Rugby World Cup 2015

Who was the bright spark that worked out the seedings etc for the 2015 World cup. In group A there are 3 of the top 8 sides ranked (3,4 and 6????????????). In Group C only New Zealand is ranked in the top 8. Then comes the really stupid part. If all goes to the ranking form, then SA plays NZ in the one semi final and England probably play Ireland in the other! :huh: The 2 top ranked teams should meet in the final if all goes right. If one gets knocked out on the way then so be it but it cannot happen next year. On rankings NZ should play Australia in one semi final and SA should play England in the other. Has it been rigged to get a Northern Hemisphere team into the final or not? Certainly looks like it!

Craig, if memory serves me correctly, at the time of the draw the Welsh had dropped to 9th with the Samoan's at 8th so the Welsh were in the 3rd bracket.

Craig, you only now realising that bud ? If its not their refs its their rankings. They will do anything to win. Why ? Because they have to !

You are right Neigh. Even the New Zealanders had to use Bryce Lawrence to make sure we did not play and beat them. :lol: Shrek, Wales are 6th now and Argentina 10th. aybe it was different then but Wales well into the top 8.

Not sure how the rankings work but when the draw took place the Welsh I am sure were out of the Top 8.

There seem to be two streams for the World Cup...a Northern Hemisphere route to the final and a Southern Hemisphere route to the final...maybe to ensure that two SH teams are not in the final...

1987 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in SH
1991 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in NH
1995 - 2 SH...held in SH
1999 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in NH
2003 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in SH
2007 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in NH
2011 - 1 NH, 1 SH...held in SH
2015...draw almost ensures that trend continues...

As an aside, draw was done 2-3 years ago and I think rankings at the time, due to some anomaly had NZ at 1, Eng at 2, and Aus and SA 3 or 4...so that resulted in NZ and SA on same side of draw...

The joy I would have if SA 'lost' a game in the group and qualified second. The betting money to be made will be with the Aussies though. I'm presuming they'll beat the Welsh which means they get knocked out in either the quarters vs SA or make it to the final if they qualify 1st in the group. My two bets will be the Aussies to lose in the final and the Aussies to get knocked out in the quarters. Should be decent profit between the two bets if I do some shopping.

Craig, the british media along with plenty of ex England players and off course their fans are hyping up their team so much already that it appears that they just have to turn up and the cup is theirs. Heaven help us for the next 9 months if they beat the All Blacks or the Springboks or even the Wallabies this month. I just hope that the All Blacks go easy on Scotland next week as it was not nice to see them get pomped by SA at Murrayfield last year.