The World Cup is starting on the 7th September in France. Not long now! There's always a lot of speculation regarding the best teams and who's going to win the tournament etc.
Most people would say the All Blacks are odds on favourites, and based on their continued world dominance I would tend to agree. BUT, they haven't won the World Cup since 1987, thats 20 years for the less informed. So they do have somewhat of a 'Choker' label attached to them, and the pressure keeps adding up.
The next safe bet would have to be Australia or South Africa. Australia being one of the smartest rugby playing nations in the world, and the Springboks being incredibly powerful and good at what they do.
Ireland were looking almost unbeatable a year ago, but seem to have taken a step backwards this year.
France, the hosts of the tournament, can never be written off though. It just depends which French team arrives on the day - one that can't be arsed or a team that will display the same flair and passion as they did in '99 when knocking New Zealand out in the Semi Finals.
All in all, it's going to an interesting tournament and I personally can't wait.
The World Rankings, according to the IRB, going into the tournament are as follows:
Rank Team
1 New Zealand
2 Australia
3 France
4 South Africa
5 Ireland
6 Argentina
7 England
8 Wales
9 Italy
10 Samoa
11 Scotland
12 Fiji
13 Canada
14 Tonga
15 United States
16 Romania
17 Georgia
18 Japan
19 Russia
20 Uruguay
21 Spain
22 Portugal
23 Korea
24 Namibia
25 Chile
26 Germany
27 Moldova
28 Czech Republic
29 Ukraine
30 Netherlands
31 Kazakhstan
32 Poland
33 Latvia
34 Hong Kong
35 South Korea
36 Sweden
37 Switzerland
38 Armenia
39 Lithuania
40 Malta
41 Andorra
42 Croatia
43 Arabian Gulf
44 Hungary
45 Serbia
46 Denmark
47 Norway
48 Austria
49 Bulgaria
50 Slovenia
51 Sri Lanka
52 China
53 Singapore
54 Taiwan
55 Luxembourg
56 Malaysia
57 Finland
58 Israel
59 Thailand
60 India
61 Bosnia
62 Azerbaijan
As of 29th Aug 2007.
Anyone have any predictions?
Most people would say the All Blacks are odds on favourites, and based on their continued world dominance I would tend to agree. BUT, they haven't won the World Cup since 1987, thats 20 years for the less informed. So they do have somewhat of a 'Choker' label attached to them, and the pressure keeps adding up.
The next safe bet would have to be Australia or South Africa. Australia being one of the smartest rugby playing nations in the world, and the Springboks being incredibly powerful and good at what they do.
Ireland were looking almost unbeatable a year ago, but seem to have taken a step backwards this year.
France, the hosts of the tournament, can never be written off though. It just depends which French team arrives on the day - one that can't be arsed or a team that will display the same flair and passion as they did in '99 when knocking New Zealand out in the Semi Finals.
All in all, it's going to an interesting tournament and I personally can't wait.
The World Rankings, according to the IRB, going into the tournament are as follows:
Rank Team
1 New Zealand
2 Australia
3 France
4 South Africa
5 Ireland
6 Argentina
7 England
8 Wales
9 Italy
10 Samoa
11 Scotland
12 Fiji
13 Canada
14 Tonga
15 United States
16 Romania
17 Georgia
18 Japan
19 Russia
20 Uruguay
21 Spain
22 Portugal
23 Korea
24 Namibia
25 Chile
26 Germany
27 Moldova
28 Czech Republic
29 Ukraine
30 Netherlands
31 Kazakhstan
32 Poland
33 Latvia
34 Hong Kong
35 South Korea
36 Sweden
37 Switzerland
38 Armenia
39 Lithuania
40 Malta
41 Andorra
42 Croatia
43 Arabian Gulf
44 Hungary
45 Serbia
46 Denmark
47 Norway
48 Austria
49 Bulgaria
50 Slovenia
51 Sri Lanka
52 China
53 Singapore
54 Taiwan
55 Luxembourg
56 Malaysia
57 Finland
58 Israel
59 Thailand
60 India
61 Bosnia
62 Azerbaijan
As of 29th Aug 2007.
Anyone have any predictions?
