Rugby World Cup
All Blacks Hit Namibia for Eleven
New Zealand have made it three wins from three with a resounding victory over Namibia in Pool B of the Rugby World Cup
The All Blacks have trounced Namibia 71-9 in another dominant display by the reigning back to back champions at the Rugby World Cup in Japan this morning.
Two tries a piece for Sevu Reece, Anton Leinert-Brown and Ben Smith, along with further tries from Angus Ta’avao, Joe Moody, Sam Whitelock, Jordie Barrett and TJ Perenara saw New Zealand claim a fantastic 11-try bonus-point victory in Pool B.
It was Namibia who got off to a brighter start and were ahead after three minutes when Damien Stevens slotted over a beautiful long-range penalty close the the left-hand touchline.
However, the All Blacks hit back and were in for their opening try of the day on seven minutes as Barrett sent over a lovely cross-field kick to the right-hand side near the Namibian line where Reece simply caught the ball and touched down. Barrett couldn’t add the extras with the conversion.
Namibia had a couple of good chances and held the All Blacks out until the 21st minute, but they couldn’t keep out Lienert-Brown, who broke through the opposition defence, raced toward the line, held off a couple of tackles to score their second five-pointer of the game. Barrett skewed the kick to the right of the posts leaving it at 10-3.
The minnows were refusing to give up and by the half hour mark they were back within a point of the back to back World Cup champions as Stevens kicked a further two penalties as they put some serious pressure on New Zealand.
On 31 minutes the All Blacks were reduced to 14-men as prop Nepo Laulala was handed a yellow-card for a dangerous tackle.
Despite being down a man it was the men in black that struck next as replacement front-rower Ta’avao finished of 12 phases beside the Namibian line by barrelling over near the posts. This time Barrett made no mistake with the conversion to stretch their advantage.
The All Blacks secured the bonus-point with the final play of the half as they finished off a set-play in the Namibian 22 by sending the ball out to Smith, who darted through a gap in the defensive line to score his side’s fourth try of the match. Barrett added the extras to leave it at 24-9 come the half-time whistle.
It took only two minutes of the second-half for New Zealand to register their fifth try with prop Moody powering over the line from a quick pick and go from a ruck. Barrett kicked the extra two to make it 31-9.
Five minutes later and Lienert-Brown was in for his second of the game after a brilliant break from Barrett inside his own half, where he raced forward before a one-two with Jack Goodhue, and then a simple pass to Lienert-Brown who scored in the corner. Barrett sent a fantastic conversion over from the right-touchline.
Another five minutes further and New Zealand sent the ball from the left hand side of the pitch to the right, with some great depth in the attacking line, with the ball eventually finding its way to Reece who charged forward before stepping inside and over the line for his second try. Barrett converted once more to give the All Blacks a 45-9 lead with just under 30 minutes remaining.
With 56 minutes on the clock captain Whitelock cleverly touched the ball down off the base of the post for his team’s eighth try with Barrett smashing over the easy kick as Namibia began to show signs of tiredness.
Eleven minutes later and Leinert-Brown was centre of another brilliant move in open-field, bursting through the defence, and while being tackled he offloaded beautifully to Smith, who got over for his brace in the left-corner. Barrett pinned the conversion to make it a 50-point margin.
New Zealand were reduced to 14-men once again when substitute prop Ofa Tuungafasi was shown a yellow card for a similar tackle to Laulala.
Despite being a man down the All Blacks got their tenth try with four minutes remaining through Barrett, as he made an unstoppable run close to the line to get over. He converted his own try to make it 66-9.
With little over a minute left in the game New Zealand showed some incredible skill as they broke down the left-wing, with replacement scrum-half Brad Weber producing an outrageous behind the back offload to fellow sub Perenara who finished superbly in the corner. Barrett failed to convert as the match ended 71-9.
New Zealand will now hope to end their pool stage campaign with a 100% record when they take on Italy next Saturday, while Namibia will be looking for a first win at the World Cup when they face Canada the following day.
All Blacks Player Ratings
Starting XV:
Joe Moody (7), Codie Taylor (7), Nepo Laulala (5), Brodie Retallick (6), Samuel Whitelock (7), Shannon Frizell (7), Sam Cane (7), Ardie Savea (8), Aaron Smith (8), Jordie Barrett (9), George Bridge (6), Anton Lienert-Brown (9), Jack Goodhue (7), Sevu Reece (8), Ben Smith (8)
Replacements (8)
England men’s head coach Eddie Jones and the RFU have agreed a contract extension which will see him continue his role until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Jones joined England Rugby at the end of 2015 and has coached the men’s national side on 54 occasions winning 42, drawing one and losing 11 – giving him a win ratio of 78%, the highest in the history of England coaches.
Under Jones, England has won two Six Nations titles including a Grand Slam in 2016, a 3-0 away Test series win against Australia in the same year, an unbeaten run of 18 matches equalling New Zealand’s record and were finalists at last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Jones said: “The extension is a great honour for me, but in the current environment, it is only right to acknowledge what a difficult time the world is facing. We are all looking forward to a time when we can get back to playing rugby and use the sport as a force for good in bringing people back together. I never thought coming here four years ago I would be doing a second four years but the circumstances are right. Obviously it is important for the team that we keep improving and my focus will be solely on that.
“I am excited about raising the standards again. We have a great team. We set out four years ago to be the best team in the world and unfortunately we missed that by 80 minutes. Now we want to be the team that is remembered as being the greatest team the game has ever seen. It’s a big ambition but I believe we are capable of doing it. We have players with an enhanced reputation, we have a team that is expected to do well, so it’s a great opportunity for us to keep moving forward.”
Bill Sweeney, RFU CEO said: “My thoughts and those of all of us at the RFU are with everyone impacted by COVID-19, both across the country at large but also within our own rugby union community. In exceptionally difficult times, we are pleased to be sharing some good news. We are delighted that Eddie will continue as head coach to run England’s campaign to take us to the 2023 Rugby World Cup. His record since joining speaks for itself and he has proven why he is one of the best coaches in world rugby. The progress shown by England since 2015 has been indisputable and having fielded the youngest-ever team to play in a World Cup final, we know even more growth is possible. We are all excited by what this squad can do and having Eddie leading the team is very important to us.
“We reached an understanding soon after returning from Japan but there were some things that we wanted to make sure worked for both sides. We have announced Eddie’s contract extension a few weeks later than planned as our focus was diverted to support the English rugby community during this difficult time, we are now turning our attention to developing plans to support the rebooting of rugby and a winning England team will provide a vital role in that.”
Ahead of the Guinness Six Nations Jones confirmed Simon Amor and Matt Proudfoot would join Steve Borthwick and John Mitchell as his assistant coaches. Jason Ryles will join later in the year as skills coach following Borthwick’s departure towards the end of the season.
International
Ireland Climb in Latest World Rankings
Ireland have had the biggest boost in the latest World Rugby Rankings ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup draw later this year
Ireland have leapfrogged Wales in the latest World Rugby Rankings of the the 2023 Rugby World Cup draw in November of this year.
The boys in green have taken over the No 4 spot in the rankings following their 24-14 win over Wales in the Six Nations over the weekend, with their opponents dropping down to fifth.
It is a major boost for the Irish and gives them something to hold on to heading into the rest of this year’s fixtures as they are now currently in the top seeds ahead of the draw for the pool stages of France 2023.
World Rugby announced recently that they will hold the draw later this year meaning that teams will have less time to climb the rankings than last time around when they had 18 months between the previous World Cup and the draw for the next one.
A total of twelve teams will head into the draw as seeds in three brackets with the top four in the rankings being first seeds, meaning as of now Wales would be second seeds along with France, Australia and Japan.
While Scotland, Argentina, Italy and Fiji are in the third bracket, with the remainder of the teams to be decided through different qualifiers over the next three years.
Elsewhere in the rankings Georgia have moved up ahead of Italy, following the former’s latest two defeats in the Six Nations, while the biggest risers have been Portugal, who have moved from 22nd to 20th, but Russia have dived from 20th to 25th.
Ireland will be hoping to continue their perfect start to the Six Nations campaign when they take on the third-ranked team England away from home, whom they may look to overtake in the rankings before the draw.
It is certainly heating up between the Six Nations teams as they try to be the best-placed behind South Africa and New Zealand, who take the first and second spots, but won’t play until the summer.
Rugby World Cup
World Rugby Confirm Timing of 2023 RWC Draw
World Rugby have confirmed when they will be hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup draw and it has put pressure on teams to get positive results this year
World Rugby has announced that it will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup draw in November of this year.
The tournament will take place in France with the draw being held in Paris following the November internationals.
That means that teams only have between now and then to better their current rankings and move into a different drawing band, whereas for the previous draw they had 18 months to improve.
Speaking on the announcement World Rugby chief Bill Beaumont is excited to discover the fate of the teams and has put the pressure on teams to do well this year.
“The pool draw is an important milestone on the road to Rugby World Cup 2023 in France as it really drives excitement and momentum both in the host nation and throughout the global rugby family – it is the moment teams and fans can start to plan. With the World Rugby rankings determining the bands for the RWC 2023 pool draw, it promises to be a fascinating year of men’s international rugby with every match counting towards seeding at the end of the November Test series,” he said.
Twelve of the 20 participating teams from last year’s World Cup in Japan have automatically qualified, with the other eight to be decided in the qualifiers that will begin later this year.
However, the twelve teams that are already involved will have to be at their best to move up a band in the current rankings or fear dropping down in which case they could get a harder draw.
As of this moment the first band contains the World Cup semi-finalists from last year in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Wales, with the remaining quarter-finalists making up band two in Ireland, Australia, Japan and France.
While in band three Scotland and Argentina are joined by Italy and Fiji.
It will be a tough task for teams to improve their current standings with the Six Nations teams only having one edition of the tournament to improve compared to the two editions they had last time around, but it does add some extra competition to this year’s fixtures.
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