Rugby World Cup 2023 – Day 17 highlights
South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has played down the suggestion that Scotland and Ireland would match-fix in order to ensure that both teams advance to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup at his side’s expense. The defending champions defeated Tonga 49-18 to claim a bonus point and go top of Pool B, but there is a chance that they could still be sent home.
The top three in Pool B can still see any of the three teams finish first, second or third depending on Saturday’s blockbuster clash between Ireland and Scotland. Having played all of their matches, South Africa lead on 15 points but are only one ahead of Ireland and five ahead of third-placed Scotland.
Speaking about the permutations ahead of the final weekend of Pool games, Nienaber said: “I think between ourselves, Ireland and Scotland, everybody can still miss out on the quarter-finals, every single team, all three of those teams, but all three can also still make it so the Pool will only be decided on Saturday.”
Nienaber’s team could finish third if Scotland pick up five match points, Ireland claim one and there is a margin of 21+ points in Scotland’s victory. He was then bizarrely asked about the possibility that Ireland and Scotland could collude and agree to play out a specific scoreline that would see both teams go through to the quarter-finals, eliminating South Africa.
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Nienaber replied: “Could I believe in a scenario that they will decide ‘do we want to get this amount of points and then get South Africa out of the way?’ That would probably be match-fixing, I would say. I hope not. Rugby is clean. We wear those t-shirts so hopefully not because that would be extremely disappointing.”
If Scotland do finish top of the Pool on points difference, with all teams on 15 points, second place would be decided on head-to-head and considering Ireland defeated South Africa earlier in the competition – South Africa would be sent home.
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Scotland have, however, failed to get the better of Ireland since 2017 as Andy Farrell’s team have gone on to become the world No 1 side – as they showcased their credentials as one of the World Cup’s favourites by defeating South Africa 13-8 earlier in the tournament.
No member of either camp has spoken about the prospect of match-fixing at this stage, but they would likely repeat the similar line as Nienaber that there is no possibility of such collusion occurring.
Any team or individual that engages in match-fixing would be subject to a significant punishment by World Rugby, while teams have been decked out in ‘Keep Rugby Clean’ shirts throughout the tournament to further highlight the governing body’s willingness to keep corruption out of the sport.
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