On 27 March 1871, Scotland and England played the first international rugby match. That was almost half a century later William Webb Ellis He decided to take a football in his hands and run with it towards his opponent’s court. Unwittingly, the 17-year-old has just invented a sport that is played all over the planet today and whose ultimate expression – the World Cup – is one of the most extraordinary sporting competitions with the greatest impact in different fields (starting with the economic one, of course). The story of Webb Ellis is firmly rooted in sports folklore, is not supported by substantial evidence, and is rejected by most historians. But it’s part of the legend.
What is not a myth is concrete data. A rugby tournament was held for the first time in a World Cup 1987long after other team sports had organized their first ecumenical tournament. Football played its first World Cup in 1930, handball in 1938, volleyball in 1949, and basketball a year later; Going back in time, so did hockey in 1971, and even water polo in 1973. That means the last one happened 14 years before New Zealand and Australia put together 16 teams for the first time to play in a World Cup tournament that was drawn “by hand” and with federations that weren’t even affiliated with an international organization uniting them.
It’s been 22 months since the start of the 2027 Australian Rugby Championship Sydney The draw for the 11th World Cup, in which Los Pumas will participate for the 11th time The tournament, which will include 24 teams for the first time.
The first reading is that The balls were good To whom is chosen who directs Felipe Contepomi. Although in the previous round it was assumed that falling into Group E was for the better because the former would not face another winner until the semi-finals, doing so in the box with Fiji, Spain and Canada certainly brought a half-smile to the national team staff.
Among the options that were in Pot 2, that is, in the group that included the teams located between the seventh and twelfth places in the world rankings, Fiji It wasn’t the easiest choice but it was a good one. For Los Pumas, Italy or Japan were best, but Fig not Australia (also local), Scotland or Wales. Although Argentina has beaten all three teams this year, they will certainly be better prepared for the World Cup than Fiji, which does not have as much control over its players because the best play at clubs that do not often allow them to go represent their country. The point we have to keep in mind regarding Fiji is this He will challenge Los Pumas to be more strategic in their attacking play and give a higher priority to scoring goals and footwork Looking to acquire land without risking too much. Because today the team feels strong with this dynamism and attack intensity. This is exactly the DNA of Fijian rugby. Chaos and chaos is a friendly and familiar context for them, although today’s Los Pumas can adapt to that and will certainly prepare that match in advance to arrive with a very clear strategy.
Fiji will be the toughest competitor anyway. It will be the only team that can give up first place in the group. They are a team with remarkable improvement, with unbalanced players in one-on-one matches, and they are also performing very well at important European clubs. But they are inconsistent and inconsistent mentally and in managing matches (sometimes it is difficult for them to close them), although they are more solid than they were in the past in fixed formations. This violation was seen in the window last November when they lost 21-0 to France, tied but lost in the end. In the last World Cup, for example, they left the Wallabies out of the first stage, no less. In the quarter-finals, they were very close to dealing another blow to England, their opponents, whom they lost by only six points.
Spain and Canada They shouldn’t even complicate some Pumas with replacements. The Spaniards have an Argentine coach with a past in the national team. It’s about Rosario Pablo Boza. Several compatriots are also part of the team: Estanislao Bey, Gonzalo López Bontempo, Iñaki Mateo, Matignano Cian, Federico Castiglione, Santiago Ovejero, Joaquín Domínguez and Vicente Borronat. They will be playing their second World Cup after the already distant experience of Wales 1999, and they will do so after being eliminated twice in a row in the last two tournaments due to poor player recruitment. It’s not hard league rugby to grow that much in a couple of years. Canada is rebuilding. It is a team that knew how to play head-to-head in the second level, but it lost World Cup qualifiers to Chile or Uruguay, for example. That’s why he shouldn’t be a threat either. Neither of them can handle the physicality and pace of Argentina, nor do they have the physical ability to dominate Los Pumas in contact, in the crowd and at the line (maybe Spain, with Boza, can complicate things a little at the line). But there will be two matches to win with rewards and even resting key players if necessary.
After the first stage, Los Pumas will get “Mata Mata”. And in the round of 16 – if the group is obtained, of course – there will be a third best chili, Samoa also Tonga. None of them would be a difficult opponent. chili He was also unable to face a second national team, and in fact, in the last World Cup, Argentina beat him by more than 50 points It will not be a threat. Samoa and Tonga They can get important players back for Australia 2027, but under no circumstances can the elite players concede victory. However, these will be games and must be played. There may be exceptional circumstances, such as weather or eviction, for example, but nothing should complicate matters.
Already in the quarter-finals, Ireland also Scotland They will be tougher opponents and we will have to see how each of them fares come World Cup time. But knowing that Los Pumas will not play with him until the final match South Africa, New Zealand (The Springboks and All Blacks could play an early introduction into the quarter-finals) or France That England will only appear in the semi-finals only confirms how positive the draw is.
However, there is one concrete fact: the Rugby World Cup draw was held almost two years before kick-off in Perth on Friday 1 October 2027. At this time of opening up, anything can happen. That is why it is better to analyze the present. Today, he says Contepomi and his players can rest assured. There will be no “cuckoo” on the initial path. It’s to celebrate.