Well, it is finally here after 4 long years, the 2015 Rugby World Cup...now in this blog, I'll preview about the upcoming 2015 Rugby World Cup being held in England as well as telling the history of both Rugby and previous World Cups.
But 1st off, it is #rugbyworldcup fever time in #england as it plays host to this years tournament so I will give you the full rundown on all the 20 teams competing in the Pools:
Pool A: Australia/Wallabies (Rugby Championship winners of 2015 led by the incomparable hooker Stephen Moore and coached by the highly controversial Michael Cheika), England (The hosts captained by Chris Robshaw with Stuart Lancaster being the coach), Wales (Sam Warburton is the captain while New Zealander Warren Gatland is the coach), Fiji (Crusaders star player Nemani Nadolo is the danger man) & Uruguay (Who hasn't been competing at the World Cup since 2003)
Pool B: South Africa/Springboks (Led by the influential Jean de Villiers & coached by Heyneke Meyer), Samoa (Featuring Chiefs player & Sonny Bill Williams cousin, Tim Nanai-Williams), Scotland (Also featuring NZ born player Sean Maitland coached by Big Vern Cotter), Japan (And also featuring halfback Fumiaki Tanaka who plays for the Highlanders as well as the team being coached by Australian Eddie Jones because he is of Japanese descent) & the United States (Chris Wyles is the skipper)
Pool C: New Zealand/All Blacks (Defending world champions led by World Cup Winner Richie McCaw and coached by Steve Hansen who took over from Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry), Argentina (Captained by Agustin Creevy), Tonga (Nili Latu is the captain), Georgia (Led by Mamuka Gorgodze) & Namibia (Jacques Burger is the skipper)
Pool D: France (Led by Thierry Dusautoir and coached by Philippe Saint-Andre), Ireland (Six Nations Champions captained by Paul O'Connell with another New Zealander Joe Schmidt being the coach), Italy (Sergio Parisse is the captain), Canada (Led by Tyler Ardron and coached by ex All Black Kieran Crowley) & Romania (Mihai Macovei is the skipper).
And who is going to win it? We will find it out, once the tournament's over before we know it, but all will be revealed.
And yes the game was indeed invented by William Webb Ellis the great who invented the game by picking up and ran the ball with it because it was against the rules in football/soccer so a new sport was created way back then.
The 1st World Cup was held back in 1987 with the All Blacks dominated the tournament in which they beat Italy (Including that all time great try from John Kirwan as well as Michael Jones scoring the 1st genuine try of the World Cup because the very 1st try of the World Cup was a penalty try), Fiji and Argentina in the pool games before taking on Scotland in the quarterfinals in which they won and Wales in the semifinals (Huw Richards got sent off for throwing that punch before Wayne 'Buck' Shelford threw a punch on Richards which went unpunished) before clashing with traditional rivals France (Who beat Australia with a desperate last minute try scored by Serge Blanco) in the final moments before New Zealand beat France 29 - 9 (With some great tries being scored by captain David Kirk as well as Kirwan) to win the very 1st ever Rugby World Cup title with Kirk lifting the World Cup title as seen on national television.
And then in 1991 (The year that I was born), the All Blacks world cup curse had begun, losing to eventual champions Australia in the semifinal who beat hosts England in the final...then in 1995, disaster struck as New Zealand (Which featured rugby's 1st global superstar, Jonah Lomu) failed to regain the crown (With several players fell victim to food poisoning with the exception of captain Sean Fitzpatrick and the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan), losing to debutants and hosts South Africa in the final in which united the host country as well as their leader Nelson Mandela, but in 1999, the All Blacks took on rivals and eventual runners up France (Who lost to the eventual champions Australia) in the semifinal but nek minute, they were torn sky blast apart from the French who enjoyed an insane amount of rugby during the 2nd half and then in 2003, something went wrong for the All Blacks during the semifinals as Stirling Mortlock's intercept try for the Wallabies ended New Zealand's hopes of reaching the World Cup final, which was won by England and in 2007 during the quarterfinals, France terminated the All Blacks dream of winning the World Cup just like as it was repeating the heroics way back in '99 through a blatant forward pass not seen by English referee Wayne Barnes (Although South Africa won the tourney beating England in the final).
And so on in 2011, the All Blacks opened with a win over the kingdom of Tonga (Who hijacked us at the start) at Eden Park in Auckland (41 - 10) followed by Japan at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton 83 - 7 (The night before the mighty green throng of Ireland turned the tables on Australia, causing an upset), then France in Auckland (37 - 17) with captain Richie McCaw becoming the 1st All Black to reach 100 test caps followed by beating Canada at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington 79 - 15 (The day after Tonga providing another upset victory over France as well as Dan Carter, who was ruled out of the tournament altogether with a groin injury), then it is quarter final time as we scraped Argentina 33 - 10 in Auckland (Although Colin Slade suffered an injury similar to Dan Carter's), then finally beating against our traditional Trans Tasman rivals Australia (Who defeated South Africa in the quarter final which was better off forgotten) in the semifinal 20 - 6 (It was the night after the French flair titans (Who gave England the chop in the quarterfinal) defeated the Welsh (Who had beaten the mighty green throng in the quarters) in the other semifinal in which Sam Warburton got sent off for that famous spear tackle) before we once again took on France in the final, just as it was back in 1987, with the weight of the nation above our shoulders (Although Stephen 'Beaver' Donald was called up in the last minute whilst he was white baiting, YA GOT THAT!! WHITEBAITING), we have won us the CUP!!! HAIL TO THE KING BABY!!! I'VE GOT BALLS OF STEEL!!! And yeah, not only that we have ended our Rugby World Cup curse after 24 years of agony and pain, as if, not ONLY we beat France 8 - 7, we have managed to lift the World Cup trophy, not only because it is the greatest moment of my life.
P.S. England has just opened up their RWC campaign with a win over Fiji 35 - 11 with fullback Mike Brown claiming man of the match honours as well as the All Blacks had already named their team to play against Argentina in our bid to retain the William Webb Ellis trophy with several players making their World Cup debut in the starting lineup including hooker Dane Coles, lock Brodie Retallick, halfback Aaron Smith, wingers Julian Savea & Nehe Milner-Skudder & fullback Ben Smith. And on the bench is props Wyatt Crockett & Charlie Faumuina, openside flanker Sam Cane, halfback TJ Perenara & 1st five eighth Beauden Barrett.
