Let's quickly review week one of the Rugby World Cup, what I made of it, and two huge takeaways that I have for the, like, for the game as a whole, actually, to be honest. And it's something I think is really important and I think you know what one of them is, and the other one I think is probably just as important if not even more important. So let's get into it. If you're new here, my name is tj. I'm the guy behind Rugby Muscle. That is the channel that you are watching, but it is also a strength and conditioning company aimed at providing. Uh, world class strength and conditioning to amateur rugby players all around the world. And when I say world class, I don't mean as in like 10, 12 sessions that are perfect every single week. I mean, whatever is needed to best move your needle. So if you're interested in any of that sort of stuff, uh, click the links in the description below to find more. You'll find coaching. You might find programming, but rather than at the minute, we are closing the programs down and we are only providing a coaching service as we are launching a new app. So be on the lookout for that. For now, let's get into Rugby World Cup week one. First, obviously we'll address with France and New Zealand. Um, for me, I mean, there's not too much of a deep dive to make here 'cause New Zealand always score tries so quickly and out of nowhere. They did so in the first 90 seconds and you thought, oof. This could be like a real bit of a letdown for the French, but as I've said about the French before, this isn't the same France, uh, team that we've been dealing with in the past. That might get overruled by the occasion that, uh, didn't rely, didn't, that might not rise to this occasion. I think this is a different France side that we are dealing with. And, um, I think, man, they've got, they, they can only go up from here as well. 'cause this wasn't Like they were still pretty disappointed. They didn't put it all together. A couple of their big stars showed up, but they still got more to come. They still got Jonathan Dante to come back in the team, which I think will make a huge difference for how they want to attack and how they want to play. And with that all being said, they still put New Zealand to the sword. And I think New Zealand, after these last two games have had. I mean, they're still as dangerous as ever and I think you can even look back to them to be, or look back to South Africa in 2019 and potentially think this is what New Zealand could easily be. Because if you think back in 2019, no one was talking about South Africa winning it after that first one, no one realized like they could still step up and New Zealand can still step up, but. They, they need their four to do more of a job and, and they need to step up, but they absolutely can. Second game of the weekend was Ireland absolutely dominating Romania. Romania just, uh, like there's not much we can learn from Ireland, I don't think at all really from that game. Romania just looked completely overwhelmed by them and it's a bit of a shame. 'cause I remember when Romania were in danger of becoming a huge force in world rugby. Like that was, what, 20 years ago or something? They, they were really taking it on and they were taking it to top tier teams. Um, but the reality is like, I dunno what happened with Romania, but even if they did become a force, what happens? What happens to Romania? And I think this is my first huge takeaway from the World Cup is, and it will, we'll get into it with the Australia Georgia game. Which was after that. But it's this idea of tier two teams like tier two, like is a redundant term at this point. It basically openly discriminates against teams, um, and basically holds them back. It's tier two teams are not tier two teams because of how good they are, or they're not good enough to be a tier one team. Like Japan proved it before. Fiji have proven it time and time again. Georgia is starting to prove it here, but it just, I don't understand Why we have this idea of a tier one nation and a tier two nation in place, other than to reinforce the current structures that, that are happening in rugby, a k a, the rugby championship, which I mean Argentina, how long were they a tier two nation before they became a tier one? Same with Italy in the Six Nations. It's just, it seems to just to be a thing that reinforces, uh, a team to not be good enough and will keep them and will hold them back from ever being Uh, as good as they could be tier, like Georgia, for example, in this way, we'll, we'll park Romania and we'll, we'll move on to them after potentially a few more weeks of experience and seeing actually what we can see from them. But Georgia in particular, right? They lost this game not because of outright talent. I think they lost this game because of experience. I feel like they don't have enough experience where the stakes were high. You saw a couple of times where they went in that they actually got over the trial line, but they couldn't convert. Those are things that aren't as important when you're smashing teams week in, week out, or when you're not performing at this higher level, week in, week out. Um, I think they didn't, uh, manage the referee too well. They, they actually, I think Potentially in previous games, you know, where they don't have as good a rev referee, they could get away with stuff that they were, they thought they would get away with, like being offside behind the referees back only a couple yards, but still definitely being offside. Um, and then other such situations where, you know, they're making a mess of the breakdown on other referees, might not cau cause uh, a or give a penalty away for them, but in this one, They definitely did. And I think those penalties added up that, uh, not managing the referee well enough added up. And I think that that cost Georgia, the game, I mean it cost them a chance of being in this game. Australia did play well. They showed their class, but also they showed more to me. They, their experience and not necessarily, you know, everyone's saying this is an inexperienced Australia team, but they've all played super rugby week in, week out. They know what the deal is. Or if they haven't played super rugby, they've been in the top four. This is a good Australia team, and I think you are starting to see that now. They, they are in the same sort of boat as England are in which we'll get into later where. They can make it all the way to the semifinals, and then who knows what they can do from a semifinal. It just require to win. This World Cup doesn't require, I mean, it requires a lot, right? But it just requires stringing a few wins together and someone's gotta do it. Australia could, could they actually do this? Um, and then as far as Georgia, yeah, they looked great, but, um, you know, now they'll look at the, the rest of the group stage. There'll be an eye eye in Fiji up. They'll be eyeing whales up and think that yes, they can still get out, which makes for a really, really exciting. Paul will get into the, uh, whale and Fiji match a little bit later. But you can see that this pool is shaping up to be very interesting, even though both, uh, tier one nations. One out. I think that this is vital experience for teams like Georgia, for teams like Fiji, and they'll only get better as the tournament goes on, whereas potentially Wales, Australia, potentially tier one nations are already trying to peak and they're just trying to hold that peak. These teams are getting better and better as the weeks go on. Um, we'll skip over England real quick because I, I want to talk about my other big takeaway after this, we'll go to Chile versus Japan. Chile, same sort of thing here, like similar to Georgia where, you know, their drills went really well. They, they, the things that they can control went quite well. They played together year round, as I've already mentioned. So they had good cohesion, but I think they just lacked that high level experience. Again, same thing managing the referee. Too many penalties given away, offside, hand in the ruck. Like those sorts of things that they might be getting away of making a niggly ruck, um, When they're playing in their South America League, they just, they just don't seem to be able to manage a referee. And they don't, hopefully they'll learn as the tournament goes on, uh, how to manage these games, but I think that's, that's really gonna hold Chile back. And Chile, their matches only get harder from here. So good luck for them. But again, this is a good experience for them. But it shows how naive they are and they're naive because of this. Like tier one, tier two BSS system that we have in place that, you know, the top level teams will play 10 to 12 plus games a year all at the highest level. Whereas these other teams just don't do that. And I think that's just, I think it's, I think it's bss to be honest. I don't think it's fair. Um, I think. That it just stacks world cups to be really, really predictable. Except for this year, because we've got the Australia, Wales, Fiji, Georgia pool. That's the first time in the World Cup where we've got four teams that outright could qualify and we really don't know. And it could come down to points difference and bonus points and stuff. Whereas previously it's always just been like the top two teams, um, battling it out to see who's gonna get first and who's gonna get second. And then maybe there's a three way With, uh, another tier one team in that, in that pool, but that's it. Whereas this one, we have an exciting pool stage, uh, to prepare for Fells. So get excited for that. Do not get excited though for the red cards. You knew this was coming. You knew that this whole World Cup was going to be influenced by red cards and like, let me start out this sort of rant that I might get into here by saying, I care about concussions. I had to stop playing rugby because I got too many concussions. So I know the impact of concussions. I know that we should be getting rid of them. I know that concussions aren't like, yeah, they're not nice, but the reality is that there are long-term consequences or, or the long-term consequences of concussions come from, not like just one big impact. They come from several sub-concussive impacts. So lots of impacts to the head. That is what gives you like, you know, That's what gives you the long term, uh, deleterious effects of the brain from constant, constant impact. And that comes from old school tactics of full contact at training three times a week, plus then your games, and at that high level where these guys are smashing into each other really hard over and over and over and over again. One head on, head clash is not the, the issue that we're we're trying to get out of here, especially accidental clashes, right? We always hear that safety is the number one important thing for rugby. It's not because otherwise the game of rugby wouldn't be played. That's just, that's just, that's a lie. That's not how, uh, sport works. If you, if you want to be as safe as possible, don't play any sport. Don't play any sport. You can fall over and get injured in a, in a running race and really hurt yourself. Be healthy. Yeah. But don't play any sport if that's, if that's your goal, is your number one priority is safety. Once we accept that number one priority isn't safety, it's having a fun game, and then yes, we want to keep it safe as we can within that context, if within the context of a collision sport, we'll be okay. But accidents just happen, like changing behavior with like what happened here to Tom Curry, right? He's already, he doesn't wanna do this. He doesn't want to smash his head against someone else's head. That hurt his own head, but the fact that someone's coming, flying out of the air from four feet off the ground and coming down, that to me is mitigation. So I don't understand what he's supposed to do about this. I could see the Carrera one where he's taken, he's, he's jumped in the air at a player. He then is out of control of his own body and he's a little bit liable. But again, that's a little, that's just a kind of a, just a bad accident. I I, that to me is worse than the Tom Curry one, and maybe that's me being a biased Englishman, but like that sort of head on head, I dunno how that's a red card. I dunno how the Scotland one a little bit later or the Jesse Krull one a little bit later then wasn't a red card also, but. It's number one, it's consistency. That's pissing a lot of rugby fans off. And then the like, the red cards in general are confusing. People that aren't week in, week out rugby fans, they don't understand. They're like, well this is surely just an accident. How is this supposed to happen? But whatever, these red cards are gonna continue to happen. They continue to be a stain on this World Cup. And the fact that rugby can't accept that it's just a collision sport is, is a bit mind blowing to me. Anyway. With that all being said, whilst red cards will be talking points and they will be big factors in games, they don't necessarily ruin them and they don't necessarily mean a team. If they go down to 14 men, we'll lose. England proved that, right? They played 14 men perfectly. They slowed the game down. They worked extra hard because they had to make up for one guy when they needed to, but they didn't get an extra yellow card, which is key. 15 against 14 can be managed. 15 against 13 is a significant deficit. That's a much bigger deficit. Uh, if you think 15 down to 14 is X percentage, it's even bigger. Going 14 to 13 and 15 to 13 is, is huge. So you see that in, in games where it's not the first red card or the red card that matters. It's the subsequent cards that make it like just, uh, an insurmountable workload that these other players have got to do. But 15 verse 14. Is still manageable. England managed it about as perfect as you could. They worked really hard. They took their rest, they slowed the game down. You saw George Ford taking lots of marks when he needed to. They took their time with their place kicks. They took their time with all of their kicks. They didn't want to speed the game up. They slowed the game down. They stayed in control. They were a hundred percent on their line out. I mean, just a really Steve Borthwick s performance. They did all of their drills as well as they could do. They, they worked as hard as they could, and they, they ground out a, a A pretty dominant win, to be honest, considering that they're 14, they're a man down for the whole game. That's, that's, uh, a, a really something that can be very optimistic, uh, for an England fan. The only concern that we probably have as England fans are that, like the back line still isn't there. They did two. They, I think they made two or three breaks, And I know at least two of them, they just, they just ran into touch. They just shipped it along and then they caught the ball in touch. Like that is like under 14 schoolboy stuff where you just pass past and you're like, oh, I'm off the pitch. That's England's still doing this. I think, I think like this shows to me that, uh, They've got James to build on that. And it shows to me the importance of Farrell when he does come back. I'm pretty sure England have been eyeing up the fact that he's gonna play 12 and George Ford after this performance kind of has to keep his place at 10. And I think that's what England have been going for already. Like that's how they're gonna try and unlock teams is with the, the 10, 12 axis. That's how England's backs always have played the the best. They don't have two creative centers. In fact, you didn't really see the centers in this game. And that might have been because. Mannu was playing most of his game as a back row. So yeah. Interesting stuff. Argentina, on the other hand, well, hate to say I told you so in my predictions, but I told you so, they, they ain't winning this World Cup. They, they play well when they play well. They do have a really good team. They have a lot of talent. If they play really well, they, they turn it on. Yes they can, but like their heads are gone that like, I don't know what they needed to do better. That, that was just, that was awful from them. I think they just don't have it in them quite yet to consistently perform. Not even gonna bring up the tier one, tier two thing. I think they should have just been better. Anyway, um, moving on, what did we have after that? We had, um, we had the, I already spoke about the Chile and um, uh, Japan game. Let's move on to Scotland, South Africa, which was a, I mean, that's exactly what we were expecting from the box. Um, I thought Scotland could have fronted up a little bit more, but it just goes to show it doesn't matter how talented your backside, doesn't matter how nice you play when you, you have good front football and, and you play, you, you can play openly and fast. Like South Africa just killed all of Scotland's momentum and Scotland really did try and front up, but just over and over and over again pounding on that game line and then People mind about this seven one split that they had on the bench. Like if you are, if your forwards are getting through that amount of work, they deserve to be substituted. And then you just bring on more absolutely giant human beings. And I feel bad for Scotland to, you know, when you're, you're, you're knackered. You've been 16 minutes working your ass off, or 15 minutes working your ass off, just. Uh, bring in, you know, trying your best to bring these guys down at some point close to the gain line. And then they just bring on, uh, six more. Uh, they bring on the bomb squad, which, uh, south Africans. Right. But like, explain what the idea of the name of the bomb squad is to me, please. Because to me, a bomb squad, uh, teams, uh, or yeah, is a team of people that come on to diffuse a situation like So that, that's what the bomb squad are, right? They come in to diffuse the bombs, like to calm it all down. There's a bomb there, but let's, let's diffuse this bomb. What, how's that related to giant human beings coming to, let's, we should have a better name for the bomb squad. But anyway, South Africa, dominating Scotland, that was a, that was tough for them. They, they're gonna have to really play it out. Like they've got a, I don't know how, I don't see them overtaking, uh, Ireland in the next one ever. Ireland will be able to dominate them. Not quite. I mean actually I say that right, but I've already taught myself off that ledge because I think Ireland won't suffocate 'em the same way South African can, that the island will try and play a bit of a faster, slightly more controlling game, but with the kicks, but they would also still play fast, which can planes to Scotland's hands. I can see this three-way tie here where, um, Ireland could turn over South Africa. Because I think they do have the physicality to match 'em. And Scotland then could overturn Ireland. But we'll see. Like this is gonna, that's another fun group in this, uh, world Cup. That wasn't you by the way. That was me. I got the email and we'll move on to the final game, which was easily the best game of the World Cup so far. Wales V Fiji, ugh. It's the hope that kills you, uh, uh, both ways. If, if that, if, if Fiji had done that, Wales would've been heartbroken. They've come out and, and they might kick on from here, but it wasn't really a convincing performance. Fiji looked good. They, but Wales didn't look in control in defense or too much in attack. They did, but they did show enough to get it done, and maybe they can kick on from here. And that'll be interesting to see. Fiji on the other hand, um, like Officiating was kind of the, the blame that I've seen on social media. I saw that they, you know, they, I think Wales gave away eight penalties and didn't get a card, and then Fiji gave away one, which was cynical. I can understand why it was done, but man, that, that's rough. That's rough. And I think, I think do think Wells could have got a couple cards earlier. I also think Fiji didn't manage the referee or the game well enough. They, if they'd have taken some of their kicks, Instead of going for the corner, they would've been even closer in this game and they, they would've been able to, uh, reel them in with those tries that they scored at the end. They also, even at the end, wasted a lot of time going for scrums when they didn't need to do that. They needed to, to, you know, um, to tap and go to, to score as fast as possible because they really gave themselves as little chance to win as possible. With that being said, oh, they had the, they had the trial line there. They could have They could have scored and they could have won it. They just didn't need to force that throw. But that's the Fijian way, man. Like live by the sword, die by the sword. And unfortunately this game, they did not get it done. I can see this Fiji team beating Australia though. I could see them beating Georgia. This is gonna be a fun World Cup. Next week we've got not as interesting a games. We've got a couple, I'll potentially preview them if you guys want me to let me know in the comments below what you thought of week one. Uh, I'd love to hear your, your thoughts. What do you think about my big takeaways is tier one T two, like holding rugby back and are these red cards really that stupid? I'd love to hear your comments in the, in the, or. Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. And I'd love to hear what you think about, uh, week two, what's gonna happen in week two, what's gonna happen for the rest of with World Cup? Love to hear back from you. Thumbs up this video if you haven't done so already. Um, subscribe to the podcast if you are listening on the podcast. This. We've got, you know, another two months of this. This is gonna be fun. So thanks for joining me and I'll see you guys in the next one.