After just over a week, has your mind changed on who you think will win the Worl

[bw245]

Mine has. I think Australia will walk their way into the final. Probably going to play the all blacks there. Australia to win it!

I thought England would challenge Australia but I think they'll walk it!

 

[ncurd]

Australia, Ireland or NZ for me in that order.

Everyone else that was within a shot just hasn't performed well enough and Wales are just too injury ravaged to make it all the way.

 

[bw245]

Australia, Ireland or NZ for me in that order.

Everyone else that was within a shot just hasn't performed well enough and Wales are just too injury ravaged to make it all the way.

I think if Wales hadn't so many injuries they would have a good chance.

 

[jflintoff]

Agree with bw245 that Wales are struck with injuries. Australia may get a bit complacent after beating the AB's in the rugby championship. France are so unpredictable and still feel they have a huge chance of securing their first WC however I still think the AB's are strong minded and have enough skill and confidence to see it through to retain the cup.

 

[Kiwi_]

Australia are woeful away from Sydney.. People seem to forget this.

 

[jflintoff]

Australia are woeful away from Sydney.. People seem to forget this.

I like this statement!!

 

[merlinux]

I believe anything is still possible. I know you poms have already given up, but don't forget England might still qualify and go on to win. Beating the wallabies and to some extent (with some bravery) the blacks, is not "mission impossible" by any of the top 7 teams.

 

[Cookies]

No. NZ v Ireland. It's obvious. Has been for years. NZ to win it easily.

 

[Grizwald]

I'm not sure what Australia have done to warrant such high levels of optimism at thus stage. There were flashes against Fiji with 'Pooper' being very effective.

However Fiji against top tier teams appear to need to win three times over as they consistently shoot themselves in the foot. I think we'll all have a better idea of where Australia's are after next weekend.

 

[merlinux]

I'm not sure what Australia have done to warrant such high levels of optimism at thus stage. There were flashes against Fiji with 'Pooper' being very effective.

However Fiji against top tier teams appear to need to win three times over as they consistently shoot themselves in the foot. I think we'll all have a better idea of where Australia's are after next weekend.

This exactely! And the last few years the wallabies have been as unpredictable as the french...

- - - Updated - - -

No. NZ v Ireland. It's obvious. Has been for years. NZ to win it easily.

This is the world cup. This kind of mentality have doomed NZ many times.Ireland have the capabilities of beating the blacks... Even if they havent done it yet. There have been some pretty close calls lately so why not?

 

[Cookies]

Nah, we've got it in the bag. I'm concerned about Japan, 2019 more than I am about this Cup.

 

[nightmarehitter]

As a vivid rugby watcher I haven't seen a team at this world cup yet that could beat the All Blacks. Australia had a one off win in sydney where the All Blacks looked to be holding back considerably. 1 week later the All Blacks put 50pts on them smashing their happy bubble.

France is the only team that could spoil the All Blacks party. For all the hype of Ireland, from what I see the All Blacks would beat them by 20 - 30 points. Its between the ABs and France, and France will need a great day, AB's to have a poor one and biased reffing in their favor.

 

[jflintoff]

As a vivid rugby watcher I haven't seen a team at this world cup yet that could beat the All Blacks. Australia had a one off win in sydney where the All Blacks looked to be holding back considerably. 1 week later the All Blacks put 50pts on them smashing their happy bubble.

France is the only team that could spoil the All Blacks party. For all the hype of Ireland, from what I see the All Blacks would beat them by 20 - 30 points. Its between the ABs and France, and France will need a great day, AB's to have a poor one and biased reffing in their favor.

Quite a spot on judgement there, I wouldn't disagree here

 

[ncurd]

And I haven't seen anything from the ABS that suggest they are the unstoppable monstrosity you guys seams to be suggesting they are.

Beat Ireland by 20-30 points? You'll be lucky score the upper end of that against them.

 

[Mcfadden]

I think you guys are being a little bit too generous to our All Blacks. They're facing issues just like any other side. Maybe not quite so extreme as say, Wales, but we still have them. In my view our tackling has been nowhere near good enough going into this. Some of the tries I've seen let through this year, especially in Sydney and the meters which South Africa made was very soft. Then there's discipline issues such as McCaw, Messam (although I don't consider him part of our full strength team), Owen Frank's occasional shoulder into rucks, and the scrums haven't been the best. More than anything I think our top side looks great, but a bit slow as a collective. Woodcock performs his core roles well, but Crockett is surely a few steps ahead of him in pace and ferocity in tackles. Kaino is great tackler which we need, but Vito adds a lot to our agility in the forwards which imo, we need. We should be there at finals time, and I still uphold my prediction we'll win it, but honestly...a couple of unexpected results and margins at this World Cup. I don't really care who it is we face off against, I'm going to be a bit nervous at least. Two or three injuries in quick succession, a smaller team playing out of their skins, strange things happen. Come quarter final time, the longer an underdog stays in the contest, the hungrier they get and more self belief they get. Plenty of Ranfurly Shield clashes have taught me that over the years.

I don't change my prediction of who'll win it. England probably won't go nearly as far as what I had them going - but that depends whether they can beat the Wallabies. If Australia can have a respectable scrum, if Marler isn't allowed to just bore in sideways, and if Pocock + Hooper are playing, it's very hard to see England winning that. Just as long as Australia don't utterly capitulate in the forwards.

 

[FrenchFan]

Past history counts for peanuts.
We're going home after QF. And it'll be a good enough result under the current staff and with our form of last 4 yrs.

 

[Grizwald]

Personally other than the AB's I like the look of France. If firing on all cylinders they'll be hard to beat, they've a level of physicality that most teams will find difficult to deal with. However the old stereotype remains. Again will know more when they play Ireland.

I think Ireland have passed their peak and seem a little over rated potentially.

 

[nik]

As a vivid rugby watcher I haven't seen a team at this world cup yet that could beat the All Blacks. Australia had a one off win in sydney where the All Blacks looked to be holding back considerably. 1 week later the All Blacks put 50pts on them smashing their happy bubble.

France is the only team that could spoil the All Blacks party. For all the hype of Ireland, from what I see the All Blacks would beat them by 20 - 30 points. Its between the ABs and France, and France will need a great day, AB's to have a poor one and biased reffing in their favor.

You could say the same about Australia holding back against NZ at Eden Park. Cheika trialed in that game by changing the winning line up especially the effective 'Pooper' combination, sacrificing the chance to win the Bledisloe. Maybe Cheika didn't want his Wallabies to win, maybe he wanted to make sure his team was well grounded heading to the World Cup. He also got a good look at ABs turning on their 'A' game. In saying all that, Cheika in similar fashion to Lancaster is tinkering with the line up in key positions during the world cup i.e. halfback, flyhalf. This could backfire on them big time as we saw in England's case.

From ABs perspective. They are searching for their best game. The ABs talk about 'edge', against Australia at Eden Park (and leading up) the 'edge' was evident. This comes from being under pressure to win, to perform. To some extent it's difficult to be mentally be on the 'edge' against weaker opposition because they and everyone else know they will win easily. I think come the knockout stages the ABs will relish the opportunity and we may see some clinical and/or gutsy performances.

 

[Aboottarren]

As a vivid rugby watcher I haven't seen a team at this world cup yet that could beat the All Blacks. Australia had a one off win in sydney where the All Blacks looked to be holding back considerably. 1 week later the All Blacks put 50pts on them smashing their happy bubble.

France is the only team that could spoil the All Blacks party. For all the hype of Ireland, from what I see the All Blacks would beat them by 20 - 30 points. Its between the ABs and France, and France will need a great day, AB's to have a poor one and biased reffing in their favor.

The All Blacks are and have been for years in a class of their own,they have the best and brainiest player in the world (McCaw) who is so brilliant and can outwit any other player in the world and not only that somehow he can outwit the referees into letting him get away with countless infringements in the scrums it's amazing,and they have produces so many world class No10s it make one wonder where they have their production line.

 

[chippieolamus]

As a vivid rugby watcher I haven't seen a team at this world cup yet that could beat the All Blacks. Australia had a one off win in sydney where the All Blacks looked to be holding back considerably. 1 week later the All Blacks put 50pts on them smashing their happy bubble.

France is the only team that could spoil the All Blacks party. For all the hype of Ireland, from what I see the All Blacks would beat them by 20 - 30 points. Its between the ABs and France, and France will need a great day, AB's to have a poor one and biased reffing in their favor.

Yet people call the English arrogant.