Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Countdown to the Rugby World Cup

Suffice it to say that one should not turn to ESPN for rugby coverage. Nonetheless this preview should at least give Americans some sense of the favorites heading into this year's World Cup in France. The headline, "All Blacks, Les Bleus and Wallabies are the favorites" is a little misleading. New Zealand, France, and Australia are the top three teams in the world according to the International Rugby Board rankings, (with Australia ranked second, France, the hosts, third) but by most serious reckonings, number-four-rated South Africa is considered New Zealand's most serious threat.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I believe that some of your text may have been lost during the posting, as there was no mention of the defending champions - ENGLAND. At this World Cup the English side has adopted for mascot, a cardboard cut-out of Australian prime minister John Howard. This is in recognition of his warmth and good humor shown at the presentation ceremony in 2003 after England roundly defeated Australia.