As long as you understand the RWC only starts with the QFs it is not a farce. What goes before is a celebration of the game, with only one significant game in almost a month of rugby.
Rugby is a very predictable sport compared to soccer for example. As we see in the FA Cup all the time....a much lower ranked team can win a one off game in soccer. But it's very rare, even at the soccer WC, for these unheralded teams to progress beyond the pool stages.
So the QFs at the RWC are all but set....ABs, Oz, Boks, France, Ireland, Wales or England, Samoa or Scotland, Bargies. But with a fair measure of doubt in terms of who plays who. That doubt though, is almost always interjected by a pool match between two of the teams listed above. And almost all of the remaining doubt is introduced by the Pool of Death.....ie by pool selection nonsense.
The RWC would be a better contest if it started with a 7 match round robin between the top 8 teams.....followed by a knockout semi and final. This would introduce the added challenge of winning the Cup without dropping a game to any of the Top 8 teams.
Much has been made of desirability of a three match final....fairer perhaps, but the huge vibe around the championship game would be lost.
Would this approa ch be that much better to trump the points Denny makes, to negate the need for rugby to reach out.....doubtful. Although if the US is the biggest prize, just making sure we can watch the game on TV would have far more effect.
