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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Having top 4 teams face each other in quarterfinals highlights absurdity of early draw for pool stage
By STEVE DOUGLAS PARIS©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Newpresident
It’s really a shame two of the best four teams in the world will not be able to play for the final.
Fighto!
Absurd. Who makes seedings years out from a tournament? Why?
While the on field play of rugby has largely emerged from the amateur game of the 90s - at least the top 7 or 8 teams - rugby administration is very much still an amateur world, especially compared to other sports such as football.
With some funding for professional coaching and facilities, Portugal could be the next big thing in rugby. Perhaps in 20 years they will be heading into a Quarter Final?
Moonraker
Well, I suppose, by this reckoning, if two quarter-finals consist of such feeble teams, the nations that go through the difficult quarter-finals will have easy semi-finals, instead of the other way round. The final would still be between the two best.
Mr Kipling
Irreplaceable? So Wales will start with 14 men?
Tier 2 and 3 teams.... Why don't you get many games against the top teams?
Simple.... Its usually a cricket score or a B team run about.
Japantime
Why bother with a World Cup if you only want the top ranked nations in it? We should just give the cup to the number one ranked nation every 4 years.
Moskollo
As very much a casual rugby fan(generally only watch international rugby), it should be quality over quantity, the first round is far too long and the big nations against the new emerging teams are far too easy to predict and verging on Andorra/San Marino levels compared to the established rugby countries.
Expansion for the sake of extra content and inclusion just diluted the quality of play, I’m all for colourfull fans joining the party etc, but next weekends games will be where the real competition kicks off..
SapperJon
It's simple really make the Six nations Eight nations and get the potential additional european nations play off against each other for one of the available two places. Also Japan, Samoa, Fiji ect should start a similar contest to improve their games.
Ah_so
I presume that this was intentionally witty, rather than unintentionally :)
Ah_so
What a massive straw man argument.
Seeding is a pretty common thing in sport, because people want the late stage matches played between the best teams. Tennis usually does it, so that seeds are split evenly between the two halves of the draw. Some are unseeded, like the FA cup, and you have a fresh draw with each stage.
However, there are a lot of teams in the world cup - probably too many, given that a majority of teams play at a pretty low level. Given the luck of the draw, England and Wales have an easy, albeit undeserved route to the semi-finals and would not be deserving finalists. Other teams deserve to go further - they are better teams and have more entertaining rugby and are better for the fans to watch.
TigersTokyoDome
Why should the top 4 seeded teams get easier routes to the final? A true cup knockout tournament means that you get drawn against anyone. A world cup champion should have to beat anyone on the way.
If the All Blacks and the Springboks get knocked out what are they going to complain about? Oh we should have played against England or Wales instead. Nonsense. A world cup winner beats everyone and anyone, so the seedings mean nothing.
Or what are the All Blacks and the Springboks expecting? To win a world cup final only playing England, Wales, Argentina and Fiji along the way?
Fighto!
That is equivalent to having Djokevic vs Federer in Rd 1 of Wimbledon back in the day. Yes - the best player/team will get through, but it robs the fans of potential huge match ups toward the end of the tournament.
A properly run seedlings system is the way to go, as used in football, tennis and just about all sports. A team like England has a pretty soft draw here.
Fighto!
Seedings!