Pool A England South Africa Samoa USA Tonga Pool B Australia Wales Fiji Canada Japan Pool C New Zealand Scotland Italy Romania Portugal Pool D France Ireland Argentina Georgia Namibia I wonder if people are getting excited about this. I gotta say I am very nervous. I think we will find it very difficult to advance from this group. I hope/think we will. I fancy RSA, england, Oz, Wales ( who are so bad right now, they are in the only group id be confident they will get through, New Zealand, Italy, France and Ireland will get through. I fear for poor scotland. 1/4 final i think will be RSA V Wales easy win for South africa Oz V England Tough to call, maybe oz, but itll be close France V Italy Easy for hosts NZ V Irealnd.. the end of the line for eddies boys, if they managed to make it this far semis Oz V all blacks...all blacks too strong Fra v RSA...THe south africans win a dour contest Final RSA V New Zealand I'm coloured by my year old bet fair 10/1 bet on the south africans, but, I fancy if these two meet in the final, the south africans will keep it tight, limit the all blacks to penalties. Carter is usually reliable, but Ive attended a few games in telstra stadium where he has had a mare. He may crumble here (fingers crossed) Montgomery is usually good for 15-18 points and that maybe enough to clinch it for the south africans.
Yes this is starting to build up a head of steam now & I'm really looking forward to watching at least some of the matches. I think I said on the old site that your 10/1 about the boks looked fair good value given their improvement & I still think that you may just have the right answer there. A jedi at last.... I'm feeling a nice buzz of quiet determination and confidence out of the Irish camp mostly through the reports of seasoned followers like Gerry Thornley and Brendan Fanning. I know we would need a lot of luck in running with injuries and the bounce of every ball in our favour but this is a good a collective as we've had and includes some exceptional talent also. I'm having us each way despite the likelihood a Q/F against the all blacks. I wonder what price O'Gara as an outsider in leading points scorer?
Ireland might not play New Zealand, i think the team will be out to beat france and gain revenge for that six nations defeat, remember we were missing 2 of our key players that day and ran them very close
Yes, but I think the french team that day changed 5-6 players from the team that beat italy. France are way better than us, we havent beaten them since 2003, cant see it happening now. ROG would be a decent beat, if he plays against the minnows. Ill check that out....another ralph keys maybe
well megager, if ure previous 137 consecutive predicitions are anything to go by i'll keep my money in my pocket...for now. RSA r a good bet even now to win it outright, but ive a sneaky feeling that oz'll do it. Playing crap 4 the past 2-3 years, even losin to us twice sounds like they'll b way off the pace. But they're akin to Germany in football when it comes to crap pretournament form and peaking at the right time - they've substantially improved the front 5 and with mortlock and tuiquiri in the 3/4 line they can still b devastating. They'll comfortably get to semis i reckon and from there they wont implode like their more illustrious neighbours r wont. Pressure on kiwis might just get to 'em - plus an unfancied or angry oz side (in any sport) is very dangerous. Strangely i fancy ireland to top our group - but being a staunch munster fan and regular thomond park goer that may be just blind optimism. Oz 4 the Webb Ellis i reckon.
I believe we have to beat the French (hence avoiding the all blacks) if we are to make any serious inroads at this tournament. Could happen but its going to have to be a really special one off performance that does it. Anything less than a semi final appearance for Ireland will have to go down as a failure.
well if its a choice between New Zealand and Scotland in the Quarters, that's a bit of a no brainer lol! I think we could beat NZ though,they don't travel well!!
Dont know about that Yoko, they did pretty well on their travels up here, just ask france whove been hammered the last 3 times the all blacks visited their shores
France are different - they're not that good at home Was in Stade de France last time in the 6 Nations - and you wouldn't believe the abuse that the home crowd was giving their team even when they were winning by 20 points. Hope they keep that attitude up. The only thing we can rely on is that New Zealand are notorious chokers, and here's hoping they do it again!!
Fair enough NZ can be chokers on the big stage, but I think they are just too good to buckle at this stage. Remember last year when they played those two test games in France, they played two completely different teams in both games and still walked away with it!
Oh no doubting they should win it they have by far the best team and as you say two or three back up teams, I just can see a packed Millenium stadium full of Irish getting to them. Of course we could be on the plane home by then!!
Thats the worry. I have a ticket for cardiff and ill be gutted if its the argies v all blacks. The more I look at our group, the more nervous I get. I mean Wales, England, and arguebly Scotland ( tough I'm not convinced theyll do it) have almost certain passages to the 1/4s. Why do we end up with the argies every time. At the moment I would fancy them to beat Wales, England, Italy and Scotland. They only lost by a point to france recently, beat us twice ( with their 2nd team, our third) and ran the all blacks close. With world rankings, I fail to see why they are seeded so low. I realise it has to do with previous world cups, but still
catch - 22, Argentina and us can't seem to escape each other! The only good thing is that with bonus points we should have two maximum scores going into the french game and even losing by a bonus (or two) would be a decent result. Provided of course Argentina don't. Will be very nervewracking anyway. Where are you staying in Cardiff, we had the chance of tickets but looking at flights and accommodation (Bristol) it was over a grand. And with going to the pool games and trying to get over to Anfield a few times this season that was a no-go
Looks like O'Driscoll could be out of the world cup....he was taken to hospital with a reported fractured cheekbone, after he was punched in the face during a warm up game in France.
If it turns out to be a fractured cheekbone then thats a huge blow for our chances. While I never expected Ireland to win the RWC, a semi final appearance was a very reachable goal. Without O'Driscoll it looks a rather more ambitious goal to get to the semi's now. Denis Leamy also picked up a shoulder injury - a very costly friendly it was tonight.
O'Driscoll received a fractured sinus and is out of the first game and also the friendly against Italy. So he should be fit for the big games of the group. Seems to be a policy of targeting the better players, remember a certain incident against O'Driscoll in the Lions tour. Is this over competitive or a result of the professional age? The equivalent to football players diving and trying to get others sent off? Not nice to see. Ireland should get 2 goes to get to the semi finals this year, by beating France or beating the All Blacks. I just think they will be too good for Argentina. However, they do play France before Argentina so lets hope for no injuries. All very strong teams in there this year. I'd only be excluding England leaving a group of 5 that could win it (NZ, Oz, SA, France and Ireland). I'll be keeping my money in my pocket. I think all teams could suffer from injuries. NZ are probably in the best boat as their replacements are just better than most other team's replacements.
The French Rugby Federation (FRF) are to open an inquiry following the incidents in Ireland’s World Cup warm-up match in Bayonne which saw Brian O’Driscoll sustain a fracture to his sinus. Ireland captain O’Driscoll was taken to hospital with what first appeared to be a fractured cheekbone, after he was punched midway through the second half. Full Story Here
Bloody targetted him. Disgraceful. O driscoll was a big loss in dublin this year and paris last year. He always manages to breacg the french line, and they know it. That fella was a mercenary. Good job france havent decided to play a province in ireland. Id be there with my machine gun...its like the untouchables...they sent one of ours to the hospital, we send one of theirs to the morgue. Ok settle down, the blue tablets usually do it...ah thats better