MARK KEOHANE has cautioned against reading too much into France’s mauling of England, or writing off the Roses as a threat to the Springboks’ crown in France.
, Keohane argues that using performances and results – especially in the abbreviated 2023 Rugby Championship – to gauge of what will happen at the sport’s global showpiece in six months’ time is nonsensical.
“The reality is that a team can have a near-perfect World Cup build-up, in the year of the World Cup or the preceding three years that make up a four-year cycle, and still bomb in the playoffs, and in some cases get whistled out of the tournament because of match officiating and loss of players to yellow and red cards.“Teams and players build momentum in the World Cup, no one match is played in isolation, and a team’s fortunes can be decided by the outcome of another match.
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