WC favourites

[PaarlBok]

Congrats to the Wallabie lot winning the 3 Nations. Thoroughly deserved and ending exact the way I thought it would. Time to move over to the WC now.

Not many teams winning this in the past and maybe 4 or 5 teams really the favourates to bag the biggest price in the modern game.

Please give us your top 5 contenders and why you think they will win it.

 

[Moses]

All Blacks - At home, great team, in form, haven't choked for 4 years
Wallabies - Peaking at the right time, great backs, servicable forwards who are finding some mongrel
England - Gotta be right up there, boring but strong
Ireland - dark horse, good leadership and experience, great 7.
South Africa - John Smit.

 

[tigerland12]

New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and France. In that order.

The winner will only come from those teams and to be honest, probably only the first 3 I mentioned.

 

[PaarlBok]

The Wallabies now the firm favourates in my books. They have bagged the S100 and 3 Nations and look like a young side on the up. They also have world class players in the right positions. England their biggest worry. The other one is injuries may rock their boat.
Springbokke. They have the experiense for this one. Been there done that and want to make history for the first time retaining the Cup. We also have the perfect pool for it. No easy matches is exactly the way you want to go in the business end.
All Blacks. They have lost their usual qouta of games for the year. Home may favour them but it can also be a huge barrier to carry.
France. The one side I'd love to see winning it after been so close in the past.

 

[Braveheart81]

I realistically don't think anyone outside of NZ, Australia and England can win the RWC. France is a World Cup smokey as always but I don't think they will be quite there this time around.

 

[daz]

Being a bit cheeky here, but if the Wobs don't win it, I'd love to see the French get up. Partly because they have been pretty close over the years but mostly because it would fucking RUIN the Poms....

 

[Richo]

All Blacks -- Two on the trot but still the best team in the world.
Wallabies -- On the upswing, talented and seem to be learning how to win games they might once have lost.
England -- Experienced, huge pack and some surprisingly exciting backs. Hope they lose.
Bokke -- Past their prime but have a team, style and attitude suited to knockout rugby.
Les Bleus -- Always dangerous, seem to lift for big tournaments, and have quality forwards.

That's them, in order. I would have said Ireland, but they've been toilet lately and beset by injuries.

 

[Braveheart.]

1. New Zealand - host nation, strong and experienced. Great leadership group in the form of McCaw, Carter, Thorne et al.
2. Australia - young, exicting side on the way-up. Learning to win and good momentum after TN and S15.
3. South Africa - experienced and battle-hardened. They know how to grind out a win in a round robin tournament. May lack imagination, but play a brand of football that is proven to win cups.
4. England - strong and confrontational forward pack with a few big boppers and a couple of fast blokes in the backline.
5. France - France for me, is a bit of an unknown quantity - at their flamboyant best they can beat anyone - but I'm just not sure if they can win a RWC!

 

[PaarlBok]

The Springbokke are in much better shape compare to 2007.

 

[Braveheart.]

The Springbokke are in much better shape compare to 2007.

As long as they're in good enough shape to knock off the kiwis in the semi...

 

[PaarlBok]

As long as they're in good enough shape to knock off the kiwis in the semi...

Its an interesting sitaution. We have a tough first match up against Wales who look in excellent form. Make or break game for us. The All Blacks have the French in their pool and pressure mounting. Only France and the Springbokke have beaten the All Blacks in NZ since 2003.

 

[Zeno]

1. Australia
+ have the best backs, and good forwards on an improvement curve; healthy and happy squad
– can't win regularly unless everything clicks

2. New Zealand
+ have been a level above everyone else since last WC; home advantage
– have only nine certainties for their XV; throat constriction

3. South Africa
+ masters of control
– lacking in attack; coach is an arseclown

4. England
+ awesome at their best—see Twickenham, 13 Nov 2010
– haven't reproduced that form

5. France
+ can lift and lift again, if they really want to
– they only want to when playing NZ

 

[Mank]

I assume all of you rating England higher than SA in the pecking order are doing so because SA "should" play NZ in the semis? If SA had Australia's path I would bet on the Boks to beat England.

1. All Blacks
+ At home, unreal squad
- Pressure.

2. Australia
+ Finding good form, forwards stepping up.
- Not huge depth

3. South Africa
+ Experience, get blown out in loose games, but handle tight/pressure games pretty well
- Only one game plan, some weak links in the team, not consistent

4. England
+ Showing signs of form, combinations and some decent players at last
- Still don't produce consistently, get blown out the water by more skilled teams when forwards don't dominate

5. France
+ France
- Not at their best at the moment

 

[Jay]

As long as they're in good enough shape to knock off the kiwis in the semi...

Nah, they'll take you guys out in the 1/4....

 

[mark_s]

Kiwis are still favourites to me, and by some margin. Home ground advantage will be massive. The pomss have been my second tip for a while. I think their style of game is well suited to the RWC.

Aus, SA, France and maybe Ireland are all battling it out for 3rd place in my view.

 

[Lee Grant]

I don't know that Oz deserve to be favourites as they don't have the consistency of winning 3 games in a row against top opponents as they will have to after the pool games (although two out of two at the minute ain't bad). We know how to beat the Kiwis, but, as with a Shane Warne leg spinner, it's another thing to be able to do something about it.

We know how to beat the Boks and France too. It's England who are our bogey team. I don't think that we know how to beat them if they are on song; others perform better against them than we do.

The Wallabies are more likely to win the RWC in 2015, but if they can jag it this time - wow.

 

[Hardtackle]

All written whilst touching wood.
Wallabies – Peaking at the right time. Selections and leadership getting sorted. Bench could be awesome if injuries don’t reek havoc.
All Blacks – Pressure of being favourites, at home, is a wonderful thing (for us).
Bokkes – PdV & Smit say no more.
England – finally we’ll match them physically which means we can then carve ‘em up in the backs. Can’t remember a bigger pack than Saturday’s. We owe those poms big time. Pay back is nigh.
Samoa – makes the pain of last month easier to take.

 

[JJJ]

Anyone else suspect that every team playing against us will enjoy the majority of the home-crowd support? That may be a factor in the close ones.

Getting my excuses ready.

 

[canowindra]

Just an observation, but no team that has beaten the All Blacks ( prior to the final) at a RWC has ever gone on to win the Cup! It is the curse of the All Blacks!

 

[gone]

Just an observation, but no team that has beaten the All Blacks ( prior to the final) at a RWC has ever gone on to win the Cup! It is the curse of the All Blacks!

1991 Wallabies