Rugby has its fair share of sceptics. There are people who only see the class aspect, the fee-paying schools and the blue-chip texture of the IRFU.
They don’t like the fact that one of rugby’s main points of difference with the rest of the planet is that it is not soccer.
They don’t like the old school crests and the club ties, the kind of cultural glue that holds the sport together.
They don’t like the battle imagery and the warrior memes that lionise openside flankers and tighthead props and inflate their status as latter-day gladiators.
They don’t like that rugby players pretend they are not hurt, while football players pretend that they are, and they don’t like that laws, not rules govern the sport because, like having to throw the ball backwards to go forwards, it is another rugby conceit.
Most particularly, the haters dislike that every international match commands serious attention and that the week leading up to a Saturday Test consumes print, online and television media for a seven-day run-in.
The haters disrespectfully call these matches mere friendlies. They argue that the exceptionalism of rugby breeds arrogance and a sense of privilege that demand attention the sport should not get.
That means hater heads will be spinning over the next four weeks, with a smorgasbord of matches taking place, kicking off with Ireland playing against New Zealand, highlighting another tetchy point that feeds into the animus: the ease with which fans cough up air fare to support the boys in green.
Japan, Australia and South Africa follow as more grist to the mill, and these matches are far from friendlies.
The outcomes, especially against New Zealand and world champions South Africa, will determine ranking spots.
The ranking will shape how Ireland fare in the draw for the next Rugby World Cup (RWC), which is in Australia in 2027 – and boy do the Irish team need a leg-up there.
According to World Rugby, rankings are calculated using a “points exchange” system, where sides gain or lose points based on the match result.
Other criteria include the relative strength of each team, the margin of victory, and an allowance for home advantage.
When the November matches were organised, the IRFU anticipated that the World Cup draw would take place shortly afterwards, this time in Sydney on Wednesday, December 3rd.
Beating the top teams over the next month means potentially avoiding them in the early stages of the 2027 tournament.
Traditionally the RWC format had 20 teams that were divided into four pools of five teams. The top two teams from each pool would then progress to the quarter-finals – the first round of the knockout phase, and the very point where Ireland traditionally come unstuck.
In the new format of 24 teams, the biggest RWC in the sport’s history, each team will be seeded according to its ranking. The 24 teams are sorted into four bands of six teams based on their position, which will currently line up as South Africa, ranked one in the world, New Zealand, Ireland, France, England and Argentina.
For Ireland, this month is a four-match shoot-out to maintain or improve their current third position in world ranking.
In 2027, there will also be a knockout round of 16 after the pool phase for the first time. The top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of 16, while the four best third-place teams will also advance.
“The introduction of a round of 16 will deliver even more knockout rugby, ensuring every match counts and every team has the chance to make history,” said World Rugby chair Brett Robinson.
While the number of nations has increased, players will not be asked to play more games.
For example, when South Africa won the competition in Paris in 2023, they played seven games: four in the pool stage, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final.
If they were to reach the final of RWC 2027, they would still only play seven games, three in the pool stage, then a Round of 16, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final.
All but one place in the next tournament has been decided, with a final qualification tournament taking place in Dubai in November.
Four teams face off for the last place including Namibia, Belgium, Samoa and Brazil, meaning every team will be known when the draw takes place in December.
Speaking in 2023, former Irish and Munster outhalf Ronan O’Gara picked up on the joyless craic of hating the sport after the All Blacks beat Ireland in the RWC quarter-final.
“You can see the way some people don’t like the Irish rugby team,” he said before going on to explain how it has changed over the years and appeals “to the normal Joe Soap”.
He spoke of a team that was “genuine, normal, that represents the working-class people of Ireland as opposed to just the elite private schools.”
Not everyone sees it the way Rog does. So, for the haters holding their noses, spare rugby the unserious “friendly” tag for the November Test series.
Because the World Cup in Australia does not begin for Ireland in 2027 but on Saturday in Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois.
