Rugby World Cup Warm Up Matches

The major teams of the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.

South Africa have had a terrible Tri Nations as they look to defend there trophy in the 2011 world cup in New Zealand. There results go like this:

39-20 defeat to Australia in Sydney
40-7 defeat to New Zealand in Wellington
9-14 defeat to Australia in Durban
18-5 victory against New Zealand

They had only 1 victory and that was a weakened New Zealand side as they had reached the final of the competition. On this form South Africa will not be retaining the trophy.

New Zealand have had a mixed time of it recently in the tri nations. There results pan out like this

40-7 victory against South Africa in Wellington
30-14 victory against Australia in Auckland
18-5 loss against South Africa in Port Elizabeth
25-20 loss to Australia in Brisbane

As the hosts the most pressure is on New Zealand to win. Seen as the best team to have only won 1 World Cup is seen as a disappointment in a Rugby mad country. The key is how they deal with the pressure of being at home and knowing that the country expects to win. Even though these results have been a good work out the key is if they hit top form they will be hard for any nation to beat.

Australia have had a good work out in this tri nations even though not all results went there way. There results:

39-20 victory against South Africa in Sydney
30-14 loss to New Zealand in Auckland
9-14 victory against South Africa in Durban
25-20 victory against New Zealand in Brisbane

They also had a match before the the tri nations against Samoa losing surprisingly 32-23 in Sydney. Many people tip them as second favourites. If New Zealand chock under the pressure its well thought that Australia could take the title. They will have great support as being the neighbour country and also a lot of pressure on them to preform.

England had a solid world cup warm up matches. There results were

23-19 victory against Wales in Twickenham
19-9 loss against Wales in the Millennium Stadium
9-20 victory against Ireland in Dublin

Though they won 2 matches the win against Wales at Twickenham was expected to be a bit bigger than 4 points. They were good in patches and in other times they were poor. The loss to Wales at the Millennium was a much more scrappy loss where both teams made a number of mistakes. The win in Dublin was a good victory but Ireland with a huge loss of confidence coming into this match. For many people England are a team on the up however they feel this is a young team and it has come a 1 year-2 years to early for them. But saying that they have had great success in the last 2 world cups getting to the final so with England you cannot ever rule them out.

France probably the best nation to never have won the Rugby world cup had a good preparation. There results go as follows:

19-12 victory against Ireland in Paris
22-26 victory against Ireland in Dublin

They had 2 good moral boosting wins. But winning the world cup has never happened. They have been to 2 world cups but winning this one will be tough as they have not had the best of years. The 6 nations they were poor but good victories against Ireland.

Ireland have had the worst preparation they could have before the world cup

10-6 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield
19-12 loss to France in Paris
22-26 loss to France in Dublin
9-20 loss to England in Dublin

This is the last chance for many of these Irish legends in the team. They have had the same team for many years which has been successful all around the world playing in the 6 nations or the internationals in home or away but in the world cup they have under achieved to there standards. But on this form they might not get too far.

Scotland preparation has been very good and solid. Results of Scotland are

10-6 victory against Ireland at Murrayfield
23-12 victory against Italy at Murrayfield

Scotland have done very well in the last few world cups. The hope is to at least get past the group stages and get to the quarter finals. If they play there best then maybe a semi-final could be up for grabs. Winning will probably be a step too far and as they are in England's group there is extra incentive to try and knock them out.

Wales have had a ok warm up period. But some of there players are not quite in the right shape. There results are

23-19 loss to England at Twickenham
19-9 victory to Wales at Millennium Stadium
18-13 victory to Wales at Millennium Stadium

Teams to look out for who can do a shock or 2 and might make a surprise run. Argentina who were the surprise package of last world cup when they finished 3rd. They beat the hosts in the first game and the hosts again in the 3rd place play off. For them its a ageing team so this might be there last shot.

Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. 3 very physical sides who love to run with the ball. On there day they can beat the best as Samoa showed when they played Australia in Australia. They are whole hearted Rugby lovers and while exploit any weakness a nation would have.

The other team to look out for is Italy. Over the last 4 years they have made significant improvements against the major nations. They have beaten Wales, Scotland, Ireland and there biggest victory last years six nations against France. In there warm ups they have beaten teams like Samoa and given Scotland a good go for there money so a shock or two from them could be on the cards. The competition starts on the 9th of September and goes right through to the 23rd of October when the final will take place in Auckland at Eden Park with Capacity for this world cup of 60 thousands in the ground.