[Ventil]

We all know who the winner is going to be, so the only other key matches will be England vs South Africa and Wales vs Australia to see who tops our respective groups and thus whether we get to beat Wales for a SF place (and then lose to NZ) or lose to Australia for a "thanks for coming, we'll have that trophy back now if you don't mind" situation.

[retired_jabda]

But I wanted the title to be 'Coupe du monde de rugby Ã* XV 2007'

Feck off stupid English language.

[retired_derek]

Originally posted by James M:
i knew you weren't serious. you should still do a big post in this thread once the squads are announced, though, if you had actually intended to do one for your own thread

Was going to provide analysis.

We should have the thread title changed to what finneys wants though :thup:

[retired_derek]

Originally posted by Docker:
We all know who the winner is going to be, so the only other key matches will be England vs South Africa and Wales vs Australia to see who tops our respective groups and thus whether we get to beat Wales for a SF place (and then lose to NZ) or lose to Australia for a "thanks for coming, we'll have that trophy back now if you don't mind" situation.

We don't know who the winner is going to be. New Zealand have bottled it enough in the past to suggest they may well do it again.

They should have won it so many times and haven't.

It's almost certain that they will win it, but i'd not be surprised at all to see them blow it.

[retired_bliss123]

Originally posted by finneys13:
But I wanted the title to be 'Coupe du monde de rugby Ã* XV 2007'

Feck off stupid English language.

That's good actually, i'll ask juni to change it when i get home :thup:

[Ventil]

The last times the Kiwis have bottled it there have been some good teams snapping at their heels.
This time round their closest rivals are the Aussies and having already beaten them in the Tri Nations, I can't see them failing on the bigger stage.
Let's not forget that their second team is pretty much as good as any other country's first XV.

[trotamundos]

Might as well put this here:

Springboks ban overseas players

South Africa have decided that players who are based outside the country will no longer be picked for the Springboks.

That means a number of stars, including captain John Smit and second row Victor Matfield, will play their last games for South Africa at the World Cup.

The South African Rugby Union (Saru) says it is trying to stem a flood of players to the northern hemisphere.

"It's a really tricky situation, but we had to draw the line somewhere," said Saru president Oregan Hoskins.

Hoskins, who was speaking to the Johannesburg-based Star newspaper, added: "We want to reward the guys who stay in South Africa and further encourage them to remain here."

Other Springboks who are heading north are hooker Gary Botha, wing Ashwin Willemse, utility back Brent Russell, number eight Bobby Skinstad and full-back Percy Montgomery.

South Africa's fellow southern hemisphere giants New Zealand and Australia have similar policies of not picking players who play abroad.

Up to 100 South Africa-born players, including a number of former Test players, are currently in action in France, Wales, England and Italy.

In recent times Springbok coach Jake White has selected overseas-based players for the national team, most notably Montgomery and fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Saracens prop Cobus Visagie was also called up during the Tri-Nations series.

Hoskins said the authorities made an exception in those cases because White really wanted to be able to pick those players

"We're now simply reverting back to what the rule was and that means if a guy doesn't play locally he won't be allowed to play for South Africa," he said.

"If we allow guys to keep on leaving (South Africa) we'll also be robbing the public of seeing the best players in action."

The World Cup starts in France on 7 September, with the final in Paris on 20 October.

Can see the mentality behind it, but surely it's going to screw them?

[retired_bliss123]

hasn't hurt the all blacks tbf

[retired_jabda]

A lot of the top All-Blacks are going to England/France after the WC for 2 or 3 years, and then back to NZ to get picked for WC 2011.

SA players probably start doing the same.

[retired_michiganguy44]

So whos not going to be playing for them?

Doesnt Habana play in france? or i might be thinking of a different player.