A RWC like we want it

Not too many people would have predicted the hosts would be the team to be eliminated from the Group of Death, writes Jacques van der Westhuyzen.

Not too many people would have predicted the hosts would be the team to be eliminated from the Group of Death, writes Jacques van der Westhuyzen.

Published Oct 6, 2015

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Isn’t the 2015 World Cup turning into quite the tournament?

We’ve had an upset of unbelievable proportions - Japan beating the Boks - we’ve seen the Pacific Islands teams struggling and, most shocking of all, the hosts crashing out after playing just three games.

How on Earth will England get themselves up for their final pool match against Uruguay?

Not too many people would have predicted the hosts would be the team to be eliminated from the Group of Death; in fact many had expected them to finish first with Australia coming second. Wales, with all their injuries and not the flashiest build-up, were expected to be the team to go out. But now they’re in with a shout of topping the group.

But, to do that they’ll have to beat a rampant Australia in their final pool game and what a match that promises to be. All of a sudden the Wallabies are hot favourites to advance to the final and for many the odds-on-favourites to go all the way. It’s not really surprising considering they won the Rugby Championship.

While England grieves, Wales are celebrating. If things work out the Boks will, in all likelihood, face the Welsh in the quarter-finals and while it’s sure to be a thriller of a tie, Heyneke Meyer and Co would surely prefer that clash to having to face England or Australia.

By the time that match comes around the Boks will have had 10 days without a game and will be fresh, while Wales will be battered and bruised after fighting their way out of the Group of Death. Everything falling into place for the Boks then ...

Ireland are also merrily going about their business and remain a big threat to whoever they meet in the play-offs, while Argentina are also looking superb. Los Pumas have grown in confidence since getting into the Rugby Championship and after beating the Boks in Durban a few months ago, and are playing like a team who look to be among the top four or five in the world.

France, too, have looked good at stages and while they’ll always have the propensity to fall to pieces when confronted by a big team, they also have the ability and skill to upset anyone. And that’s why the All Blacks won’t be sleeping too comfortably, even though they have breezed into the play-offs. Steve Hansen will know they’re likely to face the Tricolors in the quarter-finals without having been seriously tested.

Then, we have the Boks – poor against Japan, clinical against Samoa and workmanlike against Scotland, but certainly a team on the up and capable of beating anyone else.

From what we’ve seen so far, we’re in for some edge of the seat stuff.

Exactly how we want it. - The Star

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