“Why, oh why, have European teams not done better at World Cups?”
JUST CONSIDER for a moment how much time and finance has been expended by the six major European rugby nations in the cause of World Cup preparation over the years. The four home union teams plus France and Italy have spent millions upon millions; they have often been away in perma-camp in preparation – high altitude, low altitude, hot weather and cold weather, endless repetitions, gurus brought in, charlatans kicked out, endless optimism.
The six teams have between them announced hundreds of pre-World Cup squads and loads of official World Cup squads. They have fretted through years of preparation and told us all that the main goal was to win the World Cup, or at least compete with honour in the big one.
Given their playing numbers and financial resources, they have failed. Only England and France could be said to have done themselves anything like justice in World Cups having each reached three finals, and even then the latter haven’t won one. It’s all rather pitiful. Rightly, the southern hemisphere, never slow to make fun, have been taunting Europe’s heavyweights for years.
Of the eight World Cups to date, notoriously the North have won just once. England’s victory in
