The 2011 Rugby World Cup Thread

Who do you think will win the RWC 2011?

  • Total voters
    56
I don't normally watch Rugby, but I make an exception for it for the World Cup. I just about remember 2007, when at the time we had an Australian Supply Teacher, and ehm we beat the Aussie's. Safe to say, she didn't get off the hook too easy. I'm really not in the business of making rugby predictions, I don't have a clue who's got a strong team. So I'll just say, Come On England! :D
 
Mike. said:
it was so bad they didnt show a replay, my mate was there, she said it was completely at a right angle
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Looked bad enough at the time so its not surprising they didn't show a replay. Great sportsmanship from Care and Banahan to get the ref to stop play as well.
 
Huge fan of rugby, so can't wait for this to start. Luckily for me, games are taped and then shown at the uni sports bar in the evenings. I can see Scotland making it out of the group in second place behind England. England's scrum looks far too strong for us to have much chance, but if it's scrappy like it often is we have a chance. Out tour of Argentina one or two years ago shows that they are a shadow of the 2007 side considering we beat them twice, so England and Scotland should hopefully make it through. Fingers crossed though!

I can't see past New Zealand winning it, despite their tendency to bottle it. Australia look very exciting with a young back line, and I think they'll edge out England in the semis and lose in the final. South Africa don't look as good as previous world cups (I know they rested many players, but I think overall their squad isn't as strong) so I don't think they'll be winning material. And I wonder which France will turn up! Would also be good to see one of the second tier nations progress.

mark 19 times said:
England vs Argentina will be close, we'll batter Scotland, doubt Wales will get out of the group!
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Not sure why you say that. Argentina have dropped in standard a bit, judging from our games against them recently. Our last 4 Calcutta cup matches have been fairly tight, so I wouldn't get too cocky. I'm not saying we're going to win (far from it) but it's an example of the complacency that can affect England if they underestimate sides.

Calum said:
Scotland are even worse at rugby than at football lol so bottom awaits them.

Would love if we beat england though :)
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Scotland are far better at rugby than football. We're ranked 9th in the world.
 
australia and ireland. we are going to get killed XD (even if we had good games against ireland in the last years)
i just hope we demolish russia and united states, or our world cup would be a shame
 
What do you think England's First XVshould be?
My opinion:
1: Sheridan
2: Hartley
3: Cole/Corbisiero
4: Lawes
5: Palmer
6: Moody
7: Haskell
8: Easter
9: Youngs
10: Flood
11: Cueto
12: Wilkinson
13: Tuilagi
14: Ashton
15: Foden
 
Awful performance from England today, worst performance from a back line in years. Hopefully Hape and Tindall go no where near the World Cup.
 
Can't wait for this - annoyed about missing the first game, but I reckon I'll be waking up early and watching loads of rugby! Obviously I'm an England fan, but I will be rooting for Russia as well!
 
A number of reports today suggest that the England squad will be:

Backs (13): Full-backs: Delon Armitage (London Irish), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints). Wings: Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Matt Banahan (Bath). Centres: Shontayne Hape (London Irish), Mike Tindall (Gloucester), Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers). Fly-halves: Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon). Scrum-halves: Joe Simpson (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
Forwards: (17): Props: Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Matt Stevens (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath). Hookers: Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Lee Mears (Bath), Steve Thompson (London Wasps). Locks:Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Tom Palmer (Stade Français), Simon Shaw (London Wasps). Back row:Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Nick Easter (Harlequins), James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams), Lewis Moody (Bath), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints).
 
IRELAND
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)*
Tony Buckley (Sale Sharks)*
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)*
Sean Cronin (Leinster)*
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)*
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)*
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)*
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)*
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)*
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*
Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)*
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)*
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) Captain
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)*
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)*
Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)*Denotes first Rugby World Cup

 
BOKKE!!

not had the best tri-nations ever but we rested a lot of our main players in the overseas legs, we played extremely well on Saturday against a very good (a little under strength) New Zealand team! it was a good win and what we needed as a country...

We have quite a tough/physical group, Samoa and Fiji are going to throw everything at us including the kitchen sink! so its going to be tought right from the start!

I for one cannot stand Peter De Villiers (nor can anyone really in SA) but unfortunately politics reigns and we just have to deal with it! really hoping we can really give this WC a good shot but from our previous (excl Saturday's game) we have a long way to go and Pdiwwie is not the right guy..

I have voted for SA to win of course :) but I think its New Zealands to lose this year... Aussie's are playing really good open rugby too with Quade and Curtley :)

this made me lol :P

Greeting.jpg
 
Much better from England today, great to win in Dublin even if it is a warm up match. Not looking so good for Ireland though, no wins in 4 warm up matches.
 
Can't wait to see New Zealand choke on home soil against someone like France.

It's a lose-lose situation for New Zealand: if they win here, everyone will say they can't win off home soil. If they lose, then they're the perennial chokers forever more.
 
Pool A New Zealand and France to go through.
Pool B England and Argentina
Pool C Australia and Ireland
Pool D South Africa and Wales although Samoa and Fiji could give them a run for their money.

Australia v Wales/Samoa/Fiji = Australia
England v France = England
South Africa v Ireland = South Africa
New Zealand v Argentina = New Zealand


Australia v England = England
South Africa v New Zealand = New Zealand

England v New Zealand = New Zealand.
 
It's just a shame rugby doesn't have the same strength in depth as football does. Most pools are predictable, with only Scotland's completely up for grabs for qualification. Ireland should see off Italy in theirs, and Wales should surely have learnt how to beat the Pacific Islanders by now.

My predictions before it starts -

Group A - New Zealand, France
Group B - England, Scotland
Group C - Australia, Ireland
Group D - South Africa, Wales

Australia > Wales
England > France
South Africa > Ireland
New Zealand > Scotland

Australia > England
New Zealand > South Africa

New Zealand > Australia
 
We're starting Tuilagi (understandable), Armitage (fair enough given Cueto's out) and Richard Wigglesworth (Wtf? Youngs must not be in full fitness, SURELY). Not too convinced by two out of three of those, but hey. See how it goes.

I've just realised, the Samoans have found some props. Thus, we are ALL DOOMED.
 
GodCubed said:
We're starting Tuilagi (understandable), Armitage (fair enough given Cueto's out) and Richard Wigglesworth (Wtf? Youngs must not be in full fitness, SURELY). Not too convinced by two out of three of those, but hey. See how it goes.

I've just realised, the Samoans have found some props. Thus, we are ALL DOOMED.
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Youngs has been pretty poor since the six nations while Wigglesworth has been playing his best rugby since 2008 so I understand why he's been picked ahead of Youngs.



South Africa: Frans Steyn; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean De Villiers, Bryan Habana; Morné Steyn, Fourie Du Preez; Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit (c), Jannie Du Plessis, Danie Rossouw, Victor Matfield, Heinrich Brüssow, Schalk Burger, Pierre Spies


Replacements: Bismarck Du Plessis, Gurthrö Steenkamp, CJ van der Linde, Johan Muller, Willem Alberts, Francois Hougaard, Butch James

Rugby World Cup 2011 News : Springboks name most experienced side ever | Live Rugby News | ESPN Scrum
 
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