Nah, the kiwis, SA and Australia are all dangerous, the argies might be ok too. Scotland have a big game in them. There’s few easy games at the WC imho.
You can forget about New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand have feel apart since
2015.
I worry for France. They could fold easily enough when the pressure comes on.
If other teams get a fair shake from the officials then I reckon France will be out by the quarters.
Have you tried the Wim Hoff method?
Sure we’ve heard all this before. When Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2018 all the talk was “now for the World Cup”. Former poster @Sidney sounded a note of caution at that time and specifically identified South Africa as potential World Cup winners and predicted Wales would go further than Ireland, to much laughter. 20 months later South Africa were lifting the Webb Ellis trophy having scraped over Wales in the semi-final before beating England, while Ireland were licking their wounds from a humiliation at the hands of New Zealand.
Ireland should be better in 2023 than in 2019 but they have the worst draw possible.
Australia are my dark horses. Look at their fixture list and who it’s against. They’ll be fresh as daisies.
September 9 Georgia
September 17 Fiji
September 24 Wales
October 1 Portugal
Then 13 full days rest before a likely quarter-final against England, Argentina or possibly Japan on October 14th.
If Ireland are to reach the semis it would most likely be the straight route by winning the group, so they’d likely face Australia in a semi-final. That would be on October 20th, 6 days later.
So if Ireland are to advance they would likely be faced with a faced with a route of:
September 9 Romania
September 16 Tonga
September 23 South Africa
October 7 Scotland
October 14 New Zealand
October 20 Australia
To come through that route would take the sort of effort from an Irish team we have never come close to seeing in the history of the sport.
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French don’t look like the team they were 18 months ago. Flogged in the club game.
Scotland are crap and Australia aren’t much better. We have beaten New Zealand very easily too.
That’s not a bad run at all.
The only worry is France.
It could be a blessing in disguise if sexton is injured
Long term because a decision needs to be made there.
Scotland are far from crap. They’ve won at Twickenham twice in a row, won in Paris two years ago and weren’t too far off winning in Paris the other week. It’s a track they like. The Stade de France is traditionally a graveyard of Irish hopes.
Is he not retiring after the WC?
Scotland are rubbish. They don’t even know to play the game properly. They were a point down v Ireland last week and tried running in tries from everywhere.
They’ll be swatted aside 30-6 or something. Finn Russell is a joker.
Is there any permutation where Ireland can face Australia in the final?
Our worry is Ireland. If they have a hint of heebeegeebies at all it could go pear shaped.
Can they game manage is the question.
What two Scots would get on the Ireland team?
Huw jones and Duhan van Der mere
Jones maybe. Van Der Merwe no.
You could see France improving again or at least getting back to the level they were at 12 months ago. Playing Top 14 games sandwiched between 6 nations games means preparation is far from ideal. Its debatable whether they were fully wound up or gung ho to win the 6 nations. They barely got over Italy in their first game. When they go into camp with no distractions and playing on home turf they will be very hard beat. Sexton is key to Irelands chances really. The whole thing hinges on him. It will be interesting to see how many club games he plays between now and then. All it takes is one hit like the one to his standing leg on an attempted block down and Ireland would be in trouble.
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If both win their groups they’re on a collision course for the semi-final.
If one of them finishes second and the other wins their group they’d be on opposite halves of the draw.
Australia will win their group, they’re in with Wales.
If Ireland lose to South Africa and finish second in the group I don’t see them winning the quarter-final against France, or a New Zealand team which has already beaten France.
It won’t be an Ireland-Australia final.
I’d go
A1 France A2 New Zealand
B1 South Africa B2 Ireland
C1 Australia C2 Wales
D1 Argentina D2 England
Quarter-finals:
France v Ireland - winners France
Argentina v Wales - winners Argentina
Australia v England - winners Australia
South Africa v New Zealand - winners…ooh New Zealand, just.
Semis
France v Argentina - winners France
Australia v New Zealand - winners…New Zealand…no Australia…just.
Final
France v Australia - winners France
I think Ireland will be grand without Sexton if that happens.
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He was Irelands best player in Murrayfield between missed tackles for Irish tries and at the other end not passing the ball when he had a team mate with a free run to the try line outside of him…
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