Pick Your Semi Finalists

Pick four teams that you think will make the semis...

Current experts thoughts of likely quarter-finalists are:

Ireland v Wales

England v France

South Africa v Australia

New Zealand v Argentina/Scotland



Possible upsets would be France beating New Zealand swapping one for the other at the quarters. Italy beating Ireland meaning Ireland likely to swap with Australia at the quarters stage. Whether Samoa can beat SA and Wales loose to Fiji meaning that SA and Samoa go through or if Wales beat Fiji by a cricket score and SA loose whether SA wont qualify. Another permutation is whether England or Scotland will go through top of their pool, and for that matter whether England, Scotland or Argentina would go through as second place quarter-finalists from their pool.

Variations could possibly be:

Australia v Samoa

Scotland v France

Wales/SA v Ireland

New Zealand v England

I went for England,Wales,South Africa and New Zealand.

New Zealand and England in the final.

New Zealand as comfortable winners.

An England vs Wales semi would be interesting.

England, Ireland, SA, NZ.

England v NZ in final.

NZ to win (probably).

On current form I'd go for Ireland, France, SA and NZ.

The other sides all seem to be struggling to get to grips with the breakdown and I think that is the key area this time.

History suggests that it's the experienced sides with strong leaders who do well and on that basis I think Wales, England and Australia are just lacking the experience to find a way to win under pressure and I think Argentina and Scotland don't have the tools to get past NZ.

It's very difficult to say as there are a lot of sides who can beat each other and the referees will have a big say with a lot of inconsistanies at the breakdown so far.

I'll go for Wales, France, SA, NZ.

Basis for saying Wales, partly blind optimism, partly that we seem to have stepped up a notch in terms of physicality, where we have been that step behind Ireland in the recent past. Having said that, if our lineout reverts to its usual rubbish, Ireland will beat us, if that's the QF.

im starting to think south africa will win.

wales have a good shot at the bronze this time. that would be huge for wales.

semi finalists; france, wales, SA, NZ.

Semis

Wales 24 v France 22

SA 21 v New Zealand 19

Final

SA 22 Wales 23

Shane knew it all the time

I'm going to say England, Wales New Zealand, SA. I would love to see a Wales- England semi and I actually think Wales could do it as long as we keep as few injuries as possible. My prediction is Walesd - SA final...now that would really be something

Ruby

love that prediction

It's not a prediction Mckay - I had a vision last night

I also saw into the future on 606V2 and all I could pick up in the year 2037 was a lot of english fans on here asking the Wales fans not to keep going on about 2011

Yip biltong, you read it on here first, 23-22 to Wales...

Look there goes Shane for the winning try in the final - look at him go

Ireland v England

New Zealand v Australia



Australio Ireland rematch in the final

OzT wrote:Yip biltong, you read it on here first, 23-22 to Wales...

Damn, and I had my hopes set on meeting Namibia in the final.

[quote="biltongbek"]

OzT wrote:Yip biltong, you read it on here first, 23-22 to Wales...

Disputed touchline conversion by Priestland in the 82 nd minute - apparently the ball went wide but the touch judge signalled it was over - Bilton last seen coming out of a psychiatric hospital in Islington claiming he's been sent to earth to eliminate PDV who apparently is the Anti Christ - I told him, "its only a game Mun!"

Look there goes Shane again, fxck he's fast

Classic.

I really cannot see Ireland making the Semi.

This year they played one good game in the 6N but otherwise were poor. In the warm-ups they were poor. Against USA they were poor, but raised themselves to throw fire and brimstone at the Aussies.

Question is which is the real Ireland - the one we have seen most of the year who have been poor, or the one that has managed to rouse itself for two games by harnessing emotion - hatred of the English and stopping them getting the GS according to POC, and "doing it for Flannery.

IF - and based on 2011 that is a big if, they can raise those levels again, then I can see them making the final. If not, then heck they could lose to Italy and not get out of the group.

Haha!
I like!

Aus are a classy team in attack but vulnerable in defence. Their pack is good on the hunt but not so good in a scrap.

England play a simple game plan and are easy to figure out. They seem reluctant to try anything other than bosh up the middle attacking play even though in Armitage, Foden, Ashton and Tuilagi they have an excellent back four. There scrum looked vulnerable against Georgia as did their pack who gave away a tonne of penalties. Would have been scarier if they had been Grandslammers and had not lost a match in the warm up games.

France have as much class as NZ throughout the team, on paper they are finalists but there are so many variables and inconsistencies in selection that we dont know what will happen when they take the pitch. Tough to predict

Ireland have a toughened factor that if a team concedes the lead in the second half Ireland wont let them back into the game. What ireland arent good at is chasing a lead. But they are a great team and should be respected and feared.

NZ are just class 1- 15 they were pressured by SA and Aus and came unstuck. If they had won the TRi Nations they would be a scarier prospect.

SA have done it all before and are showing their ability. They have a guile, control and an ability to score with their expert strike runners. Like Hougaard and Habanna

Scotland actually had a pretty good last 18 months. But they do have the ability to throw a game away in dramatic fashion. But on a good day, as an underdog with something to prove you wouldnt want to face them.

Samoa are a tough nut, always have been. They are huge, physical and structured in attack and defence. But their fitness only lasted 65 minutes in both their opening matches.

Wales are a very young team and have a different mentality to the team that has represented the nation for the last few years. When they didnt beat SA I thought they looked like they might not step up to the plate, but a dirty hard win of Samoa changed my mind. If they beat Namibia and Fiji by a cricket score they will be in the mix.

My thoughts, ok this is a bit different, and I am kind of proposing a bit of a devils advocate perspective is that France, SA, Wales and Ireland will be the Semi-Finalists

South Africa, Wales and Ireland can't all make it due to the draw. At least one of them will be knocked out by the semi-finals.

Interesting that you have New Zealand missing out. Unless they lose to France and Canada it would have to be one of England, Argentina or Scotland to knock them out. I'd say they are as nailed on as you can be to reach the semi-finals.

That's 190 votes. At least 1 person did not choose 4 teams for the semis.

Edit: England v Ireland
New Zealand v South Africa btw.

At least that is my hope. I would rather play England than France in the Semi. Will be happy to get to a Semi though. Beat Italy and probably Wales and we are there.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:That's 190 votes. At least 1 person did not choose 4 teams for the semis

Maybe someone was spoiling their vote?

Agree with Robbo, maesteg's semi-final picks can't happen the way the draw is set up.

SafeAsMilk wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:That's 190 votes. At least 1 person did not choose 4 teams for the semis

Maybe someone was spoiling their vote?

Agree with Robbo, maesteg's semi-final picks can't happen the way the draw is set up.

Someone Else just selected Franc AND England. That is pretty unlikely too.

Would involve New Zealand going out if France and England both made it. Not impossible, but very unlikely!

Ive gone for England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

Im backing Australia to beat South Africa in the quarter finals. Before the tournament started I said Ireland would beat Australia and Australia would then beat South Africa in the quarters.

New Zealand look about as certain to reach the semis as PDV is to make a strange comment, Gatland to make an ill-advised comment, MJ to be gruff, Decs to embrace the underdog status and Henry to appear smarmy.

If any team can come back from the dead it´s Australia so I wouldn´t count them out. That´s going to be one hell of a game and if NZ do top their pool, they´ll be against a very tired opponent. You´d think with last Saturday´s result, SA have the upper hand now and look good. But these Aussies are not to be underestimated and a bit of focus and hurt pride will make them hungry opponents. Too close to pick but my gut says Australia but maybe that´s my gut fearing they are our semi final opponent because to be honest I´d prefer to play SA even though both make me extremely nervous.

You look at the other side of the draw and Wales and England (England will be praying for an ABs win this weekend) must be quietly confident. I´d give Wales a slim chance against Australia but an even chance against Ireland. How long can Ireland sustain their emotion? France are an enigma but England would be confident they can win there.

So very close to call with this side of the draw. If Ireland can beat Wales then they´ll be confident of beating England but not so France. If Wales win then they won´t mind who they play because they haven´t had great recent success against either but will feel they can beat either as well.

So for s***s and giggles, I´ll go with England vs Wales with Wales to win but wouldn´t be surprised with Ireland vs France and then I´d go with a France win.

What is sure, is that Ireland have shaken this whole tournament up with their win last weekend.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:How long can Ireland sustain their emotion?

Hopefully for the duration of the tournament. Argentina did it last time. You'd think the effect of hearing your national anthem would wear off after a while. But they just kept on crying for game after game.

Kidney should ship a load of tragically injured puppies and kittens into the Irish camp and train them to hand out the jerseys before each match, while screaming at the players "DO IT FOR MR. FLUFFYYYYYYYY!!"

Haha nice one Feckless. Certainly possible with the draw you have now. Plenty of sentimental support from around the world too. If there were a way to harness all that, you wouldn´t even need to play all that well.

Hi

Sorry got that wrong...!

Off for dinner will think and re post.

I think the classic for me would be Wales vs England and NZ vs the Wallabies

but I think that the semis will most likely be

Australia

France

Ireland

New Zealand

I went for Wales England and South Africa New Zealand

Wales because it's a 50/50 game against Ireland (if we get there), and I would like to believe Wales will win.

England, obvious, English mentality is such that they can win when playing poorly, and if they face France, I'd expect them to win.

South Africa likewise, they will also grind their way there, and NZ is obvious, especially if they face Scotland.

The real Ireland are the team that play one great game - per tournament.

And I'm not sure that Aus defence is that poor. Have they leaked tries against many teams lower ranked (or even higher ranked) recently?

nganboy wrote:The real Ireland are the team that play one great game - per tournament.

And I'm not sure that Aus defence is that poor. Have they leaked tries against many teams lower ranked (or even higher ranked) recently?

They haven't conceded a try this tournament and look well placed to maintain that at pool level.

My picks are:


Australia v England

SA v New Zealand

nganboy wrote:The real Ireland are the team that play one great game - per tournament.

And I'm not sure that Aus defence is that poor. Have they leaked tries against many teams lower ranked (or even higher ranked) recently?

And the real All Blacks are the hens that shoite the eggs???

Rob B wrote:

nganboy wrote:The real Ireland are the team that play one great game - per tournament.

And I'm not sure that Aus defence is that poor. Have they leaked tries against many teams lower ranked (or even higher ranked) recently?

They haven't conceded a try this tournament and look well placed to maintain that at pool level.

My picks are:


Australia v England

SA v New Zealand

Oh and Rob, you didn't do so well with the old predictions in your last game.

Shut up Boyne, the Irish are chokers don't you know

Damn right we are!! We'll choke tackle ourselves all the way to the ..........

quarter finals....

ah "chokers"....... I see what you did there ....

You must be choking or are you being serious?

Kia, it's no choke....

I'd be interested to know if any of the people who voted for Wales aren't welsh...

I´d say there´s no one outside Wales voting for them. Wales have a big enough presence on these boards without additional help. Which is not to say that Wales aren´t capable of victory. Just many people find it impossible to actually saying the words.

But take it as a compliment. If people want you to lose or happy to see you lose, it probably means they´re glad they don´t have to play you.

I think Wales have a fantastic chance to reach a SF or even the Final. I didn't vote for them though

roddersm wrote:I think Wales have a fantastic chance to reach a SF or even the Final. I didn't vote for them though

That made me laugh - Nice one Rodders

roddersm wrote:I think Wales have a fantastic chance to reach a SF or even the Final. I didn't vote for them though

Well in that case I shant vote for you either

Now now Ruby you're not trying to claim you are underdogs now .....

mckay1402 wrote:I'd be interested to know if any of the people who voted for Wales aren't welsh...

Hi

Not Welsh Peter, just drunk and disoriented.