Which NH team will get furthest in the World Cup?

Ahead of the World Cup, which of the northern hemisphere teams do you think will fare best and why?

I will take this poll again after the warm up games to see if opinion has changed but what are your thoughts as of now?

I will allow two choices for everyone to choose.

Please state where you think your picks will finish (ie semi final)

Comment below.

France are the most consistent semi finalists, England have got to the final three times. Those two pretty neck and neck. Ireland would be my dark horse and Wales my heart over head of course. Scotland and Italy are buggered.

(Hobo! Swear filter needs attention!)

France and England for me as well, I wouldn't be surprised to see either in the semi's. I think Scotland will do better than expected, but can't see them progressing as far at those two.

Given the draw, whoever wins out of France and England in the quarters will go farthest.

Glas, downunder "oh dear" gets used instead of "damn" ...
(this ad won a host of "best ad" awards in NZ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfzUx6PiNd8

Hobo, that was a quick change on the swear filter, nice work

That ad was class!

Anyway, back to the topic, I unfortunately think England will get furthest but just have a sneaky suspicion that Wales might surprise a few.

Richie Pugh of Scarlets tweeted with "all depends in which French team turns up but they could come good. It's gonna be a good one."

I'm going for England (not that I'm biased or anything) because as others have said, it's between England and France and they should meet in the quarters (I think), and I feel England perform well against France. The only loss I can recall in recent years was last year, 12-10 in Paris, which isn't too bad as losses go, especially given France beat everybody that year.

That said, an alternate scenario is France pull it out of the bag and beat NZ in their group, leaving England no hope whatsoever of making it past the quarters (I really really hope this doesn't happen! ><).

Desert_Tiger wrote:...
That said, an alternate scenario is France pull it out of the bag and beat NZ in their group, leaving England no hope whatsoever of making it past the quarters (I really really hope this doesn't happen! ><).

So do I

Hobo, if Wales are going to 'surprise a few,' they're going to have to surprise us all and play to a new gameplan. Until they do, they're possibly the most easily contained of the Six Nations sides.

Went with England & Ireland. I think Ireland may finally come good during a tournament and England have the best group of all the fancied NH teams, although I think Scotland will progress from the same group as runners up. Agree that for Wales to do well they need to change their game plan and chuck caution to wind (within reason) and take advantage of their broken field players and I think France might just implode.

It's unfortunate that the only two teams (on paper) that I thought could have mounted a serious challenge to NZ, South Africa & France, have both got buffoons as head coaches who are holding their respective teams back.

England for me had a strong six nations, good talent and our World Cup Rugby record the last two times has been very good of course.

Wales have too many youngsters, Scotland not playing to potential, Italy did very well in the Six Nations but still not a good bet.

Always like Ireland they are very dangerous, while France are also dangerous but the coach has made some surprise picks.

England for me with New Zealand winning the whole thing, there depth just sends shivers down my spine.

WElcome to the board by the way Gbear - how did you hear about us?

[quote="GloucesterBear"]Wales have too many youngsters...[\quote]

That's what they said in Paris in 1975.

I think that France will.

Explanation: I think Ireland, France, NZ and SA will make the semi finals. I think Ireland will beat Australia and top the group. I would then expect they beat Wales in quarter final. Ireland have 5 warm up games and games against USA, Russia and Italy before taking on the Aussies. I expect to see them fully ready. France to beat England in quarter finals. They have already announced a 32 man squad and I expect them to be a tight group come the World Cup.

In the semi finals Ireland won't beat NZ or France. I don't know what the draw is or who is matched with who. Irelands best chance would be actually against SA and that would still be tough. So I'm gonna say France to get furthest.

Glas a du wrote:France are the most consistent semi finalists, England have got to the final three times. Those two pretty neck and neck. Ireland would be my dark horse and Wales my heart over head of course. Scotland and Italy are buggered.

(Hobo! Swear filter needs attention!)

Agree with that.

And the swear filter works if you say oh dear (without the ed on the end)

Scotland will be lucky to get out of the pool stage. France look to have a soft underbelly, you only have to look at the way Australia smashed them earlier this season at home, and the way they collapse at times when things start getting tough. Wales might get out of their pool group, the fixtures in the pool games fall very nicely for them, and against Fiji, Samoa and south Africa they have northern Hemisphere referees, and a longer recovery period between games. However can Wales players really take the physicality of south Africa, Fiji and Samoa and win 2 of those games?
Ireland look solid and experienced, but frankly after the world cup you can see them going like England in 2003, most of their squad will be retired or too old next season.
England seem to be coming good just at the right time, but New Zealand will probably smash them to be honest.

It is foolish to take anything for granted in a RWC,second tier sides have full strength sides there,Something they rarely have at other times,in theory all the top 5Ns sides should reach knockout stages every time they seldom do.
England,Scotland and Argentina may well cancel each other out and have to rely on bonus points or points difference to win.France have New Zealand,and Tonga.France are usually outside RWCs the best NH side,don`t be fooled by there losses in Ai`s to Australia or 6ns loss to Italy they`ll be up for it.I expect NZ to reach at least the qtr finals,but maybe runners up in there group.
Australia could well lose to Ireland.Wales have the toughest group,if they play to there full potential they can beat anyone.Outside a RWC expect Wales to be Fiji or Samoa 9 times out of 10.BUT in a RWC all bets are off, any two of four could qualify from that group.I expect SA,NZ,AUS,FRANCE in the semis.NZ may even go all the way this time.Home team Refering decisionss,organizing the catering maybe the Boks will get the listeria pies this time SUZY is on standby. Of course the Boks have the best chance of winning in NZ,they have done it 3 times in 15 years after all which is better than most.

None will win it so does it really matter?

Damn right it does!
Waaa-ales, Waaa-ales, Waaa-ales, come on!

With how the draw pans out, and assuming England win their group and France finish as runners up in theirs, they should meet in the QF and so the winner makes the SF - I'd be slightly surprised if any of the other NH teams do, although Ireland could have a chance if they beat Australia to top their group (meaning a NH finalist if the other groups go as expected). Think the Aus game is a more likely victory than a QF against the Boks.

Wales I see as losing their QF after a fairly brutal set of group matches - don't see them beating SA in the group, so probably Aus (or an Ireland team buoyed by a good win) in the QF.

Scotland will be in a battle with Argentina for the 2nd place in England's group - difficult to call because Argentina tend to be better in the RWC than in normal matches (better availability of players really benefitting them). After that, a QF with the ABs will be the end of the journey

Italy will have to produce one of their occasional really good performances to get out of their group. Other NH sides will be happy with one win and being respectably competetive in the other matches.

on current form, it would have to be Ireland. Otherwise, england to be the best NH team by default...if they get to beat Argentina which is far from being granted.... as for France potential performance, it really depends of who is fit as their current starting XV (backrow and locks excluded) would struggle against this weekend barbarian team!