It is difficult for sports other than football to run compelling World Cups because not enough countries play the game to make it truly global – or not to the required standard anyway. Even the rugby union World Cup, which has on the whole been a success and concludes on Saturday with a heavyweight final between New Zealand and current champions South Africa, has had problems making every match count. There have been classic encounters – the quarter-finals between France and South Africa and Ireland and New Zealand will live long in the memory – but also pointless (literally for some teams) drubbings. France 96 Namibia 0; Scotland 84 Romania 0; England 71 Chile 0. Such matches offer little to players or spectators, and merely emphasise the gulf between rugby-playing nations. Even Italy, a “tier one” rugby-playing country, were hammered 96-17 by New Zealand.
That said, there has been much to savour, and, despite carping in some quarters about the quality of the TV coverage, ITV and, in Wales, S4C have done a largely excellent job of showcasing the event for the domestic audience. There are suggestions that from 2027 the Rugby World Cup may not be shown free to air in the UK. That would be a disaster for rugby fans, but also for the sport itself. The Faustian trade-off between short-term cash from lucrative TV broadcasting deals and the long-term profile that mass exposure on free‑to-air TV gives to a sport is a dangerous one.
