L
leicester
Guest
It seems to me that, New Zealand's dominance aside, there are some great matches coming up in RWC 07.
Must see matches for me are...
POOL A
England v Springboks. RSA clear favourites this time around but ENG will not be the same team that lost so badly in the summer.
England v Samoa. After RWC 03, really looking forward to this. SAM are always up for the world cup and their form outside of the event is no reflection of their form come RWC time. ENG are favourites but SAM will give it everything.
POOL B
Aus v Wales. AUS have improved recently but WAL play them in Cardiff and, after a narrow loss in the first of the June tests, will be up for it.
Wales v Fiji. Could be a real display of entertaining running rugby. My worry is that the Fijian rugby union seems to be in difficulties at the moment. I hope that is not reflected on the pitch.
POOL C
Scotland v Italy. THE must-win match for both these teams, with SCO still smarting from their VI Nations disasterand ITA clearly improving year-on-year. I rate Berbezier as a coach. This could be a close affair. It would be as uplifting for ITA to win this and qualify as it would be disastrous for SCO to lose.
POOL D
France v Argentina. First match of the tournament and the first real test. Could be the making or breaking of either team. Clearly, FRA are the favourites but ARG can beat them and seem to be developing real self-belief.
France v Ireland. What with all that frustration following the loss to FRA at Croke Park, IRE are really going to be up for this one. Having said that, for all their quality, IRE have a pretty poor recent record against FRA - and the match is to be played in France. I fancy FRA for the win but, with the Irish, anything could happen.
Argentina v Ireland. Seems to me that RWC match ups between these two are becoming tradition. Historically, they've always been close games. Add to the mix that both teams have improved since RWC 2003 and that the summer tests between these two featured less than full strength teams and you have a classic crunch match in the making.
For my money, these are the pool matches likely to generate the closest and/or most exciting games. The reasons why there is less emphasis on Tri Nations teams is...
1. In most cases, there seem to be horrible mismatches so no real challenges except for the possibilities (RSA V ENG and WAL v AUS) identified above.
2. I am a NH supporter so of course my eyes are on NH match ups.
I am also looking forward to some of the match ups between second tier nations. I figure the closest / most entertaining will probably be...
Canada v Fiji. USA v Fiji was pretty close in 03. Canada are better than USA and who knows which Fijian team will turn up?
Namibia v Georgia. Georgia probably have the edge but both teams would love to get a RWC win under their belts this time around.
Any comments?
Must see matches for me are...
POOL A
England v Springboks. RSA clear favourites this time around but ENG will not be the same team that lost so badly in the summer.
England v Samoa. After RWC 03, really looking forward to this. SAM are always up for the world cup and their form outside of the event is no reflection of their form come RWC time. ENG are favourites but SAM will give it everything.
POOL B
Aus v Wales. AUS have improved recently but WAL play them in Cardiff and, after a narrow loss in the first of the June tests, will be up for it.
Wales v Fiji. Could be a real display of entertaining running rugby. My worry is that the Fijian rugby union seems to be in difficulties at the moment. I hope that is not reflected on the pitch.
POOL C
Scotland v Italy. THE must-win match for both these teams, with SCO still smarting from their VI Nations disasterand ITA clearly improving year-on-year. I rate Berbezier as a coach. This could be a close affair. It would be as uplifting for ITA to win this and qualify as it would be disastrous for SCO to lose.
POOL D
France v Argentina. First match of the tournament and the first real test. Could be the making or breaking of either team. Clearly, FRA are the favourites but ARG can beat them and seem to be developing real self-belief.
France v Ireland. What with all that frustration following the loss to FRA at Croke Park, IRE are really going to be up for this one. Having said that, for all their quality, IRE have a pretty poor recent record against FRA - and the match is to be played in France. I fancy FRA for the win but, with the Irish, anything could happen.
Argentina v Ireland. Seems to me that RWC match ups between these two are becoming tradition. Historically, they've always been close games. Add to the mix that both teams have improved since RWC 2003 and that the summer tests between these two featured less than full strength teams and you have a classic crunch match in the making.
For my money, these are the pool matches likely to generate the closest and/or most exciting games. The reasons why there is less emphasis on Tri Nations teams is...
1. In most cases, there seem to be horrible mismatches so no real challenges except for the possibilities (RSA V ENG and WAL v AUS) identified above.
2. I am a NH supporter so of course my eyes are on NH match ups.
I am also looking forward to some of the match ups between second tier nations. I figure the closest / most entertaining will probably be...
Canada v Fiji. USA v Fiji was pretty close in 03. Canada are better than USA and who knows which Fijian team will turn up?
Namibia v Georgia. Georgia probably have the edge but both teams would love to get a RWC win under their belts this time around.
Any comments?
