World Cup Goal Kicking-why so bad?

[C-Whiz]

OK, we've all been thinking it, so I'm gonna ask the question: why is the 2013 RLWC goal kicking so embarrassingly bad?

There is the obvious answer, which is nerves.
Then there is the wind, that howling wind that has been ripping through a few games.
There seems to be about 3 inch tall slippery grass on every field, and even JT took a bow after one of his slips.

But even taking all of that into account, can anyone explain why the kicking is so bad? Why so many teams can't kick goals, from almost anywhere on the field, on so many different fields??

[DIEHARD]

Maybe cause kickers aren't regular kickers. If I was an international coach (never) I'd read focus on goal kicking to give us an edge.

Nerves too probably plays a role and the wind and rain has been crazy in the UK lately.

[C-Whiz]

Maybe cause kickers aren't regular kickers.

Yeah, well this is something that puzzles me too. Can you really have an international team and have no one who can kick?

And i'm not talking about shaving the upright. There has been some terrible kicking from all teams.
And from some of the games best kickers, like JT.

JT 3/5, Sinfield 2/4. And that is probably the best results across all the games.

[Tartmaster]

For the minnows it'd be mainly the fact that they're not experienced kickers. When you have guys like Mead & Paulo as first choice kickers, it's not gonna end well, especially when you then add in the weather and high pressure situations such as Meady in game 1.

The guys who do normally kick though, have the experience and should be used to pressure kicks, so I guess the conditions may be worse than you realise from the tv.

Although I don't expect quality from Thurston anyway his goal kicking is almost as overrated as his normal game.

[DIEHARD]

I was watching some more shocking goal kicking last night in the World Cup. Immediately thinking of C Whiz and this thread.

Maybe in 2017 we need a goal kicking boot camp for nations. Staffed by some of our most gifted kickers in the game.