Who will lift the Webb Ellis Trophy in 2007? After the first games have been played it is deja vu 2003! Southern Hemisphere teams rule!!Three semi finalists are virtually certain to be the New Zealand All Blacks, the Australian Wallabies and the South African Springboks. The rest seem to be making up the numbers and this time around England is a shadow of their victorious 2003 team. Host nation France having shockingly lost its opening game to the Argentinian Pumas will probably not top Group D and may end up meeting the All Blacks in the quarter finals. That should be the end of the Froggies.
If France can somehow manage to top the group by beating the Irish and if the Pumas falter, it would probably have Scotland in the quarters. They should then qualify for the Semis.
What a semi-final round it would be! Probably Boks vs Wallabies and All Blacks vs France. Judging by their first game the reigning champion England will be going home early. I think it will be a Wallabies vs All Blacks Final.Standard of play so far? Too early to say...it is powerhouses vs minnows for now. I think the Western Samoans are still the team to watch. They may have lost badly to the Boks last night but judging from the 1st 20 minutes they are a solid team. They probably packed it in after Bryan Habana's tries so that they will be ready for England; that is their real target! Tonga and USA in the same group will be easy meat for the Samoans. In comparison, the Fijians do not pack enough power in the forwards to match the other "second tier" teams.
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