Best player
It is a sure sign of a fiercely contested category – and an outstanding tournament – when Australia’s David Pocock and Fiji’s Leone Nakarawa have to settle for a mere podium place. Nothing though has eclipsed Japan’s win over South Africa in Brighton for shock value, and no one contributed more to that sensational result than Ayumu Goromaru. The full-back did not even make his country’s squad four years ago but has been a rock for the Brave Blossoms, scoring 24 of his side’s 34 points against the Springboks, including a wonderfully-worked try in the right corner. Now 29 years old, he made his international debut a decade ago but is finally fulfilling his huge potential under Eddie Jones’s stewardship. His goal-kicking is coolness personified and, as South Africa discovered, he shows equal assurance with ball in hand. On top of everything else, his last-gasp cover tackle on Scotland’s Tommy Seymour at Kingsholm ranks among the defensive highlights of the tournament so far. This will be remembered as the year the so-called tier two nations cast off their underdog status; Goromaru, along with his team-mates Michael Leitch and Fumiaki Tanaka, has been at the heart of this oval-shaped cultural revolution. RK
Best try
For swashbuckling style, Vereniki Goneva’s try for Fiji against Wales stood out, Asaeli Tikoirotuma dummying away from his own 22 and starting a slalom run that scattered the defence before finding his fellow wing Timoci Nagusa with a basketball pass. Nagusa ran diagonally, leaving tacklers in his trail, before freeing Goneva with an inside pass. For precision under pressure, Bernard Foley’s second try for Australia against England, a one-two with Kurtley Beale, also caught the eye, but for execution, Ayumu Goromaru’s try for Japan against South Africa was perfection, an inside-out move from a lineout that left the Springboks wondering whether they were playing in the right tournament. PR
Best tackle
Japan had beaten South Africa in Brighton and now faced Scotland in Gloucester. The team, traditionally the lightest and shortest at the World Cup, were given all of four days’ rest between these games against two of the heaviest and tallest. They surprised Scotland, however, at an early lineout, drove, scored and briefly held the lead. From then on, Scotland dominated, stopping Japan where South Africa had let them through and hurting them with concerted drives. As half-time approached, it was clear the game would soon be up. Japan had every reason to save themselves for games they could win against Samoa and the USA. Scotland, on the stroke of the interval, created an overlap and their wing, Tommy Seymour headed for the corner. Then came the second act of defiance. Ayumu Goromaru had excelled in attack against South Africa, scoring one of the tries of the tournament. Now the full-back made the tackle of his life, hitting Seymour at full speed and at full stretch and putting him out of play. Japan would lose and they would not make the last eight, but this has been their World Cup. EB
Best fans
The Scots in Newcastle were wonderful if only for their staying power, but the memory of the pool stages is the Shed, normally so Cherry and White, turning pale blue and white for the day when Argentina met Georgia in Gloucester. The Pumas ran in six second-half tries, before their supporters showed the locals how to celebrate. Kingsholm isn’t used to seeing two men dancing the tango outside Teague’s bar. They kept on celebrating at Leicester, with Diego Maradona centre stage. Best Pack (volunteers who help at ground): St James’ Park, while Mark of LA Taxis, Newcastle, gets a special mention as most helpful cabbie. MA
Best quip
This has to be referee Nigel Owens’ withering put-down of Scotland’s Stuart Hogg, who had attempted to win a penalty by diving during his side’s Pool B defeat to South Africa. Given that Scotland were playing the Springboks at St James’ Park, home to Newcastle United, Owens ticked off Hogg and suggested his antics would be better suited to when Premier League football returned to the stadium. Hogg, looking sheepish, had no answer. Owens said: “There was nothing wrong with it [the tackle]. If you want to dive like that again, come back here in two weeks and play, not today. Watch it.” JR
Best atmosphere
Those who were there on that balmy, barmy September day at the Brighton Community Centre when Japan defeated South Africa could barely hear themselves think when Karne Hesketh dived over to clinch that impossible 34-32 triumph. But they weren’t the only senses that were wildly scrambled on a day where Japan, who could be backed at 439-1 during the game, caused not only the greatest upset in rugby history but arguably in sporting history too. I missed that game, but from a personal perspective, the first rugby union match at the new Wembley – between New Zealand and Argentina – also had a lively old atmosphere. It’s not often you hear a Wembley crowd cheering the Argentinian national anthem. And for large periods of the game the majority of the 89,019 crowd were firmly behind the Pumas too. Altogether now: “Y ya lo ve / y ya lo ve / El que no salta / es un ingles!” – “Now you see, now you see! He who doesn’t jump is an Englishman!” SI
Funniest moment
Jamie Cudmore attempting to infiltrate the French lineout huddle.
Canada’s notorious enforcer is not a man you associate with wiles. He
sells wines called things like ‘sin bin’ and ‘red card’, and he brings
what might euphemistically be called an aggressive physicality to
his work. That’s what made it particularly delicious when he decided
to take a more subtle approach against France. The French-speaking
Canadian, one of the few players in the World Cup who can decode their
lineout calls, found an opportunity to wander oh-so-innocently into
their discussions, sticking his head into their huddle as if he was
just another team-mate. He was getting away with it too – until the TV
cameras captured a French arm reaching out from off-screen and enthusiastically plucking him away. EJ
Biggest surprise
Easiest category of the lot. Does anything even need to be written here? When a sporting competitor of any kind is given odds before the off of 349-1, or when a rugby team is awarded a handicap of 43 points, it is not just the bookies’ way of saying there is absolutely no prospect of the underdog prevailing here, it is the very fabric of the known universe’s. Japan’s win over South Africa was the biggest surprise of this World Cup. And of this sport, this planet, this particular stretch of the space-time continuum. We will never see its like again in our lifetime. It was a privilege to witness. MAy
Best anecdote
Where to start? We’ve had a proposal at Wembley, an enraged South African sports minister, bizarre tales of England coaches-cum-horse whisperers and uplifting messages of support from victorious coaches to the vanquished. But how can we look beyond the greatest shock in the sport’s history? With an army of supporters Japan were already popular in Brighton but after defeating the Springboks were instantly VIPs at their hotel, given a guard of honour by the staff. On the subject of hotels, Wales’s ghost story is curious but back to the Brave Blossoms and it was equally uplifting to hear of South Africa supporters also giving their Japanese counterparts a guard of honour at the train station. But in Akihito Yamada we have a winner. Surviving a Springboks onslaught is one thing but Yamada went swimming off the south coast to celebrate Japan’s victory, was promptly stung by a weever fish and missed the subsequent clash with Scotland. “I’m never going in the ocean again,” he lamented. GM
One lesson for 2019
Bundling three of world’s top 10 teams into one group because you made the draw three years before was a bad mistake, but the bigger lesson to take away from the last three weeks is that the better the lower-ranked teams play, the more enjoyable the tournament is. World Rugby has done some good work supporting development in the tier two nations, investing £50m in the last three years to help pay for coaches and other support staff. But when the tournament starts, the odds still seem to be stacked in favour of the tier one sides. That’s reflected in some of the refereeing, the disparity in the severity of the bans given to players, and the scheduling of short turnarounds between matches against top teams. Lurking in the background, too, the open secret that some European club sides are signing Pacific Islanders up to contracts which stipulate that they have to quit playing international rugby. The playing field isn’t level yet. It needs to be. AB
