Rugby World Cup Minnows Win Fans
Smaller Nations Are Exciting the Crowds at France 2007
As the 2007 Rugby World Cup approaches its final stages, the focus shifts from the smaller nations to the traditional powerhouses which dominate the tournament every four years. The ‘minnow’ nations will now either head homewards, rejoin their European club teams or simply kick on in France and take in some of the sights.
The World Cup is like the Olympics in a way. There are no illusions that a nation such as Romania will have a shot at winning the William Webb Ellis Trophy in much the same way that a nation such as Peru will never head the Olympic medal tally. However as with the Olympics, for the smaller nations, participation in the event is what the World Cup embodies.
A World Cup game featuring a powerful rugby nation matched up against a rank outsider displays what rugby is all about. While the stronger nation will no doubt win the contest and please their fans, if the fifteen men from the underdog team can manage to score a try against their foes, it will undoubtedly lead to hysteria amongst their supporters and supporters of rugby in general.
A prime example of this was seen in Cardiff for the Wales versus Australia match during the group stages of the Cup. The pre-game ritual of lubrication in a pub in close proximity to the ground was in full effect. Without a doubt, Wallaby gold and Welsh red filled the establishments to capacity all through central Cardiff. The pre-game entertainment? Well, aside from the entire spectacle that makes up a match day during the World Cup, New Zealand, the unbackable favourites to win the tournament, were giving a rugby lesson to the soccer-mad Portuguese in the televised early match.
One particular moment is sure to have sent shivers up the spine of any hardened rugby fan – when the Portuguese landed a drop goal during the first half, the entire pub roared as one. The Portuguese players celebrated madly, as the winners of the Cup will surely do when the final whistle blows on the night of October 20. The All Blacks still lead the game convincingly, but for that moment, the little man stood up to be counted – and rugby fans all over the world live for moments such as this.
In a sport where the gap between the top nations and the weaker nations is more like a massive chasm, it is extremely refreshing to know that fans of one of the toughest sports in the world still have a soft spot for the underdog.
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