Pool A

So like all good rugby fans, I along with friends, colleagues and family (namely my five year old daughter likes teams based on the colour of their shirts) have been deliberating on who is going to win the World Cup in New Zealand. 

I thought I'd write about my thoughts on the subject going through the groups and then the knockout stages which would then give us a final and ultimately a winner.  So for now, lets start with Pool A as it seems the logical place to begin.

So Pool A looks like this:

• Canada
• France
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Tonga

Pretty much all the groups come down to one (maybe two) match ups and in this one it's New Zeland v France (24th September).  France have been a thorn in the New Zealand side in past world cups, knocking them out in both 1999 and 2007, so world cup form would suggest a French win.  France also had some impressive outings against Ireland in their warm up games, however New Zealand are on home soil and desperate to exact some sort of revenge for 2007 where they felt robbed, some highlights below:

I'll pip for New Zealand in this match - and I think it could be by quite a high scoring match.

France will go into the quarter finals as runners up but where does that leave the other teams - are there going to be any shocks in this group?  Well, in my opinion, no.  Both France and New Zealand will win all their matches - Tonga might put up some resistance but I don't think they'll have enough to beat either though Tonga v Japan could be a good match up.

So that's our first two qualifiers through - Pool B later on!