Dan Carter’s groin is getting most of the headlines in New Zealand…and not for the usual reasons. The All Blacks star pivot has been invalided out of the tournament; replaced by Manawatu’s Aaron Cruden.
But, the tournament still goes on without him, and the All Blacks haven’t actually lost yet. In fact, they’re still the bookies’ favourites.
You suspect they’ll be too strong for a battered and old Argentina side who snuck through thanks to a late win over Scotland. But the other quarter finals are anyone’s to win or lose with some mouth watering match ups in store.
As looked likely after Ireland beat Austrlia in the pool, it has proven to be taste of the Four Nations that starts next year on one side of the draw with four of the six nations sides on the other. Only one thing certain at this stage…it will be a Southern vs Northern hemisphere final.
The quarter finals line up like this…and here are our predictions:
Ireland 21 v Wales 18
England 20 v France 11
South Africa 19 v Australia 14
New Zealand 37 v Argentina 9
We didn’t pick the Irish upset over the Wallabies but did pretty well in our RWC 2011 predictions in terms of results and scores. The other results we got wrong were the Canuks beating the Tongans and drawing with Japan and the Tongans beating France. We also called the Argentina v Scotland match in favour of the Scots and picked Samoa to beat the Welsh.
Still, 42 matches out of 48 wasn’t a bad result. For the record, here are our predictions and the actual results:
Pool A
NZÂ 33 v Tonga 14 — actual 41-10
France 42 v Japan 18 — actual 47-21
Tonga 25 v Canada 14 — actual 20-25 (WRONG)
NZ 68 v Japan 9 — actual 83-7
France 32 v Canada 14 — actual 46 – 19
Tonga 21 v Japan 15 — actual 31-18
NZ 31 v France 16 — actual 37-17
Canada 14 v Japan 23 — actual 23-23 (WRONG)
France 35 v Tonga 18 — actual 14-19 (WRONG)
NZ 74 v Canada 9 — actual 79-15
Pool B
Scotland 31 v Romania 6 — actual 34-24
Argentina 9 v England 19 — actual 9-13
Scotland 20 v Georgia 11 — actual 15-6
Argentina 33 v Romania 6 — actual 43-8
England 33 v Georgia 9 — actual 41-10
England 42 v Romania 3 — actual 67-3
Argentina 9 v Scotland 15 — actual 13-12 (WRONG)
Georgia 21 v Romania 11 — actual 25-9
England 20 v Scotland 9 — actual 16-12
Argentina 21 v Georgia 9 — actual 25-7
Pool C
Australia 28 v Italy 14 — actual 32-6
Ireland 31 v 9 USA — actual 22-10
Russia 9 v USA 19 — actual 6-13
Australia 26 v Ireland 17 — actual 6-15 (WRONG)
Italy 32 v Russia 6 — actual 53-17
Australia 43 v USA 6 — actual 67-5
Ireland 33 v Russia 3 — actual 62-12
Italy 26 v USA 13 — actual 27-10
Australia 45 v Russia 6 — actual 68-22
Ireland 24 v Italy 12 — actual 36-6
Pool D
Fiji 37 v Namibia 8 — actual 49-25
South Africa 26 v Wales 18 — actual 17-16
Samoa 37 v Namibia 3 — actual 49-12
South Africa 38 v Fiji 23 — actual 49-3
Wales 24 v Samoa 27 — actual 17-10 (WRONG)
South Africa 52 v Namibia – actual 87-0
Fiji 13 v Samoa 25 — actual 7-27
Wales 47 v Namibia 6 — actual 81-7
24 South Africa v Samoa 18 — actual 13-5
26 Wales v Fiji 16 — actual 66-0
The tier two nations, or so called minows, showed a real improvement over previous tournaments. And if it hadn’t been for the unfavourable and very unfair draw they received you can be sure there would have been more upsets. Let’s hope there’s more fairness and transparency in future tournaments to even the playing field.
But for now it’s onwards and upwards into the knockout stages…