NEWS "This Is It" ........RWC time🏆

Of the serious contenders,
Pool A has NZ, France, Italy
Pool B SA, Ireland, Scotland
Pool C Aus, Wales
Pool D England, Argentina
In the QF, A and B play off, and C vs D
Clearly the A&B pools are tougher, and the A&B QFs will be brutal.


Likely QF. NZ vs SA or Ireland
France vs Ireland or SA
Aus vs England
Arg vs Wales

bayern wrote:

Tread carefully, any "big" handicaps (say) +30 are very risky. especially in the first game. For Me, the teams are certainly not play to the handicap, once the feel they in a position where they shouldn't lose, they will start making substitutions, to "save" players for the next round to avoid injuries.

I often read this as a reason to beware of big handicaps – subs, scared of injuries and the big team easing up
I have a different take on it – the subs are not going to just go through the motions – they will be trying hard to get selected next time and if underdogs get 3 or more tries behind, their defence gets worse and they get sloppier because they are desperate to score points
So, if a big handicap has to get beat, the opposition has to score early and be able to keep scoring. To me, the Welwitchias (aka as Namibia) fall into this category. They have a monster gaol kicker (from his own 10M line - easy) and are good for at least 1 try – so my bet here is for them to score 15 points or more in the game at about 15/10 – Italy are prone to defensive lapses and giving away penalties. After all that I still think Italy win by 40 or more, eventually.
As for Romania, they are terrible -this is 80-0 result unless they take the penalty points in the 65th min to get away from the dreaded ZERO.
My big fancy in the opener is France -7.5 at 2/1 (maybe 22/10 from Boyle a couple of hours before the match)
As for the Bokke – I don’t like this talk about how big and physical they are and the bomb squad and, and, and …. – I fear a Void Moon somewhere in their future.
Scotland AND Ireland in the 1st round?

Rugby world cup has finally arrived :woohoo: :woohoo:

France vs New Zealand , what an opening game we have here , France have been top of there game leading up but have had some unfortunate injuries and this will really aid the All Black's, All Black's to win by 5 in a thriller is my prediction

crazy to not have all blacks as favourites. they will probably go all the way only the bokke can stop them. my worry with the spreads and just about any game is the probability of cards influencing the scores.

Dave

Well for me its between four teams. In order I would say: France, SA, NZ and Ireland, with England an outside fourth. If France can get over losing their flyhalf, they will go all the way. Everyone know how SA play and will be ready for their style of play, but they are incredibly strong. NZ will never play as bad as they did again against SA last time out. Ireland for me are the wild card despite being seeded 1 or 2........... SA and NZ in the final, with NZ to win a close battle

Ed

So the World Cup has finally arrived....Dave starting off with Namibia I'm sorry to say they shouldn't be there.When rugby started to become pro with a couple of the Super League's a regular Namibian player came to Pretoria to partake and try earn few Rands.He started at Tukkies who were uni champions and started and ended in the 3rd team before going back home to renight his international career...they got a few good players in the Currie Cup and I believe 1 or 2 in Europe but can't see them winning a game...who's going to win ? There is no such thing as a weak All Black team and them and the Springboks will decide the final result..but then I'm sure everyone knows this.I am proud of my Scottish friends and wish Scotland well Sunday but look forward to a big Bok hiding...these are my personal thoughts and views.....let's enjoy because there's enough misery in SA as is...

Louis

The way the draw is, only way SA and NZ avoid each other is by both winning their groups or both being group runners up...if one finishes first and the other second, they will play in the quarter final...so the two crucial matches that are likely to determine the path of this World Cup is France-NZ and Ireland-SA...

The near certainties from the other half of the draw are England, Australia, Argentina and Wales with Fiji likely to cause 1-2 upsets now that their forwards are giving their always brilliant backs a chance...cannot see any of the 4-5 from this half of the draw winning the World Cup as they will run into one of the Group A/B teams (France, NZ, Ireland or SA) in the semi's...

I can see France winning today and Ireland beating SA (tight game is which goal kicking will matter) such that SA will play France in the quarters and Ireland will play NZ...and forever wins those two matches being the eventual finalists as they will beat whoever gets through to the semi's from group C/D...

Enjoy...just hope the referees and TMOs don't spoil an otherwise great event...

The Springboks matches will now be televised on SABC after an agreement with Multichoice. Apparently Hollywoodbets and SAB is sponsoring it to be shown. Well done to them.

Unfortunately Multichoice has restricted the visuals on Openview SABC.

TNaicker wrote:

The way the draw is, only way SA and NZ avoid each other is by both winning their groups or both being group runners up...if one finishes first and the other second, they will play in the quarter final...so the two crucial matches that are likely to determine the path of this World Cup is France-NZ and Ireland-SA...

The near certainties from the other half of the draw are England, Australia, Argentina and Wales with Fiji likely to cause 1-2 upsets now that their forwards are giving their always brilliant backs a chance...cannot see any of the 4-5 from this half of the draw winning the World Cup as they will run into one of the Group A/B teams (France, NZ, Ireland or SA) in the semi's...

I can see France winning today and Ireland beating SA (tight game is which goal kicking will matter) such that SA will play France in the quarters and Ireland will play NZ...and forever wins those two matches being the eventual finalists as they will beat whoever gets through to the semi's from group C/D...

Enjoy...just hope the referees and TMOs don't spoil an otherwise great event...

Don’t write off Japan tnaicker as they are capable of beating England, who are awful atm.

Which Bookies are offering Handicap? HB certainly are not

For what it's worth, South Africa have lost once to a Northern Hemisphere country since 1995, that was against England in 2003, SA (6) v Eng (25).

Sorry, Japan is also up North, 2015, Japan (34) V SA (32)

Can't see them loosing to any of the Northern Hemisphere sides this tournament.