed tackles and three helps of the 15...
Just in case you thought the right winger of Tonga was the weak link, copy / paste on the right side... missed tackle, addition of the 15, and try...
Unless Tonga find a quick fix to this attack and ask their backs to stop playing touch-tackle, France, Japan and Canada know what to do...!
- New Zealand won but... they dropped the ball 6 times in the first period alone, and they were penalised many times for not releasing the ball or the tacklee... Unless they start practicing more seriously, France and England might have a chance...
In one sentence, a good training game for both teams, with some key areas to improve at practice for both.
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