Japan’s RWC will undoubtedly be one to remember. With New Zealand suffering two defeats in 2018 and barely scraping the win in several other matches, the question of who the best in the world is these days no longer has an obvious answer.
The pools are mixed a bag this time around. Despite a relatively successful season, Scotland have a long struggle ahead of them: competition from the host nation and Ireland will prove to be the biggest challenges of their pool, as neither team is lacking confidence in the wake of recent wins.
New Zealand will surely be looking for payback for the embarrassing home loss they suffered against South Africa in last year’s Rugby Championship and will be eager to prove that they are still the titans of the tournament. With Wales’ quiet rise to world number three in the world going virtually unnoticed by some, their games against Aus- tralia, Georgia and Fiji will be a breeze for their ever-strengthening squad.
England will certainly be relieved to find themselves in a comfortable pool, allowing them the opportunity to give a few unfamiliar faces a chance to play and get a taste of what it means to be at a World Cup. But these pools are meaningless, in reality. Everybody seems to know who’s going to be in the final.
Even if there’s another upset like in 2015, it’s inevitable that these two great Rugby nations will face each other: Ireland vs New Zealand. Joe Schmidt vs Steve Hansen. Sexton vs Barrett. A classic, unmissable showdown awaits. 2018 was the greatest year in Ireland’s rugby history; they had an almost flawless international run, a home win against the All Blacks, and a Six Nations Grand Slam win; they gained Team of The Year at the World Rugby Awards, while their talismanic 10 Johnny Sexton won Player of the Year, and their head coach Joe Schmidt won Coach of the Year; and of course Leinster win just about every competition possible, not forgetting that four of Ireland’s internationalists were named in this year’s World XV. For this group of players, success has now clearly become the norm. But can they claim the ultimate prize?
Can they really go down in history forever? Can they really win the World Cup? Is it really Irish rugby’s turn to write their names into the record books. Well, only time will tell...
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