Is your country on track for RWC 15?

With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, how do you feel about the current state of your nation?

Are they on track for success, or lagging worryingly behind expectations?

SCOTLAND: Out of the four home nations, Scotland is expected for many reasons to achieve the least. Getting out of our group is probably what is hoped for and what most fans would be satisfied with. With the defeat recently to Samoa, and a dire 6N this is looking a difficult RWC, however, Glasgow reaching the pro12 final with some great young talents and Vern Cotter are reasons for optimism.

IRELAND: The state of Irish Rugby looks to be healthy. Yes big talent is leaving, but the tank is certainly not empty of talent. Having won the 6N and come close to defeating New Zealand, Irish fans should surely be optimistic.

ENGLAND: Although in the group of death, England fans are surely quite content. Masses of potential in the forward pack with strong depth. Add to that some very dangerous backs like Yarde and the big guns of Tuilagi and Burrell, England can surely cope with any opposition. Worry for England, however, may lie in the fact that they are yet to achieve any trophies under Lancaster. Winning this year's 6 Nations should have been a realistic expectation.

WALES: A tale of two halves. On the one hand, a squad that has achieved the semi final and a grand slam 6N. On the other, arguably outdated tactics, lack of depth for the XV and no Welsh teams in the Rabo top 4.

NB sorry for the scant detail, hopefully a thread where we can find out about each other's development.

Yes but we've been here before. Problems: hooker, props. Potential banana skins against France or Ireland and SA before reaching a final. Get that far and we'd be hard to stop but capable of being upset by aforementioned.

A loss could be motivating leading up to RWC. Good blend of experience and exciting new talent. In terms of preparation, difficult to have a more solid grounding.

Who knows, Heyneke Meyer is a closed book, have recalled all his Bulls heroes of yesteryear, seems to have changed our gameplan, but hell, the number of Elderly statesmen in our team is worrying.

Nematode,

I think overall our (Welsh) strength in depth is getting better and hopefully few more might get blooded this tour, our Regional performances have never reflected on the National side so that part doesn't worry me.

Our big achilles heel is we can't seem to get over the line against the SH which to get out of our group we will have to, or rely on other results which is never good.

A fair assessment of England, but "yet to achieve any trophies" isn't strictly accurate. Three Calcutta cups, one Triple Crown and a Hillary Shield (that looks more impressive in the light of the ABs' subsequent performance) is different from "no trophies". What they haven't done is win a tournament - but given that they have effectively had to rebuild the whole team and then the back division in the past two years, I'm pretty comfortable with what has been achieved so far.

That said, the expectation from now until the RWC has to be for 4 close games against the ABs (I'd like to say a win in the AIs but realistically being in a position to win should be enough), wins in the remaining AIs, a 6N championship win (preferably a GS - but that will be tricky with Ireland and Wales away. A win in Cardiff has to be a major target, though).

It's possible that 4 NH teams (England, France, Wales and Ireland) could be serious contenders this time next year. Wales need to overcome the mental challenge of beating an SH side, and probably also need to find alternative game plans. Ireland's challenge will be sustaining a strong performance over the whole tournament (given comparatively limited strength in depth). France and to a lesser extent England need to work on consistency. But it's realistic to expect that at least 3 of the 4 will make the QFs and probably 2 the SFs.

France and to a lesser extent England need to work on consistency

Pourfour...we need to stop giving teams 14-20 point leads in the first 10 mins...  

GeordieFalcon wrote:

France and to a lesser extent England need to work on consistency

Pourfour...we need to stop giving teams 14-20 point leads in the first 10 mins...  

GF,

Welcome to our world lol

GeordieFalcon wrote:

France and to a lesser extent England need to work on consistency

Pourfour...we need to stop giving teams 14-20 point leads in the first 10 mins...  

It's all part of the Lancaster master plan... he will get the team used to winning from behind, then unleash a secret new "first 10" defence strategy that Farrell has been working on and England will be home and free.

...it was a very good dream, which may also have involved Scarlett Johansson.

We (Ireland) have the perfect tour to audition centres, against an Argentina side resting their big guns. Couldn't ask for better. And that is what we need; the front succession is looking healthy, but still question marks over just who will be wearing 12 and 13.

Luke Marshall, Darren Cave and Robbie Henshaw will get their chance to stake a claim against Los Pumas, before the autumn internationals when Jared Payne gets a controversial chance to show his stuff at 13 due to the very tenuous residency qualification laws.

Not quite. Don't get me wrong, prep could be much, much worse than 2 6N's in three years (though some might call that peaking too soon). Since the last WC Wales have come on in leaps and bounds... except against SH sides. We've had multiple opportunities to lay down a marker against the Aussies and failed every single time. We could be much more on track than we currently are.

1 loss since the last world cup. plenty of youngsters coming through, coupled with some experienced old heads. Shown an ability to win games that we shouldn't.


Yeah we are on track. But all it takes is one loss in the knockout stages and the dream is over

Notch wrote:We (Ireland) have the perfect tour to audition centres, against an Argentina side resting their big guns. Couldn't ask for better. And that is what we need; the front succession is looking healthy, but still question marks over just who will be wearing 12 and 13.

Luke Marshall, Darren Cave and Robbie Henshaw will get their chance to stake a claim against Los Pumas, before the autumn internationals when Jared Payne gets a controversial chance to show his stuff at 13 due to the very tenuous residency qualification laws.

If it's anything like England's tour I wouldn't say it was perfect. There's a massive drop off it seems when they're resting players. I don't think we learnt anything from our games.

Yeah i agree Hammer, Argentinas full strength side is tough, but i dont think they have much depth.

Having said that, i will still be a useful tour to integrate two new centres and try out some moves / calls etc.

England pack is there in depth and world class, we just need to fine tune the 12,11,14 positions. Hopefully Billy and manu will get some extended gametime together and stop getting bloomin injured, then two of Ashton, May, Yarde, Nowell and potentially Wade and Roko need to cement there positions and stop getting bloomin injured ! If we can find our nailed on starting backline and they have a six nations to become co-hesive then in twickenham we will be contenders.

SA confuse me, i was under the impression Meyer was a fan of new blood yet going back to Matfield is a sure sign there are issues with development.

England are on a perfect curve which, if they win once in NZ could become an unstoppable force.

Aus creamed France and will always be the dark horse come RWC as they have real pedigree, if Cooper remains at the heart of things then Group A may just be too much for Wales

NZ, creaking badly, peaked too soon. Can Carter come back and revitalize a side that is showing real cracks but still wins.

Wales. Well depth is not an issue all over the squad but we still rely too much on Doc route 1 and like SA have senior citizens propping up our tight 5. Unless we win v SA, win 2 in the autumn and beat England in the 6 Nations i predict a pool exit.

Ireland. If they defend the 6 Nations - at home to france and england -  they will win their pool, beat argentina in the quarter and then all bets are off…will they thrive without drico? The Ire France group game is crucial as to win avoids a NZ 1/4.

Scotland…well and truly tier 2 right now and i reckon samoa will do them in RWC.
France - keep getting worse but can always bring it back and do well in RWC

I'm willing to bet a considerable slice of my income from now until the match, scratch, that Samoa will not "do [Scotland] in".

Having said that, "is your country on track for RWC 15?" Scotland just got ON the track this week after finally having Cotter in the set up. Before that Johnson and his clowncar were zigzagging away from the track as fast as possible with the Scottish team hostage, screaming buzzphrases and bizarre media "spins" to the cameras as he went.

Scotland fear any team that knows how to score a try, but in terms of who I would fear if Scotland were tier 1 (with that, Scratch, I do agree) it would be England and New Zealand. I think Wales could do a number on Australia and South Africa might beat one of the above but I'd still be hoping to avoid those top 2 for the whole tourney.

Why is everyone saying England are in the top 2 sides in the world all of a sudden....

We came second in the 6n to Ireland and indeed Ireland have pushed NZ just as close as we have?? They should have won!

I dont get it?

HammerofThunor wrote:

Notch wrote:We (Ireland) have the perfect tour to audition centres, against an Argentina side resting their big guns. Couldn't ask for better. And that is what we need; the front succession is looking healthy, but still question marks over just who will be wearing 12 and 13.

Luke Marshall, Darren Cave and Robbie Henshaw will get their chance to stake a claim against Los Pumas, before the autumn internationals when Jared Payne gets a controversial chance to show his stuff at 13 due to the very tenuous residency qualification laws.

If it's anything like England's tour I wouldn't say it was perfect. There's a massive drop off it seems when they're resting players. I don't think we learnt anything from our games.

I think Notch's point is that we need to have a relatively pressure free environment to test out our new centers under controlled conditions, they won't be tested massively, but they will gain experience playing with Sexton and Murray, working under Schmidt and Kiss etc.

I think Meyer will put out a well balanced squad that can play in all conditions. It will have a good mix of youth and experience too. If he keeps on evolving the Boks as he has been and as seen last season then there is no reason to think that the Boks are not on the right track.

Mickado wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:

Notch wrote:We (Ireland) have the perfect tour to audition centres, against an Argentina side resting their big guns. Couldn't ask for better. And that is what we need; the front succession is looking healthy, but still question marks over just who will be wearing 12 and 13.

Luke Marshall, Darren Cave and Robbie Henshaw will get their chance to stake a claim against Los Pumas, before the autumn internationals when Jared Payne gets a controversial chance to show his stuff at 13 due to the very tenuous residency qualification laws.

If it's anything like England's tour I wouldn't say it was perfect. There's a massive drop off it seems when they're resting players. I don't think we learnt anything from our games.

I think Notch's point is that we need to have a relatively pressure free environment to test out our new centers under controlled conditions, they won't be tested massively, but they will gain experience playing with Sexton and Murray, working under Schmidt and Kiss etc.

I know but I don't think playing in completely uncompetative games is any better than a training run. You could do that against the Wolfhounds. But as I said, that's if they're as bad as they were last year, if they're better you'll get more out of it.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Why is everyone saying England are in the top 2 sides in the world all of a sudden....

We came second in the 6n to Ireland and indeed Ireland have pushed NZ just as close as we have?? They should have won!

I dont get it?

I didn't mean they were top 2 in the world on any day, in any match, but for RWC 2015 they are at least top 3, and depending on SA's showing top 2. Let's not forget it's at home and England do look like they are going to peak at the right moment. Nobody's going to care about the 6N misses this and last year if they win it this year and are perfectly poised for RWC. I think your main problem at the moment is Farrell at 10 - fix that (through Farrell or otherwise) and you'll be laughing.

This is roughly the levels I think teams will be at for RWC

MOST COMPETITIVE
NZ England
South Africa
Australia Wales Ireland France
Argentina
Scotland Samoa
Italy
Tonga Fiji (TBC) Georgia Canada
Japan USA
Russia (TBC) Namibia (TBC)
LEAST COMPETITIVE

Chances of beating somebody a layer above you are still quite good but you're not the favourite (Scotland against Argentina). 2 layers you're definitely not the favourite (Georgia against Samoa). 3 layers and you're officially an underdog (Argentina v England [at Twickenham!]) Agree?

How on earth are SA not in the most competitive tier? Home advantage or not SA haven't been beaten by England in a while.

Ok ineffable crossed wires there...however...on recent competitions and games...

Most Competitive:
NZ - South Africa
England  - Ireland - Australia - Wales
France