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rugby world cup 2023 prediction

Some doubt cast on USA qualifying for Pool A. They might be in Pool D instead, with England, Argentina, Japan and Samoa. (possibly even Pool C)
Good Americas and Pacific-6-Nations rivalries in that group. The ghost of Sunwolves vs Jaguares too.
Depends how well USA bounce back next Saturday for the return leg. (rather inauspicious date for it)

I'll have 2 early guesses at how RWC 2023 will go

Pool A: 1st NZ, 2nd Fra OR 1st Fra 2nd NZ
Pool B: 1st RSA, 2nd Ireland
Pool C: 1st wild card, 2nd meh
Pool D: 1st Eng, 2nd wild card

QF1 Wild card
QF2 RSA < France OR South Africa > NZ
QF3 England > meh
QF4 New Zealand > Ire OR France > Ire

SF1 France > wild card OR South Africa > wild card
SF2 England > NZ OR France > Eng

3rd F New Zealand > wild card OR England > wild card
Final France > Eng OR South Africa > Fra

So 1st France 2nd England 3rd New Zealand OR 1st South Africa 2nd France 3rd England
4th could be any of Wales, Australia, Japan, Argentina

He who winneth QF2, winneth the cup
 
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And so it is. The Qualifier for Pool A is Uruguay (16) - they will join New Zealand (2), France (6), Italy (14) and e.g. Namibia (25)

USA (17) now have to face off with Chile (26) for the right to join Pool D - with England (4), Argentina (8), Japan(10) and Samoa (13)

Canada (23) won't be participating in RWC 2023, they just got eliminated by Chile.
 
And so it is. The Qualifier for Pool A is Uruguay (16) - they will join New Zealand (2), France (6), Italy (14) and e.g. Namibia (25)

USA (17) now have to face off with Chile (26) for the right to join Pool D - with England (4), Argentina (8), Japan(10) and Samoa (13)

Canada (23) won't be participating in RWC 2023, they just got eliminated by Chile.

Go USA Eagles! Beat Chile.
 
comment below your early rugby wc 2023 prediction?

heres mine

POOL A
1st France
2nd New zealand
3rd Usa
4th Italy
5th Nambia

POOL B –
1st South Africa,
2nd Scotland,
3rd Ireland
4th Rommina
5th Tonga

POOL C –
1st Australia
2nd wales
3rd Fiji
4th Brazil
5th Georgia

pool D
1st Argentina,
2nd England
3rd japan
4th Samoa
5th Uruguay

last 8
Australia 32-17 england
South Africa 34-37 NZ
Argentina 19-24 Wales
France 46-22 Scotland

Semi Finals
Australia 29-27 nz
france 27-16 wales

3 Place Play Off
nz 38-21 wales

Final
Australia 29-48 France
France to win
I reckon Australia will win now that they have Eddie jones
 
It's actually great not having any expectations. Don't care about the cycle, doubt the coach will last beyond the tournament unless he actually achieves something in the interim. It's all a bit pressure off unlike the Schmidt years when expectations were, rightly, sky high.

Qualify from the group and not getting dicked in the QF would be nice. 1991 was the last time that happened. I personally haven't had the joy of seeing such great things.
How things change in 18 months... we're literally guaranteed to win now.
 
In any world cup if you bet on South Africa and New Zealand you are unlikely to lose your money.

It will be one of those 2, possibly both in the final.

My money is on South Africa.
 
In any world cup if you bet on South Africa and New Zealand you are unlikely to lose your money.

It will be one of those 2, possibly both in the final.

My money is on South Africa.
In theory you've got a 66% chance of getting half your money back so...possibly.
 
No way mate
Funny to say 'no way' for SA a couple of days after saying this …
I reckon Australia will win now that they have Eddie jones
Dismissing SA as having no chance whilst taking a punt on an Aussie win is pretty ballsy IMO.

FWIW, I think the makeup of the pools favours Australia to make the semis. I expect them top their pool and beat Argentina in the QF*. Once they hit the SF, I'd regard any of their likely opponents as favourites. Even if Eddie Jones repeats his trick of masterminding one big win (Japan vs. SA/Eng vs. NZ), he'd need to do it twice for them to win the tournament. I really don't see that happening.

*I'm not suggesting England have a divine right to win our pool, but even with a new coach, our record against the other sides we play, means it's not an unreasonable assumption. England vs. Wales in the QF would be a big game.
 
Another punchy prediction, but it's certainly fair to say that it'll be significantly harder for NZ or SA to make the semis than it will for Australia or Argentina.

From a NH POV, England and Wales simply aren't on the same level as France or Ireland right now and while I expect Borthwick and Gatland to oversee decent improvement a) they're starting from a very low base and b) there is a gulf in class and that gap isn't going to be bridged in 8mths.

In terms of Australia, I thought Rennie was treated poorly. IMO, they are a lot better side than their recent results suggest and he was dealt a very tricky hand on the injury front. Eddie usually does a lot of his best work early on which will definitely help, but I'd also argue think picking up an Aussie side in better shape than the England side he left behind. Borthwick has a full on rebuild on his hands (more in terms of tactics than personnel), whereas Eddie is probably in a position where small tweaks and a bit of luck on the injury front, will pay dividends. I think they should win their group by the third pool game (Wales) which gives them a good chance to rest players against Portugal ahead of the QF.

The 6N will be interesting for England. I expect a bit of a 'dead cat bounce' but not to the extent where we really test Ireland or France. Back to basics is probably the key thing and if Borthwick and co can sort out our set piece game and simplify our structures in attack and defence, that could lead to a significant improvement. Again, I think Eddie had us playing so badly that I'd hope we're now on an upward curve even if it's not stellar. If he uses the next 8 months well and makes some tough decisions, I think he can make us hard to beat and win the pool. Fixtures are nicely set up too with the harder games first which potentially gives a bit of an opportunity to rest key players ahead of a QF. If we do end up with Wales, it's an opponent we know well and know we can beat. The element of doubt for me is that Gatland knows he can win big knock out games at RWC. Borthwick won't have that experience to draw upon.

For Wales, quite a bit of the same logic applies. I think Gatland will sort them out quickly and make them a tougher nut to crack. However, unlike England or Australia, I don't think they have the quality of players/depth which counts for a lot in a tournament setting. While I wouldn't entirely dismiss England losing to Japan or Samoa, I'd see a higher chance of Wales losing to Fiji or Georgia (again) which probably means they have less opportunity to rest their front line players. The fixtures help them out a bit there with Portugal in between the Fiji and Australia games, but the final pool game vs. Georgia could be a banana skin, particularly if they need a win.

Scotland could be an interesting opponent in pool B. SA and Ireland can't take them too lightly in what will be a tough group.

If I had to call the knock-outs now, I'd go with:

QF1: Australia vs. Argentina
QF2: NZ vs. Ireland
QF3: England vs. Wales
QF4: France vs. SA

SF1: Australia vs. NZ
SF2: England vs. France

Final: NZ vs. France
 
Funny to say 'no way' for SA a couple of days after saying this …

Dismissing SA as having no chance whilst taking a punt on an Aussie win is pretty ballsy IMO.

FWIW, I think the makeup of the pools favours Australia to make the semis. I expect them top their pool and beat Argentina in the QF*. Once they hit the SF, I'd regard any of their likely opponents as favourites. Even if Eddie Jones repeats his trick of masterminding one big win (Japan vs. SA/Eng vs. NZ), he'd need to do it twice for them to win the tournament. I really don't see that happening.

*I'm not suggesting England have a divine right to win our pool, but even with a new coach, our record against the other sides we play, means it's not an unreasonable assumption. England vs. Wales in the QF would be a big game.
What I'm Aussie course I'm going to say my home country is gonna win and
 
I'd love to know what was supposed to be after the 'end'?

I'm English and as much as I'd love us to win it, I also recognise we are far from favourites.
 
I'd love to know what was supposed to be after the 'end'?

I'm English and as much as I'd love us to win it, I also recognise we are far from favourites.
Honestly I think France will win bcoz no matter what the rankings say they r the best team in the world and in a home RWC final they will dominatr
 
I don't know that they'll 'dominate', but I do think France will win.

As weird as it makes me feel for saying it, I would be pretty happy if they pull it off. They're a top side and it would be nice to see a NH team bring it home.
 

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