Prospects

[UKHamlet]

We should beat Georgia but I'm still not comfortable taking wins for granted.

Then we face either Argentina or Japan in the QFs. Both are eminently beatable, but Argentina have the personnel to pull one out of the bag. I think we beat Japan with something to spare.

Assuming we win the QF, we will probably face Ireland but it might be NZ. We lose to either of those but I'd feel more confident of containing NZ with our highly physical defence and counter attack game.

So, we jam a win in the semi and I end up in the ICU, but there we are in the final. Who do we face? Who else?

[Sandydragon]

We have a good chance of beating Argentina. We can’t take them for granted but they have had the greatest of world cups and we are very capable of beating them.

I can’t see us beating Ireland or the all blacks so it’s the England or Fiji in the third place play off. Which is a position I hate but better than exiting at the group stage and if Gatland gets us to the semis that 3 campaigns out of 4 that he’s got us there which isn’t to be sniffed at. And considering the state we were in not too long ago, that would be a very positive return on this campaign.

[Son of Mathonwy]

We should top the group and most likely face Argentina, which we'll most likely win.

Ireland or New Zealand will be very difficult to beat in the semis. On form Ireland should be the toughest but with our history (and Ireland's in world cups) I think we have a better chance against them than NZ. But still not a great chance (this is where we'll probably see the gulf between the two halves of this competition).

My guess is France would await in the final (albeit I'd give SA a 45% chance of being there instead).

So, most likely I think we'll get stopped in the semis. Which would be a good result. But given the screwed up seeding it would not be too much of a surprise. We don't have to beat any strong teams to get there.

[normanski]

[quote=UKHamlet post_id=306145 time=1696626479 user_id=2

So, we jam a win in the semi and I end up in the ICU, but there we are in the final. Who do we face? Who else?
[/quote]

I did say in an earlier posting to Puja, that perhaps Wales and England were emerging as dark horses!

[pompey-zebra]

[quote=UKHamlet post_id=306145 time=1696626479 user_id=2

So, we jam a win in the semi and I end up in the ICU, but there we are in the final. Who do we face? Who else?

I did say in an earlier posting to Puja, that perhaps Wales and England were emerging as dark horses!
[/quote]

Better a dark horse than a nightmare!

[Sourdust]

Of course you want more as the prizes approach, but the fact we need to come back to is that Wales were absolutely, definitely, inevitably going out in the group stage this time, and we're now talking about a very possible semi-final. Unless we get pumped 70-0 in that semi, we need to be very, VERY happy with that. Even if we get bounced by Argentina, that's still a better result than anybody expected, whatever they say.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Of course you want more as the prizes approach, but the fact we need to come back to is that Wales were absolutely, definitely, inevitably going out in the group stage this time, and we're now talking about a very possible semi-final. Unless we get pumped 70-0 in that semi, we need to be very, VERY happy with that. Even if we get bounced by Argentina, that's still a better result than anybody expected, whatever they say.

I disagree - it was always an easy group, we always had a good chance of getting through it. We've done it with a bit more to spare than I expected but making the quarters (at least) is not a surprise given the ridiculous seeding.

[Sandydragon]

Of course you want more as the prizes approach, but the fact we need to come back to is that Wales were absolutely, definitely, inevitably going out in the group stage this time, and we're now talking about a very possible semi-final. Unless we get pumped 70-0 in that semi, we need to be very, VERY happy with that. Even if we get bounced by Argentina, that's still a better result than anybody expected, whatever they say.

I disagree - it was always an easy group, we always had a good chance of getting through it. We've done it with a bit more to spare than I expected but making the quarters (at least) is not a surprise given the ridiculous seeding.

I wouldn’t call Fiji ridiculously easy. Australia have had their moments too this season, not qualifying was a real chance given our poor last season. You only play what’s in front of you and we have done that well enough and in most cases very comfortably.