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What will make South Africa lose out on a World Cup? There are a couple of reasons why this might happen.

The Springboks have the most brutal set of forward on the planet at the moment and when they are firing they crush the opposition at lineouts, scrums, rucks, and mauls. 

In recent times they have also developed a really creative back 3 that can rip apart defenses. 

They do however have a couple of hurdles to overcome that can stop them from getting to a final and should they get there, stop them from winning:

1. Goal kicking – In the 2019 World Cup, Handre Pollard was kicking like a machine. He looks to be getting back to health but is only on the backup list for the World Cup. Manie Libbok kicked brilliantly for the Stormers but has had a few under-par performances for the Springboks and those missed kicks can and probably will cost South Africa in vital matches.
   
2. Missing personnel – Lood de Jager, Handre Pollard, and Lukhanyo Am are huge omissions from the squad. Lood de Jager usually racks up the most tackles in the team around the rucks to go with his good work in the lineouts. Handre Pollard is both the vice-captain and a dependable kicker. Lukhanyo Am is however a key piece in the Springbok backline both running the defense and the creative spark that allows that exciting back 3 to shine.
   
3. 80 minutes of concentration – Over the years the Springboks have gotten better at this but they still let themselves down at times. They can be utterly dominant but then have times when they are just flat. This has allowed many teams to come back at them and grab wins, especially the All Blacks. 
   

I hope they have solid answers for those areas to ensure they advance through the pool, quarters, and semis but it will be an uphill battle.

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Will the All Blacks miss out at the World Cup? They might, and it isn’t just for one simple reason. 

The All Blacks are religious about rugby in the same way as India is religious about cricket. They will not go to the World Cup without the best possible preparation.

You can work through the whole squad and you will struggle to find a single weakness. 

When you look at their record since the start of 2022, it has not been their best in recent times, although it was still impressive. In 2022 they had 4 losses and a draw and overall, since the start of 2022 they have played 15 games. For the All Blacks, a 67% win record is atrocious! 

Here are the reasons though that I think they might get knocked out: 

1. They have a difficult road to the final – they play France in their pool, then need to face either South Africa or Ireland in the quarter-finals. The semis will probably be against England, Argentina or Australia. If they get past that hurdle, it comes back around to either South Africa, Ireland, or France again as their opponents in the finals, depending on how their respective knockout games worked out.
   
2. They are vulnerable if they can’t attack – when teams attack hard against them, they defend well for the most part. They usually absorb a ton of pressure before turning it into attack eventually and then they slowly dismantle defenses. When they are however not allowed to play their free-flowing rugby and they are constantly stopped behind the gain line, they start to make mistakes and this has proven to be their downfall in recent times.
   
3. Why is Scott Robertson not coaching? This is one of the things that confused me greatly when Ian Foster got appointed ahead of Scott. Ian has a top rugby pedigree and he definitely has the ability to mould a squad into a competitive team. With Scott, it is however like not having Alex Ferguson coach a team after winning everything with Manchester United for over two decades. It blows my mind.

Will that trip up the All Blacks? It is difficult to tell. 

They are however not the perfect team they were at the 2015 World Cup, which was probably the best All Black team of all time.

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Will Ireland miss out on World Cup glory? There are a few reasons why they might.

The challenges that they face are different from many other teams. They haven’t been plagued with injuries. They haven’t struggled for form and along with France they have been the dominant team in world rugby since the start of 2022.

There are 3 reasons why I think they might lose out in this World Cup:

1. They have never reached a World Cup final – playing in the 6 Nations is challenging and touring to the southern hemisphere is challenging but the relentless pace and pressure of the World Cup is on a whole new level. They have gone to previous World Cups with strong squads but then they never come close.
   
2. The top teams will disrupt their playing pattern – the amount of planning that goes into how you play each opponent is frightening. Over the past few years, Ireland has been very effective but very repetitive in how they have played. South Africa and Scotland will be prepared for their matchups in the group stage, while France and New Zealand will also prepare with that in mind for the quarter-finals.
   
3. Their pool of death – of all the pools, pool B is the most likely to result in an upset. Most people would wonder about Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa but Tonga will be exceptionally tough! They have been bolstered by many ex-Wallabies and ex-All Blacks. 
   

The odds are stacked against Ireland and one misstep can be the end of their World Cup dream. 

If they stick to their guns, they will be exceptionally tough to beat. If they fumble, they might get knocked out.

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What will cause the French team to lose the World Cup? There are a few things standing in their way…

They really have one of the best squads in the world and they have been dominating world rugby for the past two years. 

They are dominant in their phase play and exciting and unpredictable on the attack. 

Their biggest issue is that they haven’t been tested. 

Winning a test is one thing. Winning the 6 Nations is more impressive but their only real competition there has been Ireland. 

The World Cup is different. You are up against squads that have been planning and practicing for a couple of months to present their nations at the global showpiece. 

In their group, their only real competition will be the All Blacks and Italy will be a longshot. 

They will have a tough game against the All Blacks and regardless of whether they finish 1st or 2nd, things won’t get easier when they get to the quarter-finals. 

In the quarter-finals, they will likely face either South Africa or Ireland. If they get past one of those two, they will likely face Argentina, Australia, or England in the semi-finals. The final would likely be another game against one of the other top 3 teams in the world, depending on how the results go. So they will face either South Africa, Ireland, or the All Blacks at the final hurdle. 

So if they get out of their group, they have several mountains to climb. 

They have also only made it to the final once but lost to the All Blacks. 

With no experience of what it takes to win a World Cup and a ridiculously difficult path to the final, there are a couple of valid reasons why they won’t win the World Cup.

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Can England win a World Cup? They have a small chance but have an easy road to the semis.

They are in the same group D as Argentina with Japan the only potential hurdle in the group. In the quarter-finals, they will likely face either Australia or Wales.

Their first real test will therefore likely only come in the semis. 

Few teams have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as successfully as England in the past 18 months but it would be stupid to rule them out. 

They only won 7/17 games in this time with a draw against the All Blacks probably being their best result. 

They are building up aggressively to the World Cup and still boast a lot of the same personnel that took them to the 2019 World Cup final. 

If they become a cohesive team by then, there might be some fireworks. 

That is however a big if.

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Will Argentina win the World Cup? Not likely but they have one of the easiest paths to the semis.

Will they be competitive, yes. They always are. 

Their unpredictability is one of the major factors that can turn them into match-winners on any given day. 

They should go through the group stage with England, except if Japan has other plans but from there, it is simply 2 knock-out games to get to the final. 

Their quarter-final partner will be one of the not-so-strong teams in Pool C and they should make it through to the semi-finals. 

They can beat the top teams in the world on any given day and picked up All Blacks, Australia, Scotland and England wins over the past 18 months. 

The majority of their team plays professionally in France, the rest play in the UK with a couple at random other clubs around the world. So they know the conditions. 

With Julian Montoya, Matias Moroni, Pablo Matera, Marcos Kremer, and Emiliano Bofelli, there has enough star power. 

Will they fire when it is needed in the semi-finals? We’ll see.