Homeward bound: The lesser known lights who shone in World Cup pool stages

Semi Radradra (Fiji)

The most destructive outside back of the tournament so far would make any backline in the world. Radradra, the former rugby league player nicknamed “Semi-trailer”, won man of the match awards against Georgia and Wales, the latter of which Eddie Jones described as “a humbling experience to see him play with such, power, pace and guile. It was one of the best displays I have seen”. Statistically, against Georgia he scored two tries and set up three, running 177m with five clean breaks and beating 11 defenders. Against Wales he managed 148 metres from 15 runs, escaped five defenders and broke the line twice to set up scores.

Tagir Gadzhiev (Russia)

The former mixed martial arts practitioner plucked from Dagestan on the shores of the Caspian Sea was a relentless breakdown menace and made 18 tackles in their opening match against Japan alone. Gadzhiev, 25, who plays for Russia’s RC Kuban, had never even played rugby when Russia made their World Cup debut in 2011 but has been one of the finds of the tournament. His final act in Japan was to drive four hours to see fellow Muslims Sonny Bill Willliams and Ofa Tuungafasi to deliver a gift of a “Papakha” hat popularised by the Dagestan-raised UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Torsten van Jaarsveld (Namibia)

The hooker who vexed the All Blacks. For 185 seconds, Namibia led the world champions. At half-time, incredibly, it was only 10-9 to New Zealand. And even if it went on to be 71-9 as Namibia (playing population: 900) inevitably dropped off tackles, the man of the match could have been chosen from the first 40 minutes. Van Jaarsveld obliterated New Zealand at the breakdown, allowing Namibia the greatest half of rugby in their history.

Jake Polledri (Italy)

Discussion of superlative performances in the Italy back row have been the almost exclusive preserve of the captain, Sergio Parisse, since roughly 2003, until this World Cup. Openside Polledri has been a revelation – setting a record for the number of defenders beaten in a match by a forward against Canada when he went past 14 of the opposition. His elevation is timely as Parisse takes his leave from the international stage.

Uruguay’s captain Juan Manuel Gaminara was a combative presence for the South American side.



Uruguay’s captain Juan Manuel Gaminara was a combative presence for the South American side. Photograph: Mark R Cristino/EPA

Juan Manuel Gaminara (Uruguay)

The Uruguay captain, all 5ft 7in of him, tackled mercilessly in the unexpected joyous victory over Fiji. While he may not have been the team’s best player during the tournament – he had competition in that department, not least from Santiago Civetta, his back-row colleague and Felipe Berchesi the fly-half – in terms of winning hearts and influencing minds, the 5ft 7in openside’s emotional reaction to Uruguay’s first win will live long in the memory. Off the pitch, he used his status to call on World Rugby to build off this performance, saying “we are screaming for more competition” in an interview before flying home.

Ben Tameifuna (Tonga)

Before facing Tonga, Billy Vunipola spoke about the emotion of facing the nation of his heritage; it also turned out to be a painful experience. Too often it was the sheer bulk of the hugely popular prop Ben Tameifuna in his way – the heaviest player at this World Cup – once, memorably, it was one of the hardest tackles he is likely to have faced on a rugby field from Zane Kapeli. Tonga’s props made their mark in this tournament with Siua Halanukonuka causing all kinds of problems against France.

Matt Heaton (Canada)

To be fair, Heaton might not seem like the obvious choice given he became the topic of multiple memes when he dropped the ball in front of the tryline against Italy and then suffered a yellow card in the second half. “I pushed through, two-on-one, thinking: ‘OK, I’m going to get it here,’” Heaton said. “Tyler took on a defender and then the ball came out of his hands and I went ‘oh crap, I better not drop this’, and as soon as you think about something like that, that’s how it works.” But the 26-year-old flanker did score against the Springboks, one of only two tries Canada scored in the tournament. Not bad for a player who most recently spent three seasons playing for Darlington in National League One.

source: theguardian.com