Pool C

Next up on the tour of the groups is Pool C.  Pool C is made up of the following:

• Australia
• Ireland
• Italy 
• Russia
• USA

So as is seemingly tradition lets start with the crunch match which will in all likelihood will determine the group winners - Australia v Ireland.  Having won the Tri Nations I'd say that Australia are probably the form team coming in to this world cup.  In selecting Quade-Cooper at fly half, Robbie Deans has set his stall out for attacking, heads up rugby.  They've even managed to sort out their scrum which looks passable by international standards.  It is though, a confident team that can leave the versatile Giteau at home - could this have been a mistake if injuries start to pile up??

Ireland on the other hand come into the world cup off the back of four warm up defeats and by their now high standards, a relatively poor 6 Nations.  Is this a team on the decline??  I think not.  Whilst they are over reliant on Brian O'Driscoll, they also have a scrum and set piece that can do damage.  Sexton is maturing into a fine player.  Sean O'Brien has the potential to be one of the stars of the tournament and an Irish back three of Bowe, Trimble and Kearney will pose problems to most teams.

With all that in mind I think Australia will just squeeze past the Irish.  The weather could well favour Ireland though so I may come back and change this verdict based on what part God chooses to play.  Ireland v Italy could be a potential slip up for Ireland.  Hopefully the Irish will have learnt from their last meeting where they scraped to a win in Rome.  Italy have some capable players in the scrum, Sergio Parisse being on of the top five number 8's in the world - however behind the scrum they're still lacking.  They will be buoyed by their win against France in the Spring, but I can't see the Irish being as poor as they were last time out.

As for the rest of the group, Russia seem to be an up and coming powerhouse in the second tier of European rugby, they could give the USA and maybe Italy a good match but otherwise the group will probably go to form with Australia topping it followed by Ireland.

Incidentally, found this video tribute to Sean O'Brien earlier - well worth a watch.  Look out for the try versus Newport Gwent Dragons: