At first glance this pool looks to be cut and dried, but when one looks deeper into each squad and the potential clashes, it soon becomes apparent that this group has the potential to throw up some HUGE upsets.
AUSTRALIA: Australian Rugby is currently riding the crest of a tremendous wave.
The Wallabies are the current Tri Nations Champions, as well as the holders of the Bledisloe cup, The Queensland Reds are the current Super Rugby Champions, and their 5th Super Rugby franchise The Melbourne Rebels were anything
but disgraced in their debut season, notwithstanding the fact that they were bolstered by a plethora of Rugby Mercenaries and high profile imports.
The Wallabies always seem to rise to the occasion when the Webb Ellis trophy is on offer, and there is little reason to believe they won’t do so this time around either.
Their squad is comprised of dynamic, young, almost fearless individuals like Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Digby Ioane and David Pocock to name but a few, and is “glued” together with hardened and experienced individuals like Nathan Sharpe & Dan Vickerman.
Their individuality and flair is perhaps their greatest asset, but could also be their greatest risk. Whether or not they have the collective experience to go all the way in New Zealand is perhaps open to question, but you can put money on the fact that barring a disaster of almost monumental proportions they will win the pool, and should be in the mix as a valid contender come the business end of the tournament.
IRELAND: What can one say about the Irish Rugby team? Probably one of the greatest under achievers in World Cup history, they continually seem to dominate European Club Rugby, and continually seem to disappoint when it matters most.
Their 6 Nations earlier this year was anything but impressive with narrow away victories against Italy and Scotland, and losses at home to France and away to Wales.
The Irish will however take a degree of inspiration from the home victory which denied England a Grand Slam, but add to this their stuttering performances in their World Cup Build up and the fact that they are notoriously poor travellers, and you may just have a recipe for another disappointment.
A fact that I’m sure a team like Italy will be keen to exploit in the final Pool C encounter on October 2nd. A game which may well boil down to being a mini knock out game for these two sides.
The old hands of the Emerald Isle, Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connor , Ronan O’Gara and Geordan Murphy will be hoping that their young guns like Jonathan Sexton and Tommy Bowe have the ability to take the step up and that the squad can be galvanised into a group capable of meeting their potential.
On paper, the side should have the edge in making the second play-off slot from this pool, but it’s anything but guaranteed.
ITALY: The Italians have seen steady, if not dramatic improvements under the watchful eye of former Bok Head Coach Nick Mallett.
Their 6 Nations performances in 2011 will have given them a degree of confidence, where apart from the hiding they took from England they were for the most part competitive and even managed a first ever win over France, and ran Ireland awfully close in Rome.
A squad made up of a bunch of foreign and Italian born players, there are no real “Superstars”, but are a group who appear to play for each other, and their jersey.
Mallett will ensure that they are well prepared, and their game plans meticulously structured. Whether or not the Wallabies and Irish will allow those game plans to be manifested remains to be seen.
Players to watch for in the group: The hardman of the English Premiership prop Martin Castrogiovanni, the Burgamasco brothers, and Sergio Parisse.
Two Saffa imports represent Italy at this world cup, both veteran forwards, Quintin Geldenhuys and Cornelius van Zyl.
As stated previously, it’s between the Irish and Italy for the second play-off spot from this pool.
Don’t be surprised at a shock.
USA: The USA have had a somewhat poor build up to this World Cup, losing to Japan last month.
With Rugby Sevens now an Olympic sport, the Eagles will be hoping for a strong showing that the National Union can build on going forward, but realistically have the odds stacked against them in this group.
They’ll be hoping to beat their old Cold War foes the Russians, and will be hoping that they may be able to get a result against the Italians, but given the Italians showing in this year’s 6 Nations this seems unlikely.
Recent years have seen a number of Gridiron imports into the Eagles set up, and the impact has been seen in their improved sevens performance, but as most Rugby people will tell you, the FULL 15 man code is a different kettle of fish.
In my opinion the best the Eagles can hope for is to avoid the wooden spoon in this group by beating Russia, and to prove that they are competitive against Ireland and Italy.
Players to watch: Captain Todd Clever who has 2 seasons of both Currie Cup and Super Rugby for the Lions in his CV, Takudza Ngwenya the Zimbabwean born winger who showed one B Habana a clean pair of heels in the 2007 RWC, and JJ Gagiano who represented the UCT Ikeys in consecutive Varsity Cup competitions.
RUSSIA: Russia are the definite wooden spoon favourites for this group, and realistically can only expect to use their time in New Zealand at their very first World Cup as a learning experience.
Their first game against the USA on September 15th may well dictate whether this World Cup Debut will be deemed a success or not.
The Russians have employed the use of foreign based coaches to help them prepare, but their only warm up game resulted in a loss to English Premiership side Glouster.
The Russian squad is made up of home based players barring one. The surprise package is 30 year old Australian born lock Adam Byrnes.
Byrnes played for Leinster in Ireland in 2005/6 and the Queensland Reds in 2009 and 2010 before signing for the Melbourne Rebels in 2011.
He qualifies for Russia through his mother’s family, and indeed learnt to speak Russian before he could speak English, even though now, by his own admission he is not very competent in the language.
The only other player of note is Winger Vasily Artemyev who has impressed and been offered a professional Rugby contract by the Northampton Saints in England.
I predict that the Russians will fight hard against the “old foe” the USA, but that they will ultimately fail to win any games in this pool. I think however that barring Australia, they shouldn’t be too badly humiliated
in a group where there is not a great deal to choose between the second best team, and the worst team.
CONCLUSION: Australia should walk through this pool unbeaten. I feel there is room for an upset, and that there is a real possibility that Italy could go through to the knock out stages as Runners-up ahead of Ireland.
USA to end fourth and Russia to take the wooden spoon.
Italy to beat the bog trotters by a couple and face the Boks in the quarters!
You read it first here!!!!!!
Hey Scrumdown, you are a little bit too generous to the Wallabies in your article. The Wallabies are indeed the current Tri Nations winners and certainly, the Qld Reds are S15 titleholders, but unfortunately, we are not the holders of the Bledisloe Cup.
The All Blacks deservedly hold that honour, for at least another 12 months anyway.
Good analysis of Pool C and I agree with your suggestion that the Italians might just sneak ahead of the Irish team and into the business end of the tournament.
Congratulations to New Zealand on a fabulous opening ceremony. the excitement was palpable and I like the metaphor of NZ being a stadium of 4 million people.
My best wishes to the Boks and the Wallabies teams. Let’s hope for an injury-free tournament for the players and either a Bok or Wallabies win.
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