8 Reasons You Should Watch The 2015 Rugby World Cup

It is a well-known sporting cliché that everybody loves an underdog. This is what made the Rocky movies so successful, it’s what turned Olympians “Eddie the Eagle” and “Eric the Eel” into cult heroes overnight, and it’s what could potential make this year’s Rugby World Cup a very exciting spectacle. The reason for that is that this year’s underdogs aren’t really as ‘underdoggy’ as in previous tournaments. As I touched on earlier the growth of rugby over the past few years has helped to strengthen some of the lower ranked nations into much more solid, professional teams.

Georgia for instance, a team with only 2 wins in their World Cup history, come into this tournament with a forward pack filled with top level experience. Of the 25 forwards named in their training squad ahead of the World Cup 20 of them currently play for clubs in the top 2 divisions in France. Props Davit Zirakashvili (Clermont) and Levan Chilachava (Toulon) both showed their pedigree playing in last season’s European Rugby Champions Cup final. Whilst not involved in this final, Georgia’s joint top try scorer, flanker Mamuka Gorgodze, also plays for European champions Toulon.

The Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga also pose a threat to the higher seeded teams in their respective groups having further matured as nations since the last World Cup. Over the years the Pacific Islanders have all become much more professional outfits, with better coaching and less of their star players being poached by other nations. The three nations are now threatening to break into the higher tiers of world rugby and this year’s World Cup could well see one of them pull of a shock upset against a higher ranked team in their group.