Ireland vs Scotland match-fixing claim at World Cup is insulting and scandalous
For those of a certain age mention of match fixing and World Cups in the same sentence takes us right back to 1982 and what became known as the Disgrace of Gijón.
That largely glorious football World Cup in Spain where the Brazil of Zico, Eder and Falcao won our hearts before Paolo Rossi’s goals stopped the Samba Boys in their tracks and powered Italy to glory instead.
One game tarnishes the memory and it is the pool clash between Austria and West Germany, as they were then known. The European neighbours met in the final match of Pool 2 with both sides knowing a 1-0 German win would enable both sides to advance at the expense of Algeria.
Which is exactly what happened, only the means by which it was achieved went down in infamy. To one and all it looked like collusion. The local paper, El Comercio, famously ran the match report in its crime section and in response FIFA later changed the competition schedule to have the last group games played simultaneously.
Which brings us to the Rugby World Cup currently underway here in France and Saturday night’s Pool B decider between Ireland and Scotland.
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South Africa top the pool on 15 points having completed their four games. Ireland are second on 14 with Scotland third on 10. The defending champion Springboks have one foot in the quarter-finals.
However, should Scotland win the Paris match by 21 points and secure a try bonus point, with Ireland also picking up a bonus point for scoring four tries or more, the Boks would be out by virtue of having lost to Andy Farrell’s men in green.
Scotland sit third in Pool B ahead of their final group game (Julian Finney/Getty Images)Read more similar news:
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