Weekend Rugby Wrap: 5 Takeaways

It was the final weekend of action before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France on the 8^th of September and Bet Central brings you the takeaways from the weekend’s action.

Pacific Island Nations Making Great Progress

Watching Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika throughout this year’s Super Rugby was a signing of things to come when their national teams convened. Fiji have been phenomenal much like Drua was earlier in the year and their victory against England was due reward for a progressive season.

Similarly, Samoans make up the bulk of the Pasifika squad and even though Samoa narrowly lost to Ireland, they have the attention of the rugby world after giving an excellent account of themselves.

Boks Monster Pack

The Boks obliterated the All Blacks at Twickenham and central to the historic victory was a pack of forwards that took no prisoners as they dominated the All Blacks physically and at the set-piece. The scary part was how impactful the bench was as well.

The Boks have 2 packs that can dominate most nations and that should scare the Boks’ closest rivals at this World Cup. 

Cian Healy The Latest World Cup Warm-Ups Casualty

Contrary to what the Boks can do with their pack, Ireland’s 2nd choice group of forwards underwhelmed and to make matters worse, they lost experienced prop Cian Healy to an injury that sees him ruled out of the World Cup.

He is the latest in a long list of players who are set to miss the World Cup following struggles with injury adding even more criticism to the long World Cup warm-up series that could have seen more.

Cameron Woki Underlines His Importance

France were not at their best against Australia, but they were still comfortable winners on the day. One of the reasons they were off their game was their tight forwards struggling to assert themselves. 

With both Paul Willemse and Thibaut Flament struggling to impact the game, Cameron Woki came on and proved why he is so important for France. He gave his team a renewed energy and is probably ahead of both in the pecking order.

Australian Struggles Continue

Dave Rennie had to deal with a mercilessly long injury list last year with the Wallabies yet with a better record he lost his job. Under Eddie Jones, they are 5 losses from 5 and a pool stage exit could be possible with the way Fiji are going about their business. 

Eddie Jones continues to stick to his convictions that these are the right players to take the Wallabies forward and while there are times of great promise, it seems a bridge too far at this World Cup.