In the upcoming Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, two of the world’s top four ranked teams are poised to exit the competition before reaching the semi-finals, prompting calls for changes from England legend Brian Moore.
Looking back, the announcement of the 2023 competition pools occurred on December 14, 2020, nearly three years before the World Cup’s commencement in France. This decision now appears to be a miscalculation.
Writing in The Telegraph, Moore said: “Of the seeded teams in the bottom half of the draw, only Wales can legitimately claim they have got near to performing somewhere near their best, and even then, only sporadically.
“The remaining seeds have badly underperformed, which has magnified the injustice of seeding the teams three years before the tournament started. To their credit no country from the top half of the draw has whinged inordinately about this, but with each unfolding week their lot can be clearly seen as unfair.
“I do not care what practical considerations were said to have been behind this draw, it can now be seen as a blunder and World Rugby should find a way to ensure it does not happen again.
“Although the top qualifying teams effectively swap sides of the draw with the semi-final pairings, that does not alter the fact that is being seen as ludicrously lop-sided. Other major team sports manage to avoid this sort of error, so it cannot be beyond the competent organisers.
“World Rugby should simply put up their hand and admit that they made a mistake and that it will not happen again.
England’s route to the 2023 Rugby World Cup final revealed
Let’s venture into the realm of imagination and explore the potential trajectory that awaits Borthwick’s formidable team.
Quarter-final: England v Fiji
After a historic defeat to the Pacific Islanders last month, England is poised to seek redemption in the quarter-finals. Steve Borthwick’s squad aims to erase the memory of their lackluster performance, and with their recent form, they stand a strong chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
