Rugby remains our national game

When the Wales football side beat Belgium 1-0 last June, the bandwagon of support went into overdrive.

Amidst the talk of Gareth Bale, ‘together stronger’, and flights to France, were even suggestions that Euro 2016 qualification would render football, and not rugby, our new national game in Wales.

It’s a notion that this World Cup has spectacularly blown out of the water.

Whilst our interest in international football tends to fluctuate, nothing directly affects the mood of a nation quite like Welsh rugby. 

Even for the so called lesser group games with Fiji and Uruguay - the Millennium Stadium was packed and the streets of Cardiff were crammed – and to say the famous win over England at Twickenham sent the country into delirium would quite frankly be a ludicrous understatement.

Facebook and Twitter went into celebratory meltdown, rugby dominated the front, back (and middle) of the Western Mail, and come Monday morning, everyone from Dai the butcher to Gwen the cleaner wanted to share with you their opinions of Dan Biggar’s kicking and Chris Robshaw’s decision making.

The frenzy was such, that even the more philosophical fan dared not sober the euphoria by pointing out all we’d actually done was win a group game.

But regardless, one thing was abundantly clear – as much as we crave overdue football success, in terms of sport, rugby remains our number one.

Once spoken, never (ever) forgotten

When I first saw the footage of Sam Burgess questioning who Scott Williams was, I could not help but think he had been hard done by.

It appeared to me he had merely not heard the question properly.

His later admission that he was ‘playing around’ somewhat diminishes that theory, but the dignified exchange between him and Williams on Twitter seemed to alleviate any suggestions of arrogance.

Of course, by that point, it was way too late for Burgess to save face.

In this day and age, one slip of the tongue in the public domain is pounced upon by journalists and social media accounts, repeated relentlessly, and subsequently blown out of all proportion.

And when, in the case of Burgess, the individual in question later suffers a defeat, the mockery goes through the roof.

In short, to be a professional sportsman in front of the cameras these days, you either must be expertly media trained, or simply not care how the watching world interprets you.

This is a notion that another Englishman in Mike Brown will now be all too familiar is. Opinion is split as to whether his post-match interview against Wales was a refreshing show of emotion or the behaviour of an obnoxious brat. Either way, he’ll never be allowed to forget it.

We have to move with the (prolonged) times

Rugby union has historically been labelled as 80 minutes of blood and thunder.

At international level, that statement does not really ring true anymore – a more accurate description would perhaps be ‘100 minutes of interludes between physical combat/ video refereeing/ players being treated/ replacements/ yellow cards and scrums being re-set’.

Of course, this rankles with many old school players, many of whom will preach on their bar stools about the days when players did not go down injured, coaches didn’t make changes, big TV screens didn’t exist, you accepted the ref’s decision like a man, and half time consisted of an orange slice and a swift change of ends.

The debate sparked up again on the opening night of the tournament, when the first half between England and Fiji lasted 51 minutes, with referee Jaco Peyper frequently referring decisions upstairs. The line between ensuring the correct call is made, and creating frustrating delays, is a fine one.

Either way, if you want to sit on your sofa for a World Cup game, best set aside a two hour window to be safe.

World rankings still mean little

The Welsh win over England instigated the resurrection of popular Twitter guru Dai Lama, who mischievously stated:

“The world rankings. Evil conspiracy of lies after the last RWC when Wales were 8th. Unimpeachable bastion of accuracy now that we're 2nd.”

The quote was clearly made in jest, but the implications were obvious.

In truth, world rankings are always going to be extremely difficult to calculate, and their accuracy will never be flawless. That one defeat for England saw them drop from third to sixth, while Australia have lost a place since the tournament began, despite being unbeaten thus far.

By all means we should enjoy our elevation, but to take it literally would be beyond naive.

World Cup minnows no longer exist

1995, 1999, 2003, 2007 – all Rugby World Cups where at least one team has racked up a century of points in a pool game. 

Even in 2011, both Wales and South Africa put more than 80 points on Namibia, while New Zealand scored 79 against Canada.

However, whilst there is still a large difference between the top and lower tier rugby nations, and I'm fully aware the All Blacks may blow my theory away against Georgia tonight (Friday), this tournament suggests the gap is closing.

The most one sided contest has been Australia beating Uruguay 65-3, but the south Americans, along with the likes of Namibia, Romania, Georgia, and the USA, have all shown vast improvements in organisation and resilience.

But the biggest plaudits of all must be reserved for Japan, whose thrilling win over South Africa was a triumph in bravery, creativity, and belief.

Furthermore, they proved that in a professional game now seemingly dominated by drills, structures and playing patterns, there is still a place for enterprising rugby.

The game is evolving, and so are the injuries

The Welsh injury crisis has been well documented, but it is easy to forget we are not the only nation to have suffered at the hands of early departures.

Fiji themselves were forced into a much changed line up yesterday, while Will Skelton and Wycliff Palu (Australia), Billy Vunipola (England), Grant Gilchrist (Scotland) and Jean De Villiers (South Africa) are just a few big names to have had their World Cup ended prematurely.

Make no mistake, the game is long beyond the days where the big boys played in the forwards and the small, skinny lads were sent to the backs. Every professional player is now a powerful athlete, subject to extreme training programmes and a physical hardship that us common folk can barely even associate with.

And yet, there is a craving amongst the watching public for explosive exchanges in the contact area – with many of us happy to cheer from afar at the sight of a ferocious tackle, or join a YouTube clamour to view brief but brutal videos of ‘big hits’.

However, this World Cup must surely prompt the powers that be to ask if the increased emphasis on physicality is damaging the shelf life of those lucky enough to play for a living.