New Zealand (1st last year)
When we talk about the Kiwis being there for the taking, it’s almost in the context of them being less unbeatable than they were the year before.
The Crusaders have been very convincing in Super Rugby and were title contenders from week one. A large contingent of that team forms the New Zealand squad and the All Blacks squad is a properly powerful squad.
They will deservedly go to this World Cup with the favourites tag. Their biggest problems are things like who to start matches with. Their squad is probably the hardest to pick.
South Africa (2nd)
I think Rassie Erasmus has done well, you haven’t heard any rumblings about the squad. The only guy I think was unlucky was utility back Curwin Bosch, who was probably unfairly kept out of the Sharks side in the first half of the season and so didn’t have a full season to show his worth.
I guess it’s probably for the experience of another utility back in the form of François Steyn, which is hard to argue with. He’s a valuable asset.
Australia (3rd)
A guy like Melbourne Rebels fly half Quade Cooper shot the lights out and combined really well with Will Genia. His team then fell off and so did his form, and they fell off in the second half.
While they were doing that, the Brumbies were peaking and picked up their performances, and Christian Lealiifano was right in the middle, captaining that process.
Then there’s the fact that Quade has a history of possibly not falling in line with the culture that Wallabies coach Michael Cheika’s looking for. So there were too many factors against Quade.
Argentina (4th)
Argentina are going to be a difficult team to play against. But they’ve got a difficult pool at the World Cup and the French might be victims of the Jaguares’ success.
The question you should ask is: How much better can the Jaguares become? If you take our best Super Rugby team – probably the Bulls – and ask how much better the Bok squad would be than them, I’d say the Boks would be significantly better than our best Super Rugby team.
I don’t think Argentina would be that much better than the Jaguares.