There hasn’t been much talk of the RWC11 draw. Probably because we are all in spasms of frustration over the performance of the Aussie Super14 teams. But here it is in all its quadrennial magnificence.
Pool A
New Zealand
France
Tonga
Americas 1 (USA?)
Asia 1 (Japan)
Maybe France can knock the Kiwis out of their own World Cup in the pool stages. But I reckon the Frogs will sit back and smoke their Gitanes for this one. And I can’t see Japan developing much from this pool except severe bruising.
Pool B
Argentina
England
Scotland
Europe 1 (Georgia?)
Play-off winner (Uruguay?)
England, as always, are the second-ranked team in their pool. Scotland must fancy their chances of an upset somewhere here. Quite an interesting pool which will give these teams a tough ride to the quarters. Which is exactly what you want, according to the latest thinking on the matter.
Pool C
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Europe 2 (Romania? Spain?)
Americas 2 (Canada?)
This becomes a little more interesting now that the Irish are 6 Nations champs. But if history is any guide, the Wallabies will look awful against Ireland (but beat them by 1) and absolutely shocking against Italy (but beat them by 8). The end of the pool stages would be a good time to plant some dollars on the Wallabies because they should be written off by then if all goes to plan. They might even lose a game, which would really sweeten the odds.
Pool D
South Africa
Wales
Fiji
Oceania 1 (Manu Samoa)
Africa 1 (Namibia?)
Wales, the poor bastards, have to play South Africa, Fiji and Samoa in their pool. Expect them to lie down against the Saffers and scrape home against the Islanders, who get penalised out of the game. The Taffs will take a few studmarks through with them to the quarters.
Wallaby Pool Schedule
Sun Sept 11 Australia v Italy Christchurch
Sat Sept 17 Australia v Ireland Auckland
Fri Sept 23 Australia v Americas 2 Wellington
Sat Oct 1 Australia v Europe 2 Christchurch
Not a bad schedule: the A-team grinds it out twice in 7 days, then probably takes a week off, then comes back to punish Europe 2 with some sweet combinations. More importantly, if we can organise a G&GR tour, we get a nice bus ride around the country, but no Roto-bloody-rua or freezin’ Dunedin.
Quarter-finals
Sat Oct 8 QF1: W Pool C v RU Pool D Wellington
Sat Oct 8 QF2: W Pool B v RU Pool A Christchurch
Sun Oct 9 QF3: W Pool D v RU Pool C Wellington
Sun Oct 9 QF4: W Pool A v RU Pool B Christchurch
This is where we get the abacus and slide-rule out to figure out the permutations. But let’s say we win the pool, then we’ll meet probably an injury-depleted Wales. Another hopeless unwashed team that we’ll try our best to lose to.
Semi-finals
Sat Oct 15 SF1: W QF1 v W QF2 Auckland
Sun Oct 16 SF2: W QF3 v W QF4 Auckland
Total guesswork at this point. Consult the Oracle. But if you held a gun to my head, I’d say that we’re looking at a battle-hardened Argentina for our first proper hitout. The lack of international competition for the Argies should save us here. Nice work SANZAR!
Bronze Final
Fri Oct 21 Bronze Final Auckland
Final
Sun Oct 23 Final Auckland
If we rule out the Kiwis, who must have either lost to the French or to someone else along the way, then I’d say South Africa will be our playthings in the final.
So – who knows how to drive a bus?
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1970 https://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/?p=1970">14 Comments
The world cup is in NEW ZEALAND! that’s not even a country.
Its like an Australian state perpetually stuck in the 70’s.
when I went to Christchurch I was pretty sure we’d travelled back to 1987, certainly all the memorabilia in the sports cafe is from that particular year…
But, lo!
You don’t need NZ to lose any pool game. They have never lost a pool game and still, bear this choker around the neck…
*sigh* I hope at home things will be different.
sesenta y cuatro’s last blog post..Super 14 2009; players on a roll
Oh man, just how big is the pressure gonna be on the Kiwis, hehehe
Can you imagine being in the country for the final if they don’t make it? I think that could be the closest they’ve ever come to civil unrest.
Gotta stop typing….sniggering too hard…
I’ll be there and if the kiwis are knocked out, all of us over there would probably be best off not saying a word about it or else we’ll get stabbed. :(
Sagerian’s last blog post..Super 15 expansion, my letter to SANZAR.
Do you think that then they will finally give up and follow WA into the federation?
900 days to RWC
890 days till Kiwi’s choke
700 days till Kiwi’s peak
So, let me ask you a question, Moses. Should the kiwis peak at the right time, would they go onto win the RWC?
In kiwi-land they are very fond of this theory that states that only peaking at the wrong time has prevented them from winning the RWC in 20 years.
But, is it so simple? Are they so bad schedulers that they can’t get the form whereas all others seem able to do so?
I think it’s arrogance from the kiwis (and I am an All Black supporter, I remind you) to think that they are the best and only minor details have prevented them from winning.
Robbie Deans said it better than anyone (before he was appointed wallaby coach): The obsession with the RWC was NZ’s downfall.
All Blacks may be (again) the favourites, but on their day, there are 4 or 5 teams very capable of defeating them.
sesenta y cuatro’s last blog post..Best goal kicker?
I doubt that the US will be the number qualifier in the Americas…Canada has had our number, and after losing two games to Japan in November-an ominous omen, indeed for the Eagles to even think of qualifying to be gun-fodder for the French or Kiwis in this group.
Losing to Japan sounds like the USA are going backwards. What’s up there? With colleges and defence forces playing rugby, I thought it would grow slowly. Are the iRB not doing enough for North American rugby? Seems like there’s been a few tours (to Canada?) by England and the Maori, etc.
Scarfman, that is a valid question. We are having more growth in the US-but I think in Japan, they are spending money on getting some of the best coaching from New zealand, in particular. We may be producing some good individuals, like Todd Clever, but our weakness is in the kicking game-something the Japanese exploited back in November. If you remember from the last world cup, Japan tied Canada, another country that seems to going backwards. I think compared to where the US was at RWC 2003 in Oz, I hate to say that we are getting passed by Japan, Georgia, Portugal and Russia.
Bottom line, there are a lot of American rugby fans who are not real happy about what USA rugby has been doing with the Eagles.
Eastern Europe will fly past the US. There are just too many opportunities in the US for big (and/or) strong (and/or) fast young blokes.
In those countries, the very best go to weightlifting, soccer, waterpolo and gym. But if you aren’t in the top ten in one of those, you may as well have a crack at winning a spot on the French rugby scene, which is potentially more lucrative than most of the ‘first-choice’ options.
With some intelligent investment from the IRB (mmm, I could pick fresh bacon right out of the air from my 10th floor balcony then) that area could be a massive growth zone for Rugby.
The interesting point in this discussion is that we HAVE the athletes in the US. Look at Dan Lyle, who had a very good career at Bath and Leicester. He was an AVERAGE American Football player-good enough to get offered a contract by the Minnesota Vikings, but would not have been a star like he was in rugby- but was a good enough athlete to make the jump. We have to get these athletes into rugby at a younger age, but Patrick makes a valid point that with American Football, Basketball, and in my part of the US, Ice Hockey, will get the big physical guys.
Actually, I thought the size of players would be an advantage for rugby. I’ve met a few US guys who just weren’t big enough for Pro Sport over there, but were 190cm and 100kgs.
Our sport is a bit more aerobic than US football.