Another windy day at Worlds, and we saw the final pool play for Open and Mixed divisions with our brackets now set. Women’s still has a pool play round yet to be played but we saw some brilliant games today including a potential final preview.
Open
Pool E
With US and Australia already guaranteed top 2 in the pool and Japan and Colombia guaranteed to be bottom 2 and play a crossover to reach QFs there wasn’t much at stake here in terms of progression through the tournament. Colombia pulled off the upset over Japan to take 3rd and the slightly easier crossover. Compensation for Japan is that they are on the other side of the bracket from the US…not that I’m suggesting anything.
Pool F
Belgium were guaranteed 1st and Canada 4th in the pool so I’m assuming this was a chance for Belgium to experiment and field more of their depth. For Canada, a chance to regain form and confidence ahead of knockouts which they took.
The big game in these upper pools was the GB Germany clash as the winner would progress straight to QF. GB eked out the win in a game of very few breaks, just 2 apiece. Both teams earned more chances to break but breaking into the wind against solid defence proved tough for both squads.
Pool G
France and Italy were already through here, so these games were jostling for seeding only. I’m assuming Italy didn’t particularly want to grind super hard for that once they went down since they had a crossover later, and that’s the reason for the large margin of defeat.
Pool H
Similarly, Austria and New Zealand were already though here so the games here were just deciding the order of the 1/2 and 3/4
Open Crossovers/Pre-Quarters
Crossovers to the bracket can sometimes be the hardest fought and most dramatic games of the tournament as teams of similar levels battle to keep their season alive. This time we had a clean slate of wins for the top seeds so not as much drama as we sometimes see. Colombia continued their momentum after their impressive win over Japan earlier in the day with a big win and Germany ran out as comfortable winners against Italy.
The other games were closer but primarily decided by a big run early. Canada finished the first half of their game against France with a 4 point run to take an 8-4 lead. France did storm out of the half with 2 immediate breaks back but left themselves too much to do as Canada managed the rest of the game smoothly.
New Zealand pushed Japan close in a game where the margin was built early, with a 4-0 lead for Japan that was never relinquished. Japan were only broken once all game in a strong offensive line performance.
Open Quarters Preview
US vs Canada is a game we’re used to seeing in finals and semis so it’s going to be a disappointment to Canada that they are meeting this early. I don’t see any result but a US win here.
GB vs Colombia should be an intense battle but results so far would indicate that GB should be too strong. However after strong performances today Colombia will be carrying a lot of positive momentum into this game.
Belgium and Japan is a rematch from earlier in the tournament that Belgium narrowly won 14-12. Belgium have gone from strength to strength since then and had pretty much a rest day today, while Japan had two intense battles in the wind. I’m expecting Belgium to win this again.
Australia vs Germany is also a rematch from earlier in the tournament that Australia won with a break on universe. This one I have no idea- far too close to call. If I have to pick my head gives the home team the edge, particularly because Germany also had an extra game today. But my heart says Germany will correct their errors from the pool game and come through.
Exciting slate of matches for European fans like me. Potentially THREE semi finalists from Europe - and potentially zero.
Women’s Division
Only one game today and we had some absolute crackers.
Pool C
The headliner of today was the anticipated final preview of Colombia and USA. Neither team went fully at this one - Colombia held fire on stacking their lines for a lot of the game, and I’m assuming the US were holding back defensive and offensive adjustments for a rematch. But this was terrific entertainment. Colombia dominated the first half with their deep game laying the platform for the majority of their early goals - both Valeria and Manuela Cardenas throwing pinpoint backhand hucks all half. The Colombian defensive structures caused the US a lot of problems, with the US pushing 6 players downfield and looking for resets from their which the Colombian combination of switching and speed shutting down these cuts, while the wind made hitting the extremely small windows very difficult.
The US rallied in the second half and managed to bring the game back to 13s with a noticeable increase in defensive intensity. Colombia smoothly converted with a power line then broke in a fairly messy point with both teams getting some bad wind luck. Great game that had really whetted the appetite for a potential finals clash.
The other game in this pool wasn’t any less dramatic with Canada battling to a universe win over Australia. Battling is the operative word here with the wind, the athletic defence and the physicality making the game a bit of a grind at times. But there were plenty of moments of quality in there too.
Tomorrow sees the final games in the pool but I would expect the group order to stay like this. That would see Colombia and US through to semis and Canada and Australia in pre-semis.
Pool D
It’s getting harder to not repeat myself and call games intense and dramatic but we’re at the point of the week where we’re getting these close games with major stakes. Japan staved off a late fightback from Germany to secure themselves a pre-semi against (almost definitely) Australia. Similar to what we saw in the Colombia-USA matchup, Japan’s switching and speed guarding the underneath spaces really made life difficult for Germany’s stack to get involved with the play, and generated short field turns in the first half to open up the lead. The wind really made life difficult for both teams with both sides scoring half their points on defensive points.
New Zealand and Germany are tied on 1 win and play each other tomorrow to decide the last berth in knockouts.
Knockouts Preview
The site is a bit complex on this one so I’ll substitute. This is assuming USA and Colombia both win their remaining pool game. Final pool games and “Quarters” are tomorrow with the semis the day after.
Mixed Division
Power Pool E
As I said yesterday, GB needed an unlikely win vs USA to be able to progress as the top 4 teams in the pool go straight to quarters. Otherwise the significant game here today was between Japan and Germany to decide who would be 3rd and 4th and presumably have a slightly easier QF. Japan clinched that with a big second half performance after going 9-7 down.
Power Pool F
This group was a lot more uncertain than group E going into today, with the day opening with the battling for top spot between France and Australia. This was a really tight, back and forth game for the first half with Australia narrowly edging with an extra break. France immediately broke at the start of the second half to avoid Australia opening up a 2 point margin for the first time, then after a trade of offence France went on a huge 5 point run. The first couple of breaks in this run were slightly gifted short field turns but France were absolutely ruthless, their offence on both lines playing with sensational speed and swagger.
The other huge game to start the day was between Italy and Singapore. Both teams knew they could lose and still qualify for quarters, however that losing this game would likely see them end up 4th in the pool and on a collision course with the US team in their quarter final. No team ever led by more than a couple of points in this game as it swung back and forth. I didn’t watch this one so I don’t know exactly how it all shook out on the field, but Singapore took the win.
Singapore then had to finish the group off with a win over every neutral’s favourite team - India. They took the win very comfortably here - probably one game too far for India after extremely close games for them all throughout the tournament. This was the first game India have been involved in where both teams didn’t reach double figures which is remarkable. It’s a shame that we won’t see them progress as they really lit up this tournament. Let’s hope they can continue to build on these performances and we see them coming back even stronger to the next championships.
Mixed Bracket Preview
The quarter finals are now set and we should have some absolutely brilliant games in store. We just have quarters tomorrow with the semis following the day after.
I’m predicting semis to be USA - Australia and France - Canada with USA - France in the final. But there is plenty of room for upsets in this draw.