Its not hard to belief theres just a stronger culture of respect amongst Rugby players than soccer players. Its apparent in all facets, fans are less abrasive with less booing of national anthems (some exceptions such as Quade Cooper), virtually zero riots among crowds or missiles thrown on pitches. Players respect each other more, generally the losing team will form a line saluting the victorious team and its commonplace in the six nations for teams to have a meal with one another post-game too. Very little bad blood from a game is carried off the pitch. With refs theres very little questioning their authority allowed on the pitch, theres the odd Luke Fitzgerald moment that alludes to soccer practice but generally players don't crowd out a ref, don't demand things with the ref and manager typically won't criticise a ref after a game. That last part has happened more than usual in this Wold Cup with all of Samoa, South Africa and Wales having complaints but that is relatively unusual for the sport. 3 out of 52 games supposedly impacted by refereeing would be a remarkably low number in a soccer world cup. I remember we had two on the same "day" last time with Germany/England and Argentina/Mexico.
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