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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Aug 12, 2011 7:08:19 GMT
With the RWC 2011 being little under a month away I thought it warranted a thread for any thoughts or discussion on the matter!
The All Blacks are well established as the favourites, I'm fairly sure not many will argue that (Unless they implode, again). Australia, with their current crop of fine backline options, are without a doubt 2nd favourites (Accoriding to IRB rankings too) to lift the Webb Ellis trophy. With a solid platform in the set peices i think Australia have a real chance.
In terms of the Northern hemisphere teams i think it's a much closer call. Ireland, England, France and Wales have the potential to beat any team on their day though consistency will be key for especially the latter two.
South Africa has to be given some sort of a shout, despite recent results. We've rested many key players and I think Saturday's test vs the Wallabies will give us a much clearer indication of how much we are lacking. Having said this, probably written off by most.
So, the pools:
Pool A
Canada
France
Japan
New Zealand
Tonga
Pool B
Argentina
England
Georgia
Romania
Scotland
Pool C
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Russia
USA
Pool D
Fiji
Namibia
Samoa
South Africa (C'mon sons!)
Wales
Fixtures for the knockout stages (If someone finds a nicer graphic version, please post it):
Quarter finals:
Winner Pool C vs Runner-up Pool D
Winner Pool B vs Runner-up Pool A
Winner Pool D vs Runner-up Pool C
Winner Pool A vs Runner-up Pool B
Taking it all into acount I wouldn't be surprised to see a
New Zealand vs England/Australia final.
Thoughts?
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Post by Stew on Aug 12, 2011 7:19:39 GMT
Very hard to see past the All Blacks for this one given home field advantage. Which should delight the IRB that pretty much decided to give them the trophy by switching the tournament from Japan....
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Post by johnboy14 on Aug 12, 2011 7:59:06 GMT
yes the all blacks are favourites but they have been for the last 3 tournaments, if your going on the try nations then you have to take into consideration the sheer number of players missing from the boks team, i remember them doing a similar thing before the won the world cup in 2007. In the northern hemisphere i think England will have a good world cup, a young team but they have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, it will be interesting to see what france and ireland turn up for this tournament.
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Aug 12, 2011 13:29:11 GMT
yes the all blacks are favourites but they have been for the last 3 tournaments, if your going on the try nations then you have to take into consideration the sheer number of players missing from the boks team, i remember them doing a similar thing before the won the world cup in 2007. In the northern hemisphere i think England will have a good world cup, a young team but they have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, it will be interesting to see what france and ireland turn up for this tournament. I agree with you about England, they have real WC pedigree having people in charge who've lifted the trophy. Somehow the french always seem to turn it on in WC's so I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Also, they shouldn't have the super 15, the european tournaments, the tri nations and the six nations in a WC year. It sort of takes the gloss off the tournament don;t you think? |
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Post by johnboy14 on Aug 12, 2011 15:53:42 GMT
yes the all blacks are favourites but they have been for the last 3 tournaments, if your going on the try nations then you have to take into consideration the sheer number of players missing from the boks team, i remember them doing a similar thing before the won the world cup in 2007. In the northern hemisphere i think England will have a good world cup, a young team but they have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, it will be interesting to see what france and ireland turn up for this tournament. I agree with you about England, they have real WC pedigree having people in charge who've lifted the trophy. Somehow the french always seem to turn it on in WC's so I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Also, they shouldn't have the super 15, the european tournaments, the tri nations and the six nations in a WC year. It sort of takes the gloss off the tournament don;t you think? I don't know about that, the world cup is the biggest tournament and the one most want to win. Id agree slightly with the timing of the tri nations, You'd think after a hard tri nations campaign the participants might be feeling the strain when the tournament starts. The bok obviously care more about the world cup with the squad they named for the tri nations. Without a six nations and tri nations the teams wouldnt have alot of opportunities to gel properly as a group in world cup year. It would be all training camps, having played alot of rugby nothing beats good match practice. New Zealand being at home give them a massive advantage. |
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Aug 12, 2011 16:18:05 GMT
True, but the Tri Nations is a matter of weeks after a gruelling super 15 campaign, many of the players enter the Tri Nations injured or end up being injured because of it. I have hope for the boks, of course, but the similarities to 2007 end pretty abruptly when you consider our head coach. The majority of fans have pretty much accepted he is out of his depth and the team is mostly run by the senior figures in the team and the assistant staff. Jake White, on the other hand, was one of the most technically gifted coaches at the time.
Also consider the boks will likely face the host nation in the semies, not an enviable task.
If the All Blacks win the Tri Nations, which is very likely, there'll be added pressure since no-one has won the Tri Nations and the WC in a single year. In the same way there is pressure on the boks, probably more-so, since no-one has one the WC consecutively/3 times.
Should be awesome though, early morning benders!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 23:27:27 GMT
the problem with new zealand is as amazing as they are when it comes to the world cup they tend to dip in form. History has proved this. The last time the kiwis won the world cup was back in 1987 which coincidentally was the last time they hosted it aswell. So giving that its home advantage then my money is on them. Although I wouldnt write off the other 2 big southern hemisphere sides.
Now for the home nations after seeing the friendlies over the past few weeks each of them have reasonable argument for doing well. Should be interesting Although England and scotland have the kinder groups to wales n ireland i still think will both qualify.
Im hoping that Wales prove they are good enough even with the amount of big name players out with injury we still should reach the QF after the way we played against england and the argies.
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Aug 23, 2011 5:27:18 GMT
Also been pretty impressed by Wales to be honest, i honestly fear for Argentina when they eventually join the Tr-Nations. It will no doubt grow the game immensely but they'll need to do some serious work to avoid weekly washouts. The French are the European darkhorses for me, i really do think so.
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Post by Stew on Aug 23, 2011 8:00:16 GMT
I was at the French-Ireland game on Saturday and France were outstanding. They can do really well this time.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2011 12:00:23 GMT
France always seem to do pretty well in the wc. As far as Wales are concerned if we keep out the silly mistakes and sort that lineout then id say were good to go. Not gonna say were good enuff to win it but well give it a bloody good go. Was impressive against both england and the argies so who knows.
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Sept 1, 2011 10:37:13 GMT
So, it starts tomorrow in 1 week!
Anyone willing to guess whether the All Blacks surpass 100 points vs Tonga? I'm going with 106. Also, this will assist with my superbru prediction:)
EDIT: If anyone would be interested in a RoM Superbru pool that could also be pretty amusing!
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Post by - on Sept 10, 2011 15:19:32 GMT
Watched that England game early Jesus Jonny Wilkinson is not the player he once was he was missing all the easy kicks.
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Sept 11, 2011 13:10:41 GMT
Good grief, not sure how the boks managed to pull that one out of the fire. Fair play to Wales, tough tough match. I'd rather my team, as is the case with England, gets a shock at the start of the tournament and avoid being complacent in the latter stages.
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Post by Stew on Sept 14, 2011 11:16:37 GMT
jayrannasaurus, is it safe to assume that this Springbok side will be broken up after the world cup? You guys look a bit stale to me. When you consider that you won a World Cup and a really tough Lions series in quick succession it makes sense as to why that would be the case but there seems to be a bit of spark missing from your play. This is all relative of curse.
You will now obviously re-discover it when you mince Ireland in the 1/4s!
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Sept 14, 2011 15:20:01 GMT
Haha, I get what you're saying but I think what you're referring to with the lack of spark is actually a much simpler factor. We have no real direction or gameplan under our current couch. We seem to be playing a very watered down version of 2007 with weaker defense and an even worse kicking game, both elements that bought the trophy home last time around.
If we can sort out a new, driven coach, we should be ok. Matfield, Botha and Smith will move on, so will de Villiers obviously but there are players, very good ones, that aren't even in the squad. We'll see more of them during the next 4 years as much of the team picks itself and there hasn't really been any risks taken to introduce some younger lads. My opinion at least.
Man, hope the Boks got their wake-up against Wales - completely outplayed until someone managed to wake up!
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