RWC Draw
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I must say, it is almost refreshing not to go into a RWC year with NZ as clear favourite, having beaten all and sundry and scooped every award on offer at the annual World Rugby awards.
Because we don't play any NH teams before the RWC, no-one will take too much notice of victories over SA, Aust and Argentina. Nor Tonga.
Ireland has just bought themselves a whole new level of pressure to cope with: favourites, world's best side, never reached semi-final, Schmidt due to move on etc...
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@billy-tell said in RWC Draw:
I must say, it is almost refreshing not to go into a RWC year with NZ as clear favourite, having beaten all and sundry and scooped every award on offer at the annual World Rugby awards.
Because we don't play any NH teams before the RWC, no-one will take too much notice of victories over SA, Aust and Argentina. Nor Tonga.
Ireland has just bought themselves a whole new level of pressure to cope with: favourites, world's best side, never reached semi-final, Schmidt due to move on etc...
Assuming we win all our pool games, where would we meet Ireland if they also won all their pool games?
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@hooroo if both teams win, we would meet in the final, if we drop a game to SA we play them in the 1/4 (assuming SA dont drop a game to anyone else in our pool)
Was listening to something yesterday and they were saying outside of NZ, there is no player still playing who has won a RWC before, which is understandable given it could only be a SA form the 2007 squad.
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@billy-tell said in RWC Draw:
Because we don't play any NH teams before the RWC, no-one will take too much notice of victories over SA, Aust and Argentina. Nor Tonga.
The ABs stock won't change from now until the RWC unless they lose the Bledisloe next year. Everything else can be explained away by RWC prep. They lost two on the trot going into 2011 and still entered as hot favourites.
Ireland still have to navigate the 6N a tournament and those results do matter. If they go 2-3 and Wales or England win it the landscape changes somewhat.
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Draw:
@hooroo if both teams win, we would meet in the final, if we drop a game to SA we play them in the 1/4 (assuming SA dont drop a game to anyone else in our pool)
Assuming Ireland don't lose to Scotland or Japan. Just saying...
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@billy-tell Ireland winning thier pool is already set in stone.
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Shaping up as a great tournament potentially.
6 teams have reason to be confident, that includes Scotland who all though a stretch to win are a good chance to ruin 1 or 2 (or no) parties for others. Or get knocked out in the pool.
Reminds me a bit of 1995 which had 5 quite even contenders with uncertainty over who was rising and who was on the descent.
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Shaping up as a great tournament potentially.
6 teams have reason to be confident, that includes Scotland who all though a stretch to win are a good chance to ruin 1 or 2 (or no) parties for others. Or get knocked out in the pool.
In my opinion: Ireland, NZ, SA, England, Wales will provide the winner although you can never entirely discount France (2011...). Australia, Scotland, Argentina, Japan can be party poopers but I don’t see them winning it.
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@antipodean said in RWC Draw:
@rapido and NZ not the favourite
How are we not the favourite? Surely we will start as favourite and then whoever wins 6 nations?
Because we lost to the team of the year and also to South Africa, at home.
And you don't think we will be favourite for the WC?
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@antipodean said in RWC Draw:
@rapido and NZ not the favourite
How are we not the favourite? Surely we will start as favourite and then whoever wins 6 nations?
Because we lost to the team of the year and also to South Africa, at home.
And you don't think we will be favourite for the WC?
Depends what happens in the 6N and truncated RC. But at the moment we're only favourites because our powder is dry.
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Draw:
And you don't think we will be favourite for the WC?
yeah I think we start pretty much all RWC as favorite, regardless dont we?
Phil Kearns: "If they play the World Cup for 1000 years, the All Blacks will always be favourites to win it."
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@antipodean said in RWC Draw:
@antipodean said in RWC Draw:
@rapido and NZ not the favourite
How are we not the favourite? Surely we will start as favourite and then whoever wins 6 nations?
Because we lost to the team of the year and also to South Africa, at home.
And you don't think we will be favourite for the WC?
Depends what happens in the 6N and truncated RC. But at the moment we're only favourites because our powder is dry.
I would bet that even if Ireland tip everyone over in the 6 nations, we will still start the tournament as favourites.
I hope we aren't so I can whip some coin on the AB's for a decent collect
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In most recent RWCs there has been an upset in the pool games which has thrown everyone's predicted QF/SF matchups into disarray. For example, Argentina beating France in 2007 leading to that QF, Ireland beating Aust in 2011 and England losing to both Aust and Wales in 2015.
The top-seeded teams in Pool A (Ireland) and Pool B (NZ) should prevail but you can't be 100% certain. The lower half of the draw looks to be easier if the favoured teams win their pool games.
And I wouldn't put it past Argentina to come good again in a RWC year and beat France.
