The last image, the one that we will remember from this 2023 Rugby World Cup, is not the one wanted by the French people: the Springboks celebrating the reconquest of the Webb Ellis trophy on the pitch of the Stade de France after painfully beating – this team could not win otherwise – New Zealand in the final of a World Cup promised to the French XV. It must have been Dupont, Ollivon, Baille, Penaud, Ramos, etc. on this platform. Small consolation, these five men will have the privilege of appearing in the World Rugby team of the year. A beautiful leg, as they say.
The time of frustration will take time to fade, but there is a moment when it must give way to the lucid and global observation which, beyond the failure of Fabien Galthié’s team, is not that bad. Let it be said, this 2023 World Cup was rather nice and even a success one year before the Paris 2024 Olympics, which will be of a completely different scale. So, what to remember from the event? The refereeing, the unbalanced groups, the audiences, the smooth running of the matches? A little bit of everything at once.
Security: Mission accomplished, to be confirmed in 2024
This World Cup was an opportunity to restore (a little) the French image internationally, particularly in its ability to manage a sporting event of this size and to – by chance – not gas English supporters who do not hadn’t asked anyone. In short, we had to wash away the insult of the 2021 Champions League final. In that, the mission is accomplished, despite hiccups the first weekend: fans missed the first minutes of their matches in Marseille and Bordeaux, let’s not forget it. The World Cup organizing committee and the authorities did not fail to applaud each other at the end of two well-executed months.
We have reassured, we have sharpened ourselves, we have in total a system in terms of security which has been extremely robust despite a particularly demanding context”, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, on FranceInfo.
The means to ensure the security of the Olympic Games next year and its unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine in Paris will be “tenfold” compared to those mobilized for the Rugby World Cup, the Minister of Defense said on Sunday. Interior Gérald Darmanin, recalling that “11,000” members of the police and “around 3,000 municipal police officers” had been mobilized “every day”. He said there had been “500 bomb threats” during the Rugby World Cup and “only 3% failure of private security”.
Economy: Fire hearings, 600,000 foreigners welcomed in France, massive beer sales…
A micro-disappointment in an ocean of satisfaction in terms of audiences: there was no absolute record for a match of the XV of France during this 2023 World Cup. The France-South Africa match nevertheless made a hit with 62% audience share and 16.5 million people in front of their TV. It’s good, very good even, but not at the level of France-England 2007 which brought together 18.3 million viewers in front of their screens, with a peak of 20 million. On the other hand, the final will have broken down a barrier, that of the number of viewers watching a match without the French XV: 10.9 million viewers were on TF1 on Saturday evening, with a peak at 12.7 million spectators for 50%. audience share. Not too bad for a country supposed to have lost taste for life and rugby after the elimination of the Blues.
To stay on economic considerations, note that France welcomed 600,000 foreigners on its soil throughout the World Cup. The economic benefits are estimated at 2 billion euros in profits by the president of the GIP Jacques Rivoal, cited by Capital. Finally, the information you were all waiting for: according to Midol, 137,000 50 cl glasses of beer consumed. Consumption of beer “twice as much” as usual for Irish supporters which had to be “eliminated” which caused more cleaning than usual.
Game: An unenthusiastic winner, semi-finals not up to par
There are signs that are hardly misleading: despite their final victory, the Springboks were almost not represented in the XV of the year at the Rugby Awards, dominated by the French. Only the 2nd row Eben Etzebeth appears in the lot. Not that it was worth much, in the end the South Africans brought the Cup home, and that’s all that matters. But this reinforces the idea of a lackluster victory and winners without consideration for the beautiful game. If we are nice or even fond of blinders, we will say that the rotten weather at the end of the tournament did not really help.
Neither is the draw. A special mention for the infamous picture in the semi-finals, fortunately saved by the unexpected resurrection of the Englishman on the verge of finding himself in the final due to a misunderstanding. But that the Argentines, far from their best level, found themselves playing for the podium when the French and the Irish were already eliminated is nonsense in itself. As such, the premature draw for the World Cup was widely denounced. The authorities have heard this, although the draw for the 2027 World Cup is scheduled for January 2026. 20 months in advance is still too much, but better than nothing.
Arbitration: Never has it taken up so much space in the media space
New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe has become in the space of two weeks the best-known referee in the rugby world, and not for the better. His more or less proven role in the elimination of the French XV, with three obvious errors out of five detected by World Rugby supervisors, did not help him to make friends here. Some idiots saw fit to harass and threaten the guy, as a bonus.
In the final, Wayne Barnes distinguished himself by drawing yellow cards like a cowboy, one of them turning red after Sam Cane passed through the bunker. An inconsistent decision in the eyes of observers compared to the treatment of Kolisi’s similar foul on Savea, only penalized with a yellow. “We saw two similar situations in the match, but one was penalized with a red, the other with a yellow,” lamented Ian Foster after the match. It’s quite painful, and I don’t mean that as a sore loser. This is a problem that needs to be resolved. » Before it goes in all directions, like in a sport with which rugby does not like to be compared.