Rugby Jersey World Cup - Group Stage

I'm sure everyone has been there before -  Saturday morning... you've slept in just long enough to wake up with a slight smile on your face. You turn on SuperSport and the game is on in 15 minutes. Your avid sports fanatic friends are gone for the weekend so here you sit; about to watch a match with someone who admittedly knows next to zero about a sport. But hey, company is company right?

Here you are analyzing team rosters and strategies down to the most acute of details and then the comment comes "I like the Blue team's outfit, I hope they win" You give them a stern look from the corner of your eye and tell them that the blue team is a 30 point underdog and they cannot possibly win. Lo and behold, 2 hours later, the blue team has somehow managed to scrape through and come away with the "W". You sit there humiliated, in awe, and now R50 in the hole after losing what you believed  was "easy money".

This article is dedicated to all those lucky non-sport fans out there.

We are going to have a RWC of our own using only the participating team's kits as an evaluation tool. Unfortunately we can't go through every single match because 1). We do actually have lives to lead, and 2). some of them didn't even deserve to be in the discussion. We are going to pick the top 2 jerseys from each group and then move straight to the Quarterfinals.

Starting with

Pool A: England is probably the standout in this group. with second place being a tough battle betwen Wales and Australia. Figi did put up a good fight with both their all white and their black alternate, but the competition was just too tough. Australia and England go through with Uraguay not ever holding a candle with those basic and frankly uninspiring blue tops.

Pool B: Before I even begin on Group B, I would like to disqualify Scotland. Where do they get off sporting a rugby jersey with a collar on it? This is not the 1995 world cup, this is also not a company Golf retreat where Business-Formal attire is required, and for that reason Scotland...you're out. This brings me to the next eliminations, USA and Samoa - This was not an easy decision to make. Ok, USA was pretty easy, but between Samoa, Japan and South Africa we took a while to come up with who would have to get the axe. After careful deliberation the fact Japan was bold enough to rock the stripes and SA kept it simple saw those 2 teams through by the skin of their teeth.

Pool C: Pool C was definitely the proverbial group of death in the Jersey World Cup. I must give credit to underdogs Namibia for keeping the fight going until the bitter end, but the tailoring experience from the All Blacks and Argentina was just too much. In what could end up being the final standing in this group at the actual RWC, Tonga and Georgia really were not up for the tougher competition.

Pool D: Pool D was extremely competitive. The fight for second spot to Romania's creative mustard yellow printed jersey was tough. Besides Canada in their very forgettable Under Armor kits, Ireland, France and Italy were in for a tough group stage. In the end Italy nudged passed those two to join Romania in the Quarters. 

In our next piece we will move on to the Play-Off stage where we might have to take a look at alternates to determine who will be our Jersey RWC 2015 Champions. Until then keep an eye out on how closely the Jersey World Cup matches with the real thing as the  action kicks off tomorrow.