{"id":620080,"date":"2025-12-08T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/620080\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:00:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T13:00:17","slug":"ex-ireland-star-says-rugby-world-cup-format-is-absolute-dog-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/620080\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Ireland star says Rugby World Cup format is \u2018absolute dog s***\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retired Ireland star Donncha O\u2019Callaghan has blasted the new Rugby World Cup format \u2013 even though the draw for Australia 2027 has opened up a favourable route for Andy Farrell\u2019s side to reach the final and break their duck of never progressing past the quarter-finals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the pools now six groups of four rather than four groups of five to accommodate the decision to increase the number of teams from 20 to 24, O\u2019Callaghan claimed there was now \u201czero interest\u201d in the pool stages as none of the half-dozen groups could be classed as a pool of death.<\/p>\n

For instance, under the old format, Scotland<\/a> were eliminated in 2023 after pool stage losses to South Africa and Ireland<\/a>, and Argentina made a pool stage exit in 2019 following group defeats to England and France.<\/p>\n

That type of jeopardy doesn\u2019t exist for the 2027 tournament<\/a> due to the recalibrated pool format, and O\u2019Callaghan also took issue with the newly added round of 16, fearing it will result in too many one-sided knockout fixtures because some weak teams will have qualified with just one pool win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to go like Europe\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2009 Six Nations Grand Slam winner, who twice toured with the British and Irish Lions, played at three Rugby World Cups with Ireland, including 2007 when they were eliminated following pool defeats to France and Argentina.<\/p>\n

However, with the jeopardy element now removed from the revised pool format for 2027, O\u2019Callaghan pulled no punches in voicing his criticism of the change on The Offload<\/a>, the podcast he co-hosts with Tommy Bowe, another retired Ireland and Lions star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have zero interest,\u201d he said, reflecting on the expanded 2027 tournament. \u201cI know we kind of have to get behind it, but I just think the new format is absolute dog s***. Just look at it, a round of 16 in the World Cup, it is going to go like Europe [the Champions Cup]. You are going to be able to get there by winning just one match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what other sport do everyone outside it start predicting the route to the final. That doesn\u2019t happen in the soccer. I know they want to include more teams but look at it, Hong Kong lost to Portugal by 50 points [58-12 last month] and see what we did to Portugal in the summer [106-7]. Are we not better off giving those teams the money they were going to get for the World Cup and just saying, \u2018Get better in the time being in some way\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby World Cup draw: Five takeaways as Ireland handed \u2018best opportunity\u2019 to end hoodoo amid another \u2018lopsided\u2019 tournament benefiting England<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

State of the Nation: Ireland need \u2018collective rethink\u2019 after \u2018falling behind\u2019 on back of Andy Farrell\u2019s \u2018costly Lions sabbatical\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan went on to mock the publicity generated by Ireland getting drawn in the same pool as Scotland for the third successive World Cup. Unlike in 2019 and 2023, where there was jeopardy and the Scots were eliminated following respective losses to Japan\/Ireland and Ireland\/South Africa, there is zero chance that Scotland and Ireland won\u2019t be the two teams qualifying from a 2027 pool that also includes Uruguay and Portugal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bananas,\u201d he continued. \u201cEveryone is trying to make it a thing that Ireland and Scotland are in the group together; well, we\u2019re both sailing through and we\u2019ll play Georgia and we will play someone else and then we get to the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to slag it off because I know we need to broaden the game. We do need more people playing the game, but this isn\u2019t the way to do it. What are we going to have? We are going to have someone bop someone and who is interested in that?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now you are probably not interested at all. To be fair, there used to always be one pool of death and that was us last time with Scotland and South Africa. It would have landed for someone and at least that\u2019s interesting, but can you say you have any interest in watching now until the quarter-finals?<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there any point watching the pool stages if you can qualify on one win? I\u2019m turning into Victor Meldrew. Sorry. I wish I could get excited about the World Cup. It\u2019s in two years\u2019 time and personally the only thing that can save this (pool draw) is New Zealand playing Australia and they move that to the MCG and sell it out. They are going to play it in Perth. What a way to shoot themselves in the foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex-Ireland star: Springboks expose \u2018long-term\u2019 issue which shows IRFU\u2019s \u2018limitation\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brian O\u2019Driscoll: Rassie Erasmus has a \u2018chip on his shoulder\u2019 and you don\u2019t have to like him to appreciate what he has achieved<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite his criticisms of the pool and round of 16 changes, O\u2019Callaghan admitted the draw has generated optimism that Ireland have a genuine shot at making the final, but he believed that the psychology work must start now on the Irish players about just focusing on getting beyond the quarter-finals for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s madness again, but we have ended up thankfully this time on a favourable side of the draw\u2026 we are quite well mapped out that if we come through this, we could play Georgia in the round of 16, then into a quarter-final against Argentina and then potentially a semi-final against England,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing they should genuinely do, and they should put a bit of work into it in terms of psychology, is just get beyond the quarters, that\u2019s enough. Progression is important, and it\u2019s not a bad draw. You can time your run there; you don\u2019t need to play everyone until you get to the quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Schalk Burger \u2018loved\u2019 about James Ryan\u2019s red card while ex-Springbok hits out at \u2018dirty play\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ireland great: Rassie Erasmus\u2019 unique call a \u2018red flag\u2019 as World Rugby must take action against \u2018rampaging behemoths\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bowe added: \u201cIt kills me I was part of two teams that got knocked out in two quarter-finals, and it breaks my heart. Honestly, you think back on your career, all the wonderful memories and great times, but it\u2019s those days that just stick in the back of your head; those regrets will never go away. And until Ireland get past that, we are going to have to keep reliving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan didn\u2019t agree with Bowe\u2019s last sentence. \u201cSorry, your scar is forever. The (2027) lads either join us with scars or they drive on and you\u2019re \u2018thank god, you\u2019re not like us\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise you, no one is going to forget the two of us [O\u2019Callaghan and Bowe] making a dog\u2019s dinner of quarter-finals. We\u2019re forever cast in that thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 13 stars who could switch Test allegiances before World Cup 2027: Two Springboks-tied backs, six ex-All Blacks and Manu Tuilagi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retired Ireland star Donncha O\u2019Callaghan has blasted the new Rugby World Cup format \u2013 even though the draw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[193054,225,90462,678,4151,4214,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-620080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-donncha-o","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-rugby-world-cup","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115684076608133912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}