All the Best...



Springtime is meant to bring with it a revolutionary change. Spring hasn't disappointed...

The new Engen in Claremont might just become the 'sitcom' set for just about anything from 'How I met your Mother!', to 'Heroes', to 'Fight Club', to 'Friends' and eventually even to 'Prison Break III'! Caprice's face lift is subtle but very effective. We snuck over on Sunday just to make sure everything was fine, and it certainly is.

But spring has brought us something else. The IRB Rugby World Cup 2007! Technically however, Autumn is bringing it to us so I'll quit the spring references. Summer references are fine though...


So here we go. What may or may not happen at the RWC07!

I support the All Blacks, France are at home, there has never been a better prepared Springbok side, the Aussies are BMT knock-out specialist...and no one else is even threatening. One of these four sides will win it, although if we get an upset, not all may reach the Semis.

Pool A: Springboks, England, Samoa, Tonga & the USA

The Boks will clean up this pool. England have a forward pack but not one that would dominate SA. Johnny Wilkinson can be on fire but without a pack he will have to keep his fire to defence. The Boks under any other coach would stand a chance of handing the pool to England but not under White. Samoa and Tonga will just be there to hand out big late hits and probably cause a few injuries but nothing more. The Eagles will give a Tonga a run but take runs from the rest.

Headline game: SA v England 14th September 9pm.

Pool B: Australia, Wales, Canada, Fiji & Japan

Wales have showed pre-season that they aren't the RWC force they were in 2003 and were aiming to be. There old dangerous attack is no where and at best they are an average 2nd tier nation. They do however play Australia at home in Cardiff! Canada, Fiji and Japan should have fun amongst themselves.

Headline game: Australia v Wales 15th September 3pm.

Pool C: All Blacks, Italy, Scotland, Romania & Portugal

The All Blacks won't be tested in the Pool stages. Hence, they will go into the knock-out stages, fresh but without hardship, which can be fatal. They won't concede a try in the pool stages as, besides Portugal, none of the other sides even have the pace to score an intercept. Italy play Scotland to see who goes through in 2nd.

Headline games: Italy v Scotland 29th September 9pm. And the All Blacks v Portugal 15th September 1pm. They might score 200.

Pool of Death: France, Argentina, Ireland, Georgia & Namibia

This is where the pool stages will be interesting. I reckon, France will beat Argentina, Argentina will beat Ireland and Ireland could beat France. Some one isn't going through a it looks like Ireland. However, Ireland and Argentina are just fighting to see who plays the All Blacks. It makes it a moot point.

Headline games: France v Argentina 7th 9pm; France v Ireland 21st 9pm; Argentina v Ireland 30th 5pm.

The quarters: 6-7th October.

If SA beat England they go and play Wales, where as England play Australia.

The All Blacks will play the winner of Argentina v Ireland, and France will then play Italy assuming they beat Scotland.

SA will pump Wales. Australia will have a tough job beating the English tight-five and Johnny's boot should be on song. The All Blacks will struggle without having any pool stage momentum, and France will cream Italy.

Semis: 13-14th October

Anything can happen!

SA v France, All Blacks v Australia.

Final: 20th October.

France v All Blacks, SA v All Blacks, France v Australia, SA v Australia. This is my probability order.