Three of the five teams in this pool are good enough to make it through to the quarter finals. England should make it leaving Scotland and Argentina to fight for the second place in this group.
England: clear pool favorites, with a very good RWC history. England’s build up to the RWC has been good, but unspectacular. With a tough and experienced pack of forwards England will always have parity upfront. The problem is in their backline where they are not graced with the most gifted players. Jonny Wilkinson is a threat in every game, new kid on the block Manu Tuilagi will ask some question in the centre and Chris Ashton can score tries, the rest are however plodders. They face their toughest challenge in this weekends game against the Argentine. It should be close, as will the game be against the Scots.
Argentina:second favorites in this pool. The Argentine boast a powerful and experienced, but old, pack with the likes of Ledesma returning to the RWC. In Felipe Contepomi the backline has a General, but that is about where it stops. However this side has huge heart and will fight right to the bitter end. Expect a narrow loss to the English and perhaps a win over the Scots. They should prove to much for Georgia and Romania.
Scotland: third favorites in pool B. However don’t be to surprised if the Scots win the pool. Their RWC history is very good and they have over the years produced some fine performances against England. Counting in their favor is that they start with games against Romania [ which they should win] and Georgia [ who are a very difficult team], then only do they face Argentina and end off against ye olde enemy. In Euan Murray, Ross Ford and Alan Jacobsen they have a tough front row. Expect to see quite a lot of John Barclay.
Georgia: should end fourth in this pool. With a very tough forward pack the Georgians will be competitive against the top three teams until their lack of class lets them down. They could run Scotland close. Georgia beat Namibia in the last RWC and should secure their second ever RWC victory against the Romanians.
Romania: wooden spoon in this pool. With their star player, the tough as nails, Ovidiu Tonito a little long in the tooth don’t expect the Romanians to beat Georgia. Discipline is key to this team with quite a few hot heads in the ranks.
Argentina to beat England….watch this space.
4man, they have the pack to do it, but their backline is not the most creative, but I would love to see them give the Poms good klap
the nice thing about the Argies is that they have nothing to lose. If they just let the backline run there is enough talent there to cause trouble for anyone.
@ 4man:
Argies to beat England!!
Nahhh…..I’m not putting that on my superbru!!
Also have a good feeling about this group for Scotland but differ a little on the players rated, one’s I think who will be worth watching are Richie Gray and Jo Ansbro, they both appear to be quality players, keep an eye on Richie and note he has very high work rate getting around the field a lot attending rucks, making many tackles and he can carry the ball quite well, of course his height (think its 2.06m) is a bonus at line out time. Ansbro seems to have so much time on the ball, passes well and an elusive runner and also like his commitment in the tackle. One of my concerns is that there are bonus points for tries on offer and this is an area Scotland struggle so am hoping that will be able to come away with maximum points from the Romania and Georgia games. Feel we raise our game against England so that could be a win and are above Argentina in world rankings. The front row is mentioned but remember Murray won’t be available to play Argentina, although I think Geoff Cross is a good strong tighthead who won’t let the side down if chosen above Moray Low – Cross was man of match in his last international which was the warm up game against Ireland.
1@ 4man:
Can’t see Argentina beating England 4man, just don’t think they will be good enough. In the backline England will miss Ben Youngs who looked to be one of the better scrumhalfs around, but not so sure the rest of the backline are ‘plodders’ Tindall looked quite good in the last game was surprised by his game and a lot has been made of Tuilagi but having never seen him play don’t know how much of it is hype. Ashton is a star and Foden is a good attacking fullback, see they have picked Armitage at wing with Cueto injured, I like Cueto who is strong and has bags of experience but think they have more pace in Armitage although will be interesting to see how he does at wing instead of his usual fullback. Prediction : comfortable win by England, by 10 at least – hopefully no bonus point though.
@ Bullscot:
I bow to your superior knowledge of the Scottish team wee mon.
Have a great one Grootblousmile…. !!
Hope you get a nice new Sprinkbok jersey a bag of biltong and a large tin of condensed milk!
So where did my smiley go?
Nope…I just can’t get that one to work!
happy happy Birthday ou GBS!!!!!!
wil net se ek glo dit nog altyd en sal dit nog altyd glo dat ons 1964 models is nogsteeds die beste oesjaar ooit!
Ooh Peoples, can you feel it? Its coming!!!! At bloody last, the wait for this WC to start has been driving me insane!!!!
that and of course my Bulls team, I have aged years!!!
niemand praat met my nie!
Hellooooooooooooooo
I suppose I better show my presence on this my glorious 47th Birthday!
Thanks for the well wishes!
Fark, I am sooooooooooooo tired, went to Mpumalanga yesterday, to the little town called Morgenzon… worked right through the night till 04:40 this morning, then got in the Blik Met Wiele…. and klapped a serious toontjie back to Brakkenjanpan… was in bed by 06:05…
I was so amped still that I could not get to sleep… started dozing off at about 07:00…
Then the phone began to ring from 07:30 for the first birthday calls…
Alas… that was it…. I got up… still have’nt even checked all my mail and Vleisbook messages… will do it now
Happy Birthday GBS. I can tell you 48 is better than 47
@ grootblousmile:
So early night, slippers and a mug of cocoa for you, young feller me lad!!
You do not need any more excitement at your age!
…and you have a busy month of rugby ahead of you!
17@ Blue Bird:
Early night???
What is that??
Arggghhhh, toningt some friends and the Out-Laws are coming over for Cake & Tea… and Old Sagrys (Brother in Law) and Wyeboude (Handbriekie’s sister) & little Fat Fart (Their Son) will be in attendance as well.
@ grootblousmile:
Well sounds like fun and games in Brakpan…Hehehhehh
The fat nephew….what a delight! 🙂 Get him running round a rugby pitch!
20@ Blue Bird:
Fat Fart was the little boy who got me and BonzaiGBS into trouble a couple of years back…
BonzaiGBS suggested to him that he, Fat Fart, eat some of the different leaves in our garden… to help with his digestion (much like dogs would eat grass to help them)… hehehe
Well he ate a bunch of different ones…. and then threw a foofie valve here in our garden, complaining that he was feeling ill… had to be rushed to the emergency doctor here at a Private Hospital, on a Sunday, cost me a pretty penny, a thousand smackers, just for the doctor to tell him there is absolutely nothing wrong with him.
Me and BonzaiGBS were in trouble (don’t know why I was in trouble)…. hehehe
Since then he is known as Fat Fart….
You know I give nicknames to EVERYBODY…. hahaha
7@ Loosehead:
Not so sure about any superior knowledge Loosehead especially as far as the front rows go but hey I’ll take your compliment all the same. Really hoping that Scotland have a good world cup, and of course the Springboks.
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