To win one Cap is an accomplishment in any sport.  A cap is a metaphorical term for a player’s appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football(read soccer). In the early days of football, the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, so each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap.

Fast forward to today, Rugby has following this tradition and on the most prestigious Rugby team in the World, The New Zeland All Blacks, Ma’a Nonu is about to receive his 100th cap for New Zeland.  The All Blacks were founded in 1893, and only 6 individuals have ever reached this milestone.

There is a statistical skewing to these numbers as modern Rugby facilitates an increased number of international matches. As you can imagine, it is a little easier to coordinate games in South Africa, Japan or England nowadays versus 100 years ago, or even 20 years ago, due to the professionalism of Rugby.

The All Blacks are a top Pool C in RWC 2015. The pools two remaining games are a forgone conclusion. New Zeland and Argentina will better Tonga and Namibia respectively. Georgia has won 2 matches in this pool and thus guaranteed themselves a spot in the RWC 2019 in Japan.

Argentina being the runner up in this pool faces the winner of the upcoming France vs Ireland game, while the loser is greeted with a quarter-final pairing with the All Blacks, a date best postponed as long as possible.

There is not much left in it for Tonga and Namibia. They will be looking to put forth their best and to accord themselves well despite being seriously under manned in their last RWC 2015 Games.

Don’t miss a game, especially Australia Vs Wales Tomorrow and France vs Ireland on Sunday.

• New Zealand vs. Tonga

  Today at 3:45PM Atlantic on TSN4

•  Samoa vs. Scotland

  Sat 10:15AM Atlantic on TSN1 and TSN4

• Australia vs. Wales

  Sat 12:15 PM Atlantic on TSN1 and TSN4