The Rugby World Cup is only 16 days away and the anticipation grows from all involved as squads are starting to be announced with surprise inclusions and exclusions.
On home soil Ireland have left out Tomas O'Leary, Lions winger Luke Fitzgerald, who would have been seen as an automatic selection a year ago, John Hayes and Marcus Horan. They have included youngster Conor Murray which will be a surprise to some Irish Rugby experts and fans.
The other home nations have notable absentees as well: England have left Flutey at home despite his ability to act as cover in various positions, Wales have left the experienced Martyn Williams out and in the Scotland squad there is no place for number 8 James Beattie.
On the southern side of the globe there are also some selection shocks. Matt Giteau is the most notable omission, Australia’s third-highest point’s scorer having twice been shortlisted for the IRB World Player of the Year award. The All Blacks have decided to leave star wingers Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu out and also Wyatt Crockett, Liam Messam, Jarrad Hoeata and Hosea Gear with Mr Henry
It will be interesting to see if these are the only shocks in the World Cup!!! Unlike football, the Rugby World Cup normally doesn’t see many shocks, with the larger nations (in rugby terms) normally dominating the smaller ones. The only shock really is when the All Blacks are eliminated. This year again the All Blacks are clear favourites especially as they are at home. However they have been tagged a sure thing at every World Cup and fail to deliver except on the single occasion. If they do so this time, especially on home soil, it will be the biggest travesty of all. Worse would be the fact if one of the other tri nation’s teams won it on their soil which they will love to do. Normally the All Blacks peak too soon during the 4 year cycle and I would say some fans are maybe happy that they lost in the tri nations at the weekend as it may be a wakeup call for them in perfect time.
As for the other nations I can only really see the tri nation’s teams challenging the All Blacks. The defending champions South Africa have a pool of talent for every position while the Aussies have the most exciting backline in world rugby. If these 2 teams click at the right time they could upset the odds.
The northern hemisphere teams have been beaten by the tri nation’s teams on several occasions over the last few years but we can’t read into this too much. However I still feel they are a little behind and will struggle against the tri nation’s teams. Ireland have had a bad warm up campaign but on their day they can beat anyone, a bit like the French. England can never be written off as the last World Cup showed and Wales, Scotland and Italy provide entertainment but looking at the draw they will be lucky to get out of their group or get past the ¼ finals.
With all this said I agree with the bookies and think it will be a tri nations 1, 2, 3 with the All Blacks lifting the trophy on home soil, however this has all been said in previous years and it will be interesting to see if a northern hemisphere team can upset the odds.
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