{"id":772701,"date":"2026-09-16T16:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T16:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772701\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T16:58:11","slug":"jim-hamilton-rues-tragedy-of-world-cup-draw-theres-a-gulf-between-the-springboks-all-blacks-and-the-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772701\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Hamilton rues ‘tragedy’ of World Cup draw: ‘There’s a gulf between the Springboks, All Blacks and the rest’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Hamilton says it is a \u2018tragedy\u2019 that South Africa<\/a> and New Zealand are slated to meet in next year\u2019s World Cup quarter-finals and has called on rugby to raise its game off the field to match the levels being set by players on it.<\/p>\n

Hamilton, Scotland lock turned broadcaster and podcaster, is still on a high from watching the epic four-Test series between the Springboks and All Blacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely awesome, the elite of the elite,\u201d he purrs. \u201cSo intense, so tribal, so cool. Our sport is in a really good place when you see games like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet his positivity comes with an almighty caveat. The business side of the game, he insists, is not \u201cmarrying up\u201d.<\/p>\n

Frustrations from Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry Tour<\/p>\n

Hamilton, like many, watched in frustration as Saturday\u2019s final Test in Baltimore was halted for 15 minutes midway through the first half after the officials\u2019 communication system malfunctioned.<\/p>\n

A big part of the reason for taking the game to North America was to grow a new audience Stateside. How many would have switched off as referees and organisers talked amongst themselves?<\/p>\n

That is only one of Hamilton\u2019s gripes. He can\u2019t believe that after the 2023 World Cup was disfigured by the top five ranked nations being placed in the same half of the draw, next year\u2019s edition will see the Springboks<\/a> and All Blacks<\/a> bracketed together in the last eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be a tragedy to see South Africa face New Zealand in the quarter-finals,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen there\u2019s a gulf between these two sides and the rest at the minute, yet they meet in a quarter-final!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton<\/a> is not done. Midway through the Greatest Rivalry series a number of posts on his Instagram channel were taken down because they included footage from games.<\/p>\n

In a sport desperate for new audiences he was highlighting the brilliance of what he was watching; sharing it, he claims, so others could see how good top-level rugby is.<\/p>\n

State of the Nation: Rassie Erasmus \u2018magic\u2019 central to Springboks \u2018juggernaut\u2019 consolidating their position as the world\u2019s best<\/a><\/p>\n

Rugby is not at the level of football and the Olympics<\/p>\n

It began when he posted a video of former All Black Ma\u2019a Nonu responding to New Zealand\u2019s Haka with one of his own, prior to the Sharks-ABs clash in Durban.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mate videoed it and I posted it because I wanted the world to see this cultural moment,\u201d he explains. \u201cI don\u2019t make any money from Instagram. The video did over a million views and was then taken down by the TV rights\u2019 holders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gutted, genuinely. I\u2019ve lost my Instagram channel when all I was doing was sharing this iconic moment. I know now this is not exclusive to rugby. Football and the Olympics are really strict on rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut rugby is not at the level of football and the Olympics. For us, it has to be about growing the game authentically and getting it in front of a bigger audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way people consume sport has changed. We have to change with it, otherwise we risk becoming irrelevant.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, I\u2019ve had to fall on my sword to show there needs to be changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy Goode spoke about referees and stuff like that on The Rugby Pod and took a rap on the wrist, but that changed how they went about doing things and having an independent TMO.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I\u2019m the fall guy, this time. Hopefully not. Hopefully I get my page back, but in that side of the sport, which I admit I\u2019m not up to date with because I\u2019m not a businessman, we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do, we really have.\u201d<\/p>\n

State of the Nation: \u2018Aesthetically pleasing\u2019 All Blacks find their \u2018identity\u2019 under Dave Rennie but are they really better?<\/a><\/p>\n

NFL\u2019s house is in order<\/p>\n

Hamilton casts an envious glance across the pond to the NFL as its new season gets underway with a host of \u2018international\u2019 games, including a recent 100,000 sell-out for the 49ers and Rams in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NFL is a multi-billion dollar business,\u201d he says. \u201cUS-based rather than global and the only real comparisons with rugby is that it\u2019s a difficult sport to consume and it\u2019s a contact sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut their house is in order whilst some might argue our house is on fire. And what they\u2019re doing with their international series is building houses globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was a massive success. Next week they have the Ravens and Cowboys playing in Rio, then they\u2019re in London, Paris, Madrid and Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing it strategically and slowly, all the while knowing they can go back to their house [the US] and their house is thriving and still growing.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas at the minute we\u2019re just scatter-gunning our approach in rugby, aren\u2019t we? We don\u2019t know what the strategy is.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to Baltimore. Let\u2019s go and do this. Let\u2019s go and grow the game. Let\u2019s bring out the WXV. Let\u2019s bring out a Greatest Rivalry. Let\u2019s bring out a Nations Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry: Eight things we learnt including the All Blacks\u2019 \u2018two-fold\u2019 issue, while Springboks\u2019 old dogs still have bite<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamilton, speaking as an ambassador of this week\u2019s London City 7s, acknowledges there are many good things in rugby and he needs to be conscious of not constantly shooting it down \u2013 \u201cbecause if we\u2019re constantly saying \u2018this is s***\u2019 or \u2018this is wrong\u2019, that drives the narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think we need to narrow our focus on actually the things that are working in our sport. Because the game is growing in the markets where we\u2019re strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at South Africa, look at New Zealand. Australia are potentially on an upwards trajectory after having the Lions. Look at France, look at Ireland, look at England. We\u2019ve got massive markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

London City 7s is world-class rugby sevens on your doorstep, fast, high-scoring action with great food, drink and an electric City crowd. A premium day out, whether you\u2019re a die-hard fan or here for the occasion. Buy tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Laurie Mains: Springboks\u2019 Baltimore win \u2018was an awful lot closer than the score indicated\u2019 and All Blacks \u2018could have won all three of the first three\u2019 Tests<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Hamilton says it is a \u2018tragedy\u2019 that South Africa and New Zealand are slated to meet in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[242,348,3482,620,50,5903,8631,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-772701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-features","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-world-cup","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}