Rugby World Cup 2015: Winners and Losers from Saturday's Final Pool A Games
The overall winners and losers from Pool A were decided following confirmation of England’s exit from the Rugby World Cup 2015, but the games from October 10 provided further conquerors and conquered.
Australia finished top of the pool at the expense of Wales, but was England’s victory over Uruguay enough to make them winners this week?
Winner: Australia’s Defence
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Australia’s defence, particularly when the Wallabies were a man down for 13 minutes and two down for eight minutes, was extraordinary. It was the best 13 minutes from any side at the World Cup so far.
As per BBC Sport, Australia made a total of 126 tackles, compared to Wales’ 69.
Wales captain Sam Warburton summed up the effort of the Wallaby rearguard, as cited by news.com.au: “We threw absolutely everything at Australia, and you have to give them a lot of credit, their defence in their 22 was outstanding.”
Losers: Liam Williams and Wales
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Liam Williams’ injury nightmare struck one again. The versatile Welsh back-three player came into the World Cup struggling for fitness, and he was taken off against Uruguay, England and now Australia.
His participation in the quarter-final against South Africa has to be in grave doubt, with coach Warren Gatland describing it to the BBC as more “serious” than the knock sustained by centre Jamie Roberts.
With the Springboks looming, Wales can hardly afford another injury blow.
Loser: Israel Folau
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Folau was declared fit for this Pool A decider, but he was troubled by injury throughout.
He was off-colour for most of the game: Positionally, he was all over the place, letting high balls bounce and unable to gather up-and-unders from Dan Biggar and Gareth Anscombe.
One break on 69 minutes led to a decisive three-pointer from Bernard Foley, but with Kurtley Beale more than able to deputise at full-back, was Folau worth the risk?
His participation in the quarter-final against Scotland must have been jeopardised.
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Winner and Loser: England
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On the last round of fixtures alone, England were neither winners nor losers. A victory against a side ranked 19th coming into the World Cup was nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory.
But, by beating Uruguay 60-3, they did at least avoid suffering the ignominy of what would have been sports' greatest upset.
Winner and Loser: Uruguay
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Uruguay, like England, were neither exclusively winners nor losers after the final fixture of Pool A of the Rugby World Cup.
Having not registered a victory, Los Teros are not winners, but to label them as losers would be harsh on the South Americans. Drawn in Pool A—the "Group of Hell"—Uruguay didn’t stand a chance.
Uruguay are improving. To give a bit of context, in 2003, Uruguay conceded 111 points and 17 tries to a changed England side.
What Uruguay did manage to do in 2015 was to leave the World Cup with their heads held high: This was their best-ever showing in the toughest possible setting.
Uruguay, as such, were winners and losers.
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