The World Cup of rugby takes place next year in Japan and the race to take the final spot is here.
Starting next week in Marseille, France, the Repechage is a round-robin knockout tournament giving Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, or Kenya the chance to qualify for the biggest showcase in the sport. Only Canada has been to the World Cup before. Despite being favorites, a lot of the Canadians have been embroiled in an ugly pay dispute and there is the feeling that team is not at its best.
Hong Kong may be the smallest psuedo-nation out of the lot—the city is a special administrative region of China with a population of 7 million—but it is the highest ranked of the four teams in terms of world rugby. None of its players—who have been training in Wales for the past month—know what to expect. “It’s a bit of an unknown to be honest,” captain James Cunningham told the South China Morning Post. “From what I’ve heard, no one’s really experienced anything like this, a month of travel away, then three big games and what could come down to that last big game against Canada.”
Kenya—known by the their nickname of the Simbas—finished second in the African qualifiers and saw most of their planned warmup games fall apart. Kenya’s only one was against Romania, a 36-5 loss in Bucharest. “The preparation has been pretty minimal. But the boys are in good spirits, so we will see how we go,” said their coach in what might be one of the least inspiring team talks ever.
Perhaps the most interesting potential qualifier is the least favored. The German team is a group of part-timers who have been entirely bankrolled by Hans-Peter Wild, a billionaire whose family made their money from Capri Sun, the juice pouches. He created the Wild Academy and employed overseas players and coaches on his company payroll, also buying and selling a rugby club in the process. Without him, there would be no German rugby team.
After a row with the German federation that oversees rugby saw him pull his funding, Wild gave another €300,000 to see the team through the three matches of the Repechage in France this month. They used that money to hire Mike Ford, a former British and Irish Lions coach, as Germany’s new head coach. Ford has a huge challenge getting this team to the World Cup. Wild has promised €2 million a year to the Germany rugby authorities to bankroll the team if its qualifies— providing they can find other sponsors to match.
If any team besides Canada makes it through, they face a brutal introduction to elite rugby at their first try. They will join Pool B, facing New Zealand—which has won the most games ever in rugby history—as well as South Africa, Italy, and Namibia.
And for all the players from the three teams who don’t make it, well, there’s always the NFL.