6 September 2015

Rugby World Cup Predictions

We're two weeks out from the world cup that matters. None of those flouncy eat biting hair product dependent round ball twats.

I thought I'd throw out my predictions for those getting out of the first round. Although obviously my first prediction is that I'll be drinking some beer. [where some is a number between lots and ummm lost count].

Pool A: Australia, England, Wales, Fiji, Uruguay
Pool of death. And if I were an England supporter I'd be getting pretty concerned... I suspect Fiji will come last, but there's a good chance they'll damage a few of the opposition quite badly. So that's worth watching. I haven't watched Uruguay since, probably, the last world cup - so Fiji may fancy their chances there. But for those going through, Australia (probably topping the pool) and Wales. As a team Wales haven't gelled yet, but the signs have been looking very good and they're very well conditioned. Go Wazza.... I also get pissed off reading the 'rebirth of english rugby' commentaries every time they win a match, so would be fine seeing them get kicked out at this stage.

Pool B: South Africa, Samoa, Japan, Scotland, USA
Interesting pool for position 2. Obviously SA will top the pool, but all the others have a reasonable chance to come second. USA have come on a lot in the last 4 years, Japan have their ring-ins, Samoa suffer from not playing as a team that often, but their players are experienced, and Scotland appear to be peaking at the right time. They should have won against France last night, but lacked the ability to shut the game down, but as a team without huge stars (although the Gray brothers, Denton, and Cussitor are damn good) they're a good bet for the dark horse. (*)

Pool C: NZ, Argentina, Tonga, Georgia, Namibia
NZ to top the pool, and probably Argentina for second. Georgia looked OK last time I saw them, but I can't see them troubling Argentina who now have the four nations game experience.

Pool D: France, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Romania
France to top, they're looking very good - and appear to have settled on a line-up that includes Michalek (which is unfortunate for everyone else). Sadly I expect Ireland to take the second spot. I find them very boring, but they do the basics well, and keep winning. I'd like Canada to go through :)

So them's me picks. Nothing too controversial there, except for England.

(*) yes I'm biased due to the quantity of the national product I consume

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