What RWC Pools Would You Like To See?

Assuming the same teams qualify as last time which would be:

New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
England
Wales
France
Ireland
Scotland
Italy
Samoa
Fiji
Tonga
USA
Canada
Japan
Romania
Georgia
Namibia
Russia

Remember it's in England. I'm going to assume rankings stay the same so England is a top seed. I'd like to see:

New Zealand
Ireland
Fiji
Canada
Russia

Australia
Wales
Samoa
Tonga
Georgia

South Africa
Argentina
Scotland
Romania
USA

England
France
Italy
Japan
Namibia

As a Scots fan, by the way, I think Scotland would come 2nd in a 3 way tie in their pool, having beaten South Africa but falling foul of Argentina, again. (Argentina getting thumped by SA helping them through).

QFs
Ireland v Wales
Australia v New Zealand
South Africa v France
England v Scotland

SFs
Ireland v France
England v New Zealand

Final
France v New Zealand

Heard it here first..?

Too early to worry about this, there are 40 tests that have to be played for each nation before then, new coach, hopefully new game plan, better talented squad, hopefully having won 75%+ of our matches.

I said what would you like to see... not what do you think you'll see

A
New Zealand
France
Italy
Canada
Namibia

B
South Africa
Argentina
Scotland
Tonga
Georgia

C
Australia
Ireland
Fiji
Romania
USA

D
England
Wales
Samoa
Japan
Russia

I'd quite like this one to be honest, it has a lot of interesting match ups I'd like to see, especially pool D.

Wales and Japan always has brilliant tries for both teams, Wales V England is normally good, a chance to see Kingsley Jones's Russia against Wales, and of course our old nemesis Samoa.

What I would like to see?

to be honest I really don't care.

If we are in a pool with NZ, it means we have dropped below the first 4 rankings, but the good news is we cn only face them in the final if we play them in the pool round.

If we are not in their pool we could meet them at any stage in the knockout round, which means we have to beat them anyway.

Usually if you win your pool, you should play a second tiered nation in the quarters, but looking at last year, you can't count on the other 1st seeded countries to win theirs as Australia have shown.

So who ever you meet in the knock out rounds you have to beat them.

Last RWC the SH nation were all bundled into the same half of the draw due to OZ's loss.

It happens, you can't preplan and wish you were in this or that pool.

If OZ didn't lose against Ireland, they would most likely have gone through to the final as they have the wood over France and Wales.

SA and NZ would then have met in the semi and whoever won would have gone through.

The only thing I wish for in the next RWC is a referee that has the guts to stand up for his methods of refereeing a match and doesn't allow the media to bully him into doing nothing.

I would like to request France in our pool. that way we don't have to face them until the final.

Remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUgLQ2K8e2Q

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuSpIyHIDc

Personally I'd like to see a pool of NZ, France, England, Argentina, Tonga.

South Africa to have an easy run to the final and to beat Australia in the semis. NZ to beat Ireland and Wales in the quarters and semis and then to exact revenge on SA.

Plus the Sharks cheerleaders coming over to support the ABs. That's what I'd like to see.

You got that pretty much spot on Kia, except for who will be exacting revenge on who.

The Sharks cheerleaders exacting revenge on their homeland and cheering on a real team. No, I got that mate.

We seem to be going in circles again.

You must be some clandestine operator in real life. Probably negotiating the diapers for babies.

Wouldn't bother Kia, people would still say it was a hollow win for the ABs, didn't play Finland, the Vatican or the ancient Aztecs.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Personally I'd like to see a pool of NZ, France, England, Argentina, Tonga.

I assume you're not taking any notice of current world rankings and pots when creating this impossible group!