Ireland obsess over world rankings because they don’t win trophies
The Springboks will officially sit atop the IRB Rugby World Rankings on Monday, but the true objective of elite sport is to win trophies. Ireland take note.
Do the IRB World Rugby rankings REALLY matter?
Of course, they do, in the sense that they serve as a gauge for a team’s progress and consistency. Higher rankings also make a team’s pathway to the latter stages of a World Cup slightly kinder on paper. However, would you rather top of the rankings forever and not win any trophies, or be the ‘second-best’ team in the world and pick up all of the important accolades? That’s a rhetorical question.
Springboks vs Ireland H2H record
Ireland fans will be the first to point out that they’ve won two of their last three meetings with the world champions Springboks. A tight 25-24 success for the Irish in July at Kings Park is justifiably something for them to jump up and dance about. However, their 13-8 Pool B win over the Boks ended up being, directly or indirectly, fuel for Rassie Erasmus’ side to go and win the trophy.
Belgium’s Red Devils are football’s answer to the Irish rugby team
Belgium was the number one ranked football team in the world for an accumulated 1239 days from September 20, 2018 to February 10, 2022. What do they have to show for it exactly? Zero trophies, zero medals and zero silverware. That’s what the record books will say to their Golden Era players Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and many more.
Wozniacki is an interesting case study too
Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, now 34 years old, spent a total of 71 weeks atop the WTA rankings. In an individual sport, for the most part, rankings are given even more credence in tennis. However, Wozniacki for all of her talent and consistency, only collected one of the four hallowed Grand Slams, down under in Melbourne in 2018 when she vanquished Simona Halep. Wimbledon, Roland Garros, The Australian Open and the US Open are the holy grail for tennis players, and many expected Wozniacki to win considerably more than one slam. On-court career earnings of more than $36 million probably numb some of the pain for the World Number 70, who had to vie for honours in a fiercely competitive era against the likes of Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Simona Halep. Maybe that’s what it feels like for Ireland against the All Blacks and Springboks?
Wozniacki reached two other slam finals, falling to Clijsters in 2009 and Serena in 2014. Her career head-to-head record against Serena Williams reads 10-1 in William’s favour. Then again, Serena’s H2H against everybody is in her favour. That’s what Wozniacki was up against.
Springboks win the medals, Ireland worry about rankings
Readers in South Africa don’t need us to remind them that the Springboks are back-to-back and four-time Rugby World Cup champions. Deep down, do you really care that the Boks haven’t been ranked by the IRB as the planet’s best side for long periods in the last eight years?
Minor nations certainly deserve to celebrate wins
Rankings aren’t just about the elite sides. Haggis wrote:
“It’s more important for the bottom teams in the top tier. If they break into the top bracket, they get bigger opposition, more tests and more money. Look at Georgia, If they could play Six Nations instead of Italy, that would be huge. Otherwise, none of the elite teams really care except Ireland because they haven’t won anything.”
Paddy, a South African now living in London and one of the most ardent Springbok supporters in the galaxy, had this to say (when speaking about Ireland and rankings points):
“This is the only reason why I care about points. Because it’s all that they have to cling to and I love to see it being taken away.”
What is your take on the IRB World Rugby rankings?
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