By Paul Cook Fiji left the last World Cup with a glowing reputation having knocked out Wales in the pool stages before pushing the eventual champions South Africa to the brink in a pulsating Quarter-Final and becoming everyone’s second team in the process. Things appeared to be very much on track again a year out [...]

By Paul Cook Canada are one of the stalwarts of World Cup rugby, being one of only three countries outside the Six Nations and The Rugby Championship powerhouses to feature in every tournament (alongside Japan and Romania) and have consistently proven themselves as one of the second tier’s most combative of opponents. However, their renowned [...]

By Paul Cook The USA Eagles had only recorded two victories at Rugby World Cups prior to this year’s tournament but with playing numbers on the rise in the country, an increasing number of players carving out a career in some of the biggest leagues in the world and with former Irish head coach Eddie [...]

By Paul Cook In a little under eight years time, the Rugby World Cup circus will pitch it’s tents on unchartered territory. Japan 2019 sees the first move of the game’s showpiece tournament away from the traditional powerhouses of Europe and the Southern Hemisphere’s big three in an attempt to take the game to all [...]

By Paul Cook Historically, major sporting clashes between the USA and Russia were once played out on an ice hockey rink. In recent years, basketball has provided the arena for two of the biggest countries on the planet to seek sporting dominance over the other while soccer has also joined the fray with the advances [...]

By Paul Cook The fact of their very inclusion in this particular set of World Cup reviews will be reminder enough to Scotland fans of a tournament in which their side failed to live up to the promise shown under Andy Robinson’s guiding hand in the last few years. For the first time in their [...]

By Paul Cook So, the party’s over for another 4 years and we can get back to the constant cycle of ‘building for the World Cup’ again. The slate is wiped clean, recent failings can be consigned to history and fresh hope for a new dawn that will ultimately end in triumph in England 2015 [...]