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Anyone else looking forward to it?? Anyone got any thoughts on winners??

I'm sure there was a thread about this recently...

Anyway, England will flatter to deceive and get beaten, New Zealand will look amazing in the early stages and then choke. Australia or South Africa will probably win it.

New Zealand to choke, Australia or the saffers to sneak it. Too much too soon for this young England team. The group that England is in with the Jocks and the Argies will be difficult to predict. Forget the easy cliche about France being dark horses, they looked dis-jointed in the Six nations and have no faith in their coach.

filbert wrote:I'm sure there was a thread about this recently...

Anyway, England will flatter to deceive and get beaten, New Zealand will look amazing in the early stages and then choke. Australia or South Africa will probably win it.

Yeah I started a thread asking if a northern hemisphere team can win the RWC.

I dunno if the Aussies can win it..They have the ability, but they just screw up-look at the England win. Englans played briliantly-but Aus should have closed it out. France seem to have imploded somehow. I reckon this could be the All Blacks cup. They are undefeated (ok..almost) and are simply playing like a machine. England have a tricky group with 2 banana-skin teams in Scotland and Argentina. We need to win to try and avoid a top seed team. My thought?? England will be out in the Quarters, but will be a force to reckon with in 4 years time.

The Aussies have got one hell of a backline, and seem to be adept in the black arts in the scrum i.e despite having a powderpuff pack they always come away with at least parity. I base an Oz win on the the British Lion's factor. Since the 1980s the Lions have always faced the best southern hemisphere team. In 1989 it was Australia who went on to life the 1991 WC. 1993 tour NZ had their test record on the go. in 1997 SA were champs, same in 2001 with Australia. NZ were on top of the world in 2005 ditto SA in 2009. With the next tour in 2013 to be held in Oz...

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:The Aussies ................................. seem to be adept in the black arts in the scrum ...............

I would watch Rugby if Setanta let me, but they don't.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:Forget the easy cliche about France being dark horses, they looked dis-jointed in the Six nations and have no faith in their coach.

Sad but true...

To be fair, the Aussie scrum is much better than in the past. England might have dominated them, but that was a second-string front row...

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:The Aussies have got one hell of a backline, and seem to be adept in the black arts in the scrum i.e despite having a powderpuff pack they always come away with at least parity. I base an Oz win on the the British Lion's factor. Since the 1980s the Lions have always faced the best southern hemisphere team. In 1989 it was Australia who went on to life the 1991 WC. 1993 tour NZ had their test record on the go. in 1997 SA were champs, same in 2001 with Australia. NZ were on top of the world in 2005 ditto SA in 2009. With the next tour in 2013 to be held in Oz...

New Zealand always look awesome going into a World Cup and almost always get touted as the favourites or potential winners. They may just do it this time but equally, they may just choke like they usually do.

Notprop, I think the facts speak for themselves. The Aussies have given the world big John Eales and the likes of Smith and Waugh, players who knew something about being on the borderline. Look at some of the games in the past as well. 1991 final between England's much vaunted forwards and and the powderpuff oz frontline. Remind me again who won that? And even when you fast-forward to the 2003 final, England with a forward unit of Hill and the hand of Back, could still only scrape a last minute victory.

I'm the last person in the world who wants to see Skippy lift the title, but you have to respect their world cup record and the fact that they seem to get by without much of a scrum. They must be doing something right.

Screw what everyone thinks, england are going to win it by miles. They can't be a bigger disappointment then the England football team.

I wouldn't rule England out, they did show promise in the 6 Nations, but they need to go all the way. There is a lot of potential there. I do love watching the Kiwis play though, they are awesome. The Aussies play a mean game as well, but dear god they whine when things aren't going their way How on earth they can call us whinging poms I don't know... useless & incompetent, yes

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:Notprop, I think the facts speak for themselves. The Aussies have given the world big John Eales and the likes of Smith and Waugh, players who knew something about being on the borderline. Look at some of the games in the past as well. 1991 final between England's much vaunted forwards and and the powderpuff oz frontline. Remind me again who won that? And even when you fast-forward to the 2003 final, England with a forward unit of Hill and the hand of Back, could still only scrape a last minute victory.

I'm the last person in the world who wants to see Skippy lift the title, but you have to respect their world cup record and the fact that they seem to get by without much of a scrum. They must be doing something right.

You were serious, well I never?

You name many a good Aussie forward but not any front row, which lets face it is the fulcrum of a scrum. The Aussies whilst improving since some of their previous embarrassing scrum collapses and underhand tactics still will get dominated by France, Argentina, Wales, SA, NZ and England at scrumtime.

If they can whip the ball into the second row and out again quickly then this should be less of a problem, if not they will struggle to get on the front foot until the 3rd phase of play. As England have shown in their recent inprovement without that all improtant bit of grunt you will struggle to get quick ball and then maintain it. I prefer recent history and would point to the last Eng vs Aus test last Autumn.

NZ for the win, England with heart and bookie.

[of course this all assumes that the Aussies do not find some gems before the WC, which they are trying very hard to do.]

What about the American team? I have seen on various rugby sites that they should do "good" this go around (whatever that means)

Sadly, I will more than likely not be able to watch anything more than highlights on youtube :(

but not any front row, which lets face it is the fulcrum of a scrum.

Are you sure? Whenever a scrum goes down the offending team have a 50/50 chance of getting the penalty depending on who the ref is. Add to the mix improper binding and the non-existance of proper hooking and you have a mockery of scrum play on your hands. So yeah, even a weak forward row like what the Aussies have is not much of a big deal IMO