How confident are you about your country in the World Cup?

[Ragey Erasmus]

Imo both England and Aus go into their matches against Wales as favourites due to recent results. However I do think wales are fully capable of winning both games and topping the pool. Historically Wales get better the more time they are together, more so than England and Aus seem to do. I think this is mainly because the players are undercooked entering the international camp from the regions. The English clubs and Aus franchises better prepare their players for international duty. Because of this I think the extra preparation time before the WC will benefit Wales more than England and Aus, and we'll see a performance from Wales in both games more comparable with those at the end of the 6 nations, than the lackluster one against England in the first game of the 6 nations.

Having a solid platform may still prove crucial against England though, that's what's really worrying me.

England played Wales in round 4 of the 6N last year and won...

 

[goodNumber10]

Recent form goes out the window come WC just as it did last time, I think the difference will be the coaches and Gats is far cleverer than Lancaster. Neither would Gats leave Abendedon and Armitage out of the squad.

what welsh form went out the window then? Losing to the top four teams (pool), or failing when it really mattered (semi)

Wales had one good result in the last world cup when they bet an Ireland side that was all at sea.

I'm not saying wales will not make it out the pool - but it's going to be a straight shoot out between Oz and Wales because England will not fail to qualify from the pool stages at a home world cup it really is a case of 1st or 2nd for England. England have the power game to beat Wales, and Oz the brains, Wales have the added misfortune of knowing games will be played at their own stadium but not by them.

I'd say all the pressure is on Wales to be honest.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Welsh clubs certainly haven't suffered because of it.

 

[dullonien]

England played Wales in round 4 of the 6N last year and won...

Yup. England are a very good side. Both sides on song should result in a tight game, wherever it's played.

The progress Wales made during this years 6 nations was dramatic though. There's been a lot of talk about the conditioning Gatland has been concentrating on, whether or not that actually effected them during the 6 nations, or if it will actually benefit them come WC will have to be seen, but it's an interesting little sub plot.

When the pools were announced, I was somewhat disheartened, but I think it's great now. Certainly a chance of failure, but it's made it really exciting. Hopefully the pool lives up to expectation, and we see some deal fireworks during the pool games. Whoever get's out of this pool should be in great shape going forwards, and could have the edge over their opposition come the knock outs.

There's going to be a lot of pressure on England, what with it being a home tournament. They've buckled under that sort of pressure in the recent past come championship deciding matches in the 6 nations. They will have learn't alot from them, so should be in better shape to overcome the pressure this time. Same could be said of Wales' lack of wins v Aus though.

 

[valley commando]

what welsh form went out the window then? Losing to the top four teams (pool), or failing when it really mattered (semi)

Wales had one good result in the last world cup when they bet an Ireland side that was all at sea.

I'm not saying wales will not make it out the pool - but it's going to be a straight shoot out between Oz and Wales because England will not fail to qualify from the pool stages at a home world cup it really is a case of 1st or 2nd for England. England have the power game to beat Wales, and Oz the brains, Wales have the added misfortune of knowing games will be played at their own stadium but not by them.

I'd say all the pressure is on Wales to be honest.

I was'nt going to say this but lets hope Wales and Oz go through cause the arrogance of some English supporters borders on racism

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I was'nt going to say this but lets hope Wales and Oz go through cause the arrogance of some English supporters borders on racism

 

[goodNumber10]

I was'nt going to say this but lets hope Wales and Oz go through cause the arrogance of some English supporters borders on racism

 

[valley commando]

Good response.

 

[goodNumber10]

Good response.

about as good as you labeling me a racist because I said the pressure is on Wales (it is).

 

[dullonien]

There's pressure on all three. Arguably slightly more on England as they're hosting, and will likely go into every pool game as favourites.

Nothing wrong with English fans being confident valley commando. They've beaten us well the last two times we've met, and have proven that they can beat Aus on a consistent basis. There's certainly still a chance that they'll go out in the group stages though.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

And so it all comes out again for Valley commando, I guess the irony of wishing ill fortune on the English whilst calling us racist is completely lost on him.

Here's a tip before you start throwing around accusations of racism, go onto some social media like Facebook, look back to the 6 nations and see the sort of comments your fellow countrymen were regularly making in large quantities about the English. You will then see how stupid your accusation of english racism is.

 

[chippieolamus]

I was'nt going to say this but lets hope Wales and Oz go through cause the arrogance of some English supporters borders on racism

Do you just come to threads to stir up arguments against the English? It's all I ever see you doing...

 

[SomeOke]

Unfortunately I'd say SA are 4th favourites, but still capable of winning. It's an interesting WC really, 2011 was very much NZs year with any other result looking very unlikely, this year NZ might still be favourites but it's hardly a sure thing.
I also hope Aus come out of their group so we can get revenge in a quarter final .

 

[TRF_heineken]

I was'nt going to say this but lets hope Wales and Oz go through cause the arrogance of some English supporters borders on racism

Do you even know what racism is? Because if you are using it to portray bias from one nation towards another, you are very uneducated.

You should stop throwing the term racism around so loosely. Come to South Africa and I'll show you racism...

 

[valley commando]

about as good as you labeling me a racist because I said the pressure is on Wales (it is).

think you'll find that the pressure in these situations is on the host team

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Do you just come to threads to stir up arguments against the English? It's all I ever see you doing...

Not the case at all, just having a pop back at the snide like, we are superior comments that some English supporters revert to, praise where praise is due England caught us cold in this years 6 nations and won well last year at home, however which ever way you dress the WC up, the pressure is all on England as the home side

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Do you even know what racism is? Because if you are using it to portray bias from one nation towards another, you are very uneducated.

You should stop throwing the term racism around so loosely. Come to South Africa and I'll show you racism...

lighten up it was said in jest

 

[goodNumber10]

think you'll find that the pressure in these situations is on the host team

You can think what you want, but you're wrong.

Wales have a History of losing in the pool stages, and to small teams, they have an even bigger history of losing to Australia. The pressure placed on them of not choking again will be way higher than Englands who English fans will just expect to get out of the pool stages.

Ergo the public pressure will be there way before the World Cup for Wales, but won't for England, England can just come into it and do their job - Wales come into it with Decades of underachieving at the world cup behind them and the prospect of playing a team they have never ever beaten to qualify.

Also, who are the only home nation to fail to get out of their group?

 

[Raggs]

To think this started with a perfectly legitimate comment about Fiji perhaps surprising Wales. I've thought it myself, in the AIs Fiji were down a man, and still almost took it off a mostly 1sts Welsh side. This time round Fiji will have had a lot more time together for cohesion, and Wales will be coming off a very tough 5 day turnaround...

 

[SharksFan86]

I am confident of us getting to knockout stages then of course anything can happen at that stage ! I hope we can at least make semi finals.

 

[dullonien]

You can think what you want, but you're wrong.

Wales have a History of losing in the pool stages, and to small teams, they have an even bigger history of losing to Australia. The pressure placed on them of not choking again will be way higher than Englands who English fans will just expect to get out of the pool stages.

Ergo the public pressure will be there way before the World Cup for Wales, but won't for England, England can just come into it and do their job - Wales come into it with Decades of underachieving at the world cup behind them and the prospect of playing a team they have never ever beaten to qualify.

Also, who are the only home nation to fail to get out of their group?

Not sure that makes much sense tbh.

For me, England will be under the most pressure. Whilst Wales not getting out of the group would be crappy, England not getting out of their group in a home WC would be catastrophic. That's gonna heap a ton of extra pressure on England.

 

[goodNumber10]

Not sure that makes much sense tbh.

For me, England will be under the most pressure. Whilst Wales not getting out of the group would be crappy, England not getting out of their group in a home WC would be catastrophic. That's gonna heap a ton of extra pressure on England.

depends what you classify as pressure.

The majority of English fans will not be worried about England getting out of the group, people will just assume it will happen - that may seem arrogant but it's the truth and the team will not be entering the tournament with additional pressure from the fans and press. If the wheels come off the wagon then the pressure will come on of course but leading into it things will be reasonably relaxed for England - that will also change once you get to the knock out stages.

Wales on the other hand have a long history of failing at the pool stages, they are the only host country to ever fail to exit their pool and have failed to make the knockouts on three occasions. Fans already know it's a big possibility..... additionally they've never beaten Australia so fans will be expecting them to lose - they simply HAVE to beat England if they want to get out the pool stages, and then put Fiji and co away - if Wales fail against England in London then they have to do something they've never done before to qualify and that's beat Australia, an Australian team straight off the back of a Rugby Championship and 3 games into a tournament and beat a hoodoo team who will be at the end of the tournament.

Whereas if England fail to beat Wales they have to beat a team they beat regularly in Australia and post a big score against Uruguay.

That's where the pressure comes from, Wales have to do things they've never done before and put away a hoodoo team. England will know exactly where they stand all the way through the tournament and be in the driving seat.