"Experts" RWC Predictions

[AlRums]

First up Brian Moore, notice this was 10 days ago before Eng/Wal & Sco/Fra matches

 

[AlRums]

Dallaglio yesterday

 

[Brigantine]

Naive projections based on World Rugby Rankings at start of tournament:

(* Assuming Australia doesn't upset France tomorrow. Headline: "Eddie Jones pushes England to record low 9th")
Notably, the 5 top ranked teams are all competing for the same 2 QF's, while the other 2 QF's will be populated (& won) by teams ranked 6+

I'll also add that the New Zealand government (with all the 'experts' at their disposal) decided to hold the election just hours before the QF's. What does that say about their confidence? (in contrast to 1999 and 2011 - the last times the years lined up - when it was 1 month after the final)


QF 1: Fiji vs England
-------------------------------------SF 1: Fiji vs Ireland
QF 2: Ireland vs New Zealand
------------------------------------------------------------------------Final: Ireland vs France
------------------------------------------------------------------------Bronze: Fiji vs Argentina
QF 3: Argentina vs Australia
-------------------------------------SF 2: Argentina vs France
QF 4: France vs South Africa

Rankings etc:
-----------Contenders for KO's------------
1) 92.22* France (89.22 +3 for home advantage. Final rank not confirmed)
2) 91.82 Ireland
3) 91.08 South Africa
4) 89.06 New Zealand
5) 84.01 Scotland
6) 80.86 Argentina
7) 80.28 Fiji
8) 79.95 England
9) 79.87 Australia (Final rank not confirmed, but can only go up)

-----------Contenders for 3rd in Pool------------
10) 78.26 Wales
11) 76.23 Georgia
12) 76.19 Samoa
13) 75.63 Italy
-----------Something Missing?------------
14) 73.29 Japan
15) 70.29 Tonga
16) 68.61 Portugal
17) 66.63 Uruguay
-----------You may have forgotten about------------
19) 64.56 Romania
21) 61.61 Namibia
22) 60.49 Chile

Pool A:
1st - France
2nd - New Zealand
3rd - Italy (4th Uruguay, 5th Namibia)

Pool B:
1st - Ireland
2nd - South Africa
3rd - Scotland (4th Tonga, 5th Romania)

Pool C:
1st - Fiji
2nd - Australia
3rd - Wales (4th Georgia, 5th Portugal)

Pool D:
1st - Argentina
2nd - England
3rd - Samoa (4th Japan, 5th Chile)

 

[Astrodragon]

The one thing you can guarantee about the 'expert' predictions is that they will be proven complete crap

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I put my "predictions" in other threads already