World Cup format is flawed
15 Dec 2010
MARK KEOHANE, writing in Business Day Sport Monthly, says the World Cup needs to be revamped so that the most consistent team is rewarded.
It says something for the consistency of the All Blacks that we only seem to remember the games they lose. Unfortunately it says as much for the Springboks in their great rivalry with the New Zealanders that we can remember all the games the South Africans win.
The Rugby World Cup, introduced in 1987, has changed the way results are viewed and it has also encouraged mediocrity in between World Cups. Success is defined by who wins a competition played once every four years and the commercial highlight of professional rugby is a seven-week competition, in which the three play-off rounds produce the only strength versus strength match-ups.
Statistically, no sports team in the world (regardless of the code) has consistently excelled like the All Blacks, and no team can boast winning three from four games in over 100 years against all comers. The All Blacks, since professionalism of the sport in 1996, play the Springboks and Australia on average three times a year home and away, yet they still win 60% of the match-ups.
The consistency in New Zealand’s rugby is reflected in 10 Tri-Nations trophy wins in the past 15 years, three Grand Slam triumphs in three attempts over five years and 13 wins in 22 visits to South Africa. The Boks, in the same period, have won three Tri-Nations championships, no Grand Slams and three in 21 Tests in New Zealand.
The All Blacks in the past eight years have also won 42 from 44 matches against northern hemisphere opposition, but lost to France in a one-off at the 1999 and 2007 World Cups and because of this France are said to have New Zealand’s number, despite historically only winning 12 matches in 49 against the All Blacks.
Knockout competitions are cruel and they don’t always reward form or substance, but is it right that one tournament, played every four years, can render everything else in Test rugby meaningless?
In soccer I can understand the prestige of the World Cup because of the number of teams capable of winning the tournament and the quality of the match-ups from the pool stages.
I remain unconvinced that the measure of a team in rugby is who wins the World Cup every four years because the Six Nations and Tri-Nations, as respective tournaments, are more difficult to win.
Rugby only has five teams capable of winning the World Cup, and all have the ability to beat the other in a one-off situation, which is why winning the Rugby World Cup is more a lottery than it is the successful implementation of a meticulous four-year plan.
New Zealand are consistently the best team in the world, even in unsuccessful World Cup tournament years, and they have the record to back up this view. All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has played 94 Tests in the past decade and lost 10. No other captain in the history of the game has achieved this success over a 10-year period, but two of those defeats have come in World Cup play-off matches, in Sydney in 2003 and Cardiff in 2007.
Does that mean the 84 wins and countless trophies count for nothing? Of course it doesn’t and that is why for the Rugby World Cup to be a true measure of who is a world champion and who is a World Cup holder based on a one-off win, the tournament needs to be revamped to a strength versus strength format, which would reward the most consistent team.
The current World Cup format means one of the top five’s tournament can be over because of 40 poor minutes in the only meaningful match they play.
This kind of format will seldom reward the best, and rugby can learn from the North American approach to sport finals in all their major sporting codes. Firstly, it takes winning consistently for a team to get to the final and secondly, once there it takes the same amount of consistency to actually be crowned champions through a best of three, five or seven series, depending on the code.
The luck of a good day and the curse of a bad one is removed from the equation because over a three-match series, for example, the winner will have needed more than good luck to be the champion.
Rugby nations, pre one-off Tests and professionalism, traditionally played a three or four Test series to determine the winner, so why can’t the game revert to strength versus strength at the World Cup?
The opening month of every Rugby World Cup has been a farce with one-sided pool contests. For the event to have greater credibility it needs greater substance.
Strength versus strength would also give meaning to every Test played in between World Cups because teams would be playing to make the top eight of a premier World Cup tournament.
In a revamped model, which makes the use of a squad of 30 essential rather than an option, the top eight teams play each other over a month period. Each team plays seven matches, two a week, and the top two in this World Cup Premier League qualify for a best of three final to be played over a 14-day period. If a team goes two up, there is no consolation third match. Whoever hosts the World Cup Premier League every four years also simultaneously hosts the World Cup Championship League for teams ranked nine to 16.
This way the game is still grown and the incentives are still there without the embarrassment of mismatches that are
a feature of rugby’s World Cup.
It would also remove the lottery element from who wins the World Cup and again force coaches and their respective administrations to honour the true meaning of Test rugby.
It may also end New Zealand’s search for World Cup glory and start South Africa’s search for year-to-year consistency.
– This first appeared in the December issue of Business Day Sport Monthly.
621 Comments
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17 Dec 2010, 11:07 am
@Black Panther : haven’t been to Thailand yet and doubt i’d be interested in the behavioural patterns of “ladyboys”.
17 Dec 2010, 11:08 am
and 1 brave man lead the last remaining infrantrymen out and over the trenches, armed only with a solitary question-mark.
17 Dec 2010, 11:09 am
my apologies to all the brave souls fighting under General Transformation, of course I meant ‘infantrymen’
17 Dec 2010, 11:10 am
@Transformation :
youre right, Transie, you wouldnt want to be hit by one of those ping pong balls.
It might hurt.
17 Dec 2010, 11:17 am
@Black Panther : 502 and one “morally superior” man mortally wounded by the words “perpetuating hearsay as fact when in ur BS” which he has managed to miraculously transpose to mean “liar” hahaha
17 Dec 2010, 11:33 am
@Transformation :
tell me, soldier, why were you asking in the first place.
Oh…
heres your
?
I said, nay repeated, that Keo said here “NZ rugby is kak” ……oops, “KAK”
So why did you ‘ask’, nay repeat, the validity of the same.
oh
oops
heres your
?
17 Dec 2010, 12:02 pm
@Transformation :
blackpants is very full of himself today…
he must of got his christmas box..
Ladyboys of Thailand beware.
Cross your legs and cover adam’s apples.
The Japanese are coming.
17 Dec 2010, 12:11 pm
@gunther : he’s always like this man, it’s just “banter”
17 Dec 2010, 12:34 pm
@gunther : Who said this?
Harry S. Truman himself?
17 Dec 2010, 12:49 pm
@Big Hit :
Quote
“Well Keo, if the 3N and 6N were really more difficult to win then France and New Zealand should find it no problem to win the World Cup”
Good try BH but if the RWC is harder to win than the 3N,how come Boks or OZ havnt won more than they have in the 3N?
Quote
“No, the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport where teams arrive at full-strength”
Again good try but just cos its a RWC does not mean every team has there full strength team
BH your post is full of flaws. Earlier on it was said you have to be consistent to win the RWC yet you believe the most consistent is not the best. RWC is a tournament,no matter who wins it makes them the world champs,which does not make them the best rugby team in the world. At the RWC you dont have to play the best team to win it. Its a knockout tournament and thats it. Dont try and undo what NZ have done. The ABs are the best team in the world,Bok are the world champs,England are…… oh you get the point
17 Dec 2010, 13:28 pm
@Transformation :
I gotta say
(carefully placing the Moral Superiority Hat on)
this was your wee campaign. Not mine.
I wasnt needling you about nuffink
and you kept pestering
and pestering
and making all your Liar* accusations
and pestering for an answer.
SO
I gave you an answer.
The *ahem* right answer.
And, I gotta say
that when I logged on this am, I honestly and truthfully thought your first post would be somefink like
“ha ha ! you were right BP – what a plonker Keo is……cant believe he said all that other nonsense…..etc etc”
but
NO
all youve done is hide behind q?estion-marks.
Thing is, if you Talk the Talk, then – surely ? – you have to Walk the Walk.
Even the Ticker, who Talks the Talk here in a rather, shall we say, explicit manner, has been recorded here as saying “I was wrong**” (** ‘Boks won a Series in NZ’).
So Tickler can Talk the Talk AND Walk the Walk
but
Transformation hides behind a
?
here, you have the Hat. Does it fit ?
No wonder youre so comfortable being called a ‘Poor Loser’. Id much rather be called a Poor Loser too, if
C O W A R D
was the only alternative.
17 Dec 2010, 13:32 pm
@gunther : @ 507
would you please
P L E A S E
STOP
ignoring me ?!?
17 Dec 2010, 13:38 pm
@Black Panther :
no need to get all upper case.
back in you foxhole before you get shot by a ladyboy for desertion.
17 Dec 2010, 13:43 pm
@Black Panther : campaign is a wee bit of a stretch even by your standards
*come down from th hill*
17 Dec 2010, 13:46 pm
@gunther :
My skin is so thick, the ping pong balls merely bounce off.
17 Dec 2010, 13:49 pm
‘desertion’ indeed.
what happens when you desert your soul ?
Which reminds me, it might be Angel Heart on the screen tonight, havent seen that in aaaaaaaaages.
17 Dec 2010, 13:49 pm
@Black Panther : 511 ok, i see what’s going on now.. i wasn’t celebratory enough for you actually giving me the answer i’ve been asking you for over more than 5 posts
i’m sorry BP, next time just answer the question promptly. hahaha
17 Dec 2010, 13:50 pm
so, it looks like Boy George has some company after all.
and when I say ‘company’, I dont mean regiment.
17 Dec 2010, 13:51 pm
@Black Panther : 511 so this was not enough a pat on the back for you?
485. Transformation :
December 17th, 2010 at 8:04 am
@Black Panther :hahaha nice one BP *thinking to self* twitter, why didn’t think of that?
you wanted me to say Keo is a plonker and more as well
tough shlt
17 Dec 2010, 14:06 pm
@Black Panther : 518 you know how to make a mountain out of a mole hill
and are now attempting to extract some “moral superiority” out of nothing, a simple question was answered by yourself with nonsensical and strategic retorts like “is this a trap?”
when all along you knew the answer was in keo’s tweets, talk about desperate.
17 Dec 2010, 14:14 pm
@Transformation : @ 517
soooooo
youve “been asking (me) for over more than 5 posts”
but
@Transformation : @ 514
” campaign is a wee bit of a stretch”.
u-huh.
sure, corporal, you can take that toilet break now
17 Dec 2010, 14:15 pm
@Transformation : @ 520
C O W A R D
17 Dec 2010, 14:26 pm
@Black Panther : 521, 521 whatever BP the fun has fizzled out now…you can call me any trite name you want, makes no difference
485. Transformation :
December 17th, 2010 at 8:04 am
@Black Panther :hahaha nice one BP..
17 Dec 2010, 15:41 pm
see, the thing is Transie, you were quite happy to – no less than – insinuate that I was a Liar.
didnt you ?
and you took any delay in my answering your question, as emboldening your insinuations
didn’t you ?
and yet you appear to ignore my own questions to you
haven’t you ?
and yet you’ve failed to acknowledge that you were WRONG
because you were wrong, weren’t you ?
You and Keo, cut from the same cloth.
Poor Losers
Moral Hypocrites
and you and Boy George ?
cowards.
I thought you were better than that, honestly I did.
But
I was wrong
WRONG
see how easy that was.
fool.
17 Dec 2010, 15:55 pm
@Black Panther : no. no it was all in your head “is this a trap?” putting up imaginary scarecrows and then smashing them in expectation of some hollow moral victory is what u were doing…now u’re sulking..
should’ve answered my initial question by posting the tweet…but where would the fun be in that? u had to try and milk it
now u’re sounding sour like sun ripened maas
17 Dec 2010, 16:36 pm
On 2 separate occasions
this Keo-year
you’ve tried to ‘expose’ me as a fraud/liar/hypocrite
and failed, miserably, both times.
I dunno, but maybe you would be well advised to re-think your motives.
17 Dec 2010, 17:10 pm
@Black Panther : 526 finally u’re out with the paranoia-induced “is it a trap” delusions. you turned a simple question into a dramatical farce for effect
pity it was flimsy..
17 Dec 2010, 18:31 pm
and in trying – and failing (miserably) – to ‘expose’ me, you have, instead, exposed yourself as a fool and a coward.
oh well.
@Transformation : @ 527
“dramatical farce for effect” ?
well, lets try
“perpetuating hearsay as fact”
or
“playing obfuscatory games”.
Sometimes its better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Transie, you are a FOOL !
Its all there, in black and white.
17 Dec 2010, 18:55 pm
@Black Panther : 528 black panther go have a drink or something, no amount of one upmanship BS from you will hide your neurosis “is it a trap?”… hahaha no it’s a simple question
now chew on that shlt
17 Dec 2010, 19:03 pm
@Black Panther :
Take events in your life seriously, take work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously, or you’ll become affected, pompous and boring.
Shelley Duvall
17 Dec 2010, 20:11 pm
Take myself seriously ?
um, this place is like a Zoo, I find myself constantly amused looking at all the animals.
Dear old Transie has been waiting for his opportunity here to ‘expose’ me and, bless him, he thought he finally had it. He’ll have to wait.
Every time Transie pops up here again, it will be like watching the gibb’on picking his arse and then sticking his fingers in his mouth. And I’ll be laughing alright, every court needs it’s jester.
17 Dec 2010, 20:27 pm
Chrissake, Transie, I actually sympathise with you for once…
After repeatedly embarrassing and exposing this sheepshagger he comes back for more…
I can see much snot, trane and tantrums a la Pooper69 soon…
Kiwis… They are actually quite endearing with their ability to embarrass themselves…
Precious!
… not much pushing is actually required for the Tall Poppy Panty to be exposed but Transie – good job with the nudges!
The problem is, the poor fool doesn’t actually realise the joke’s on him
17 Dec 2010, 21:37 pm
Boy George and Transie
you really do make quite a dashing couple.
Which one of you holds responsibility for the White Flag ?
17 Dec 2010, 21:40 pm
Waiting for the Kiwi Hissy fit…
Its only a matter of time…
There is form on Keo…
A tantrum… A sheepshagger white flag…?
17 Dec 2010, 21:44 pm
You gotta love Precious Pant and his crusades to chop down Tall Poppies…
Funny that, Mr I-know-Kevvy’s-defender name dropper…
Tilting at windmills…?
Or just been typically duplicitous…?
17 Dec 2010, 21:47 pm
Sing us another one, Boy George
karma karma karma
CHAMELEON
you run and go
you run and go’oooooooooooo !
17 Dec 2010, 21:52 pm
My point confirmed…
Tall Poppy…
17 Dec 2010, 21:54 pm
Endearing…
17 Dec 2010, 21:56 pm
Duplicitous…
17 Dec 2010, 21:57 pm
A bit of a phoney…
Black Pant.
17 Dec 2010, 21:57 pm
Big Brave Boy George
see, PreDawn, I told you I didn’t take life seriously !
17 Dec 2010, 22:02 pm
Yeah…
Fake is not quite the word, but it’ll do…
see, Transie, not much has to be done for the oke just to run with it… Like most Kiwis, quite unmatched ability to be a twat all on his lonesome…
17 Dec 2010, 22:04 pm
@Black Panther :
Have a great christmas dude. All the best.
17 Dec 2010, 22:05 pm
Transie, you will notice after a while that you will be given a name…
It is actually a sign of exasperation from sheepshaggers…
When they have nothing left to say other than throw a typical tantrum a la pooper69…
A white flag…
Wait for it…
“Karma, karma….”
Music to my ears…!!!
17 Dec 2010, 22:09 pm
No “Big and Brave” needed for a kiwi…
Them sheep ain’t big and brave…
Ba a a ahhh…
17 Dec 2010, 22:14 pm
“Cowards die many times before their death; the Brave never taste death but once”
17 Dec 2010, 22:16 pm
Cheers PreDawn, and you and yours too a very merry happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
not toooooo prosperous beyond Sept tho !
17 Dec 2010, 22:29 pm
Transie
I wish you and your NBF, Boy George, a happy and fulfilling life together.
Perhaps you can start a business in bomb-detonation or firefighting or mining in Chile.
or not.
17 Dec 2010, 22:52 pm
@Black Panther : Far rather be a miner in Chile than many other countries…
17 Dec 2010, 22:57 pm
You gotta love the fact that this Pant pakeha said not one word of even mock support when Poppa was off tilting windmills and catching deserved abuse before his tantrum…
Why, its Panty the Brave…
Chop down them Tall Poppies a peg or two…
Who’s doing that?
Panty the moral crusader…
Its all here in black and white on Keo…
Idjit all on his lonesome… Prodding not needed…
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