Rugby World Cup Team Strengths and Weakness

Stev_o

Had the thought of this the other day since at the moment the only rugby on is off future RWC opponents.

Here's the idea, each RWC participant team will be listed. Post your own thoughts of what their strength or weakness is (preferably in bullet point form) and we ll add them all up on the first post as a sort of preview of each team.

To avoid the troubles of bickering Ireland will NOT be included to this list. If this catches on maybe make a separate thread about our own strengths and weaknesses.

Canada

Strengths
.Good Backline Players
.Very good openside
.Can surprise teams for 40 minutes.
Weaknesses
.Their national anthem is terrible
.Lack a 80 minute game
.Lack basic skills

France

Strengths

.Good RWC history
.Unpredictable ]
.Once in the flow very hard to stop

Weaknesses
.Awful coach with wild selection policies
.Form inconsistent
.Possible injuries to key players


Japan

Strengths

Weaknesses


New Zealand

Strengths

.Possibly best back-row in the world
.Best Out-half in the world
.Home advantage
.Veterans in key positions

Weaknesses
.Pressure of expectations and the monkey of the WC
.lack of depth at Half Back
.Key players have spent the season injured
.

Tonga

Strengths

Weaknesses




Argentina

Strengths
.Never beaten by much
.Dogged as always

Weaknesses
.Frustration
.Discipline


England

Strengths

.strong front-five
.dangerous back-three

Weaknesses

.Midfield
.experience of half-backs


Georgia

Strengths

Weaknesses


Romania/B]

Strengths

Weaknesses


Scotland[

Strengths

Weaknesses


Australia

Strengths

.Dangerous Backline on the break
.Pocock gives them a edge at the breakdown


Weaknesses

.Scrum. Inexperienced Props
.Injuries
.Inside centre.
.Lack a go to guy in tough situations.
.Young back line


Italy

Strengths
.Coming off a great 6N
.Players exposed to better rugby this season
.Parisse aka GOD

Weaknesses
.RWC comes 2 years too early for them

Russia

Strengths

Weaknesses


USA

Strengths

Weaknesses



Fiji

Strengths

Weaknesses


Nambia

Strengths

Weaknesses


South Africa

Strengths

Weaknesses


Samoa

Strengths

Weaknesses


Wales

Strengths

Weaknesses

jolley123

England
Weaknesses
.Midfield
.experience of half-backs

Strengths
.strong front-five
.dangerous back-three

Australia
Weaknesses
.Scrum
.Injuries
.Inside centre

Strengths
.world class backs
.Pocock

New Zealand
Weaknesses
.Pressure of expectations and the monkey of the WC

Strengths
.Possibly best back-row in the world
.Best Out-half in the world
.Home advantage

France
Weaknesses
.Lievremont
.Form inconsistent
.Possible injuries(Servat,Domingo)

Strengths
.Scrum
.Seem to play well on NZ soil



.....K bored now, continue later.

roycon

New Zealand weaknesses: scrum relies on a huge hit and not much of a drive after. this is ok in attack,getting quick ball to the scrum half or quick ball for kieran read off the back but they could be vulnerable in defence on the other teams pput in when they can hold the ball at the back for as long as they want. when one of there starting props starts getting tired there isnt much there. France or England or South Africa could really punish them in this area.
graem henry has admitted the only new zealand player playing abroad who would get back into the squad and team is carl hayman.

Just some that nobody else would do

Canada
Strengths
Weaknesses

• Canada

Argentina
Strengths

• Never beaten by much
• Dogged as always

Weaknesses

• Frustration
• Discipline

Scotland
Strengths

• Richie Gray

Weaknesses

• The other 14

Italy
Strengths

• Coming off a great 6N
• Players exposed to better rugby this season
• Parisse aka GOD

Weaknesses

• RWC comes 2 years too early for them

sock puppet

Don't think the Aussie scrum is a weakness as far as we're concerned really.

CatFromHue

we dont know too much about how the tri nations team will perform until after the tri nations.

you could do a good strength/weakness test on the 6 nations teams.

ambid

Stev_o wrote: »

Canada...
Weaknesses
.Their national anthem is terrible

Deleted User wrote: »

Scotland
Strengths

• Richie Gray

Weaknesses

• The other 14

Two of the funniest things I've ever read on the boards! Brilliant!

Teferi

Deleted User wrote: »

Just some that nobody else would do

Canada
Strengths
Weaknesses

• Canada

Canada are a best of the rest team. They're in a hard enough group, having to face New Zealand and France. If they had softer group they could easily upset a top tier team.

jolley123

Teferi wrote: »

Canada are a best of the rest team. They're in a hard enough group, having to face New Zealand and France. If they had softer group they could easily upset a top tier team.

No way could they beat a top tier team. No chance.

Teferi

jolley123 wrote: »

No way could they beat a top tier team. No chance.

If a team like Italy or Scotland had a bad day Canada could definitely beat them. Just recently they beat Italy A and a year ago they beat France A.

jolley123

Teferi wrote: »

If a team like Italy or Scotland had a bad day Canada could definitely beat them. Just recently they beat Italy A and a year ago they beat France A.

It would have to be a shocking day. I'd put my money on Japan to beat Canada.

Morf

sock puppet wrote: »

Don't think the Aussie scrum is a weakness as far as we're concerned really.

Are you serious?

Could you suggest why the Aussie front row/scrum will be better in September that the one England destroyed last June? Or was poor in last year's Tri Nations?

Stev_o

Teferi wrote: »

If a team like Italy or Scotland had a bad day Canada could definitely beat them. Just recently they beat Italy A and a year ago they beat France A.

Canada are a 40 minute team. Very brave and their brand of rugby is actually really good. Having watched the CC this year they have a few really good players to fall back on just a pity they v such a hard group. Sure they had Wales on the ropes for 40 minutes in 2007!

sock puppet

Morf wrote: »

Are you serious?

Could you suggest why the Aussie front row/scrum will be better in September that the one England destroyed last June? Or was poor in last year's Tri Nations?

I don't see why England being better than them has any relevance. Oh and they've replaced their entire front row since then. Do you think that could have a small effect maybe?

Morf

sock puppet wrote: »

I don't see why England being better than them has any relevance. Oh and they've replaced their entire front row since then. Do you think that could have a small effect maybe?

I'm not sure where you imagine this Australian front row strength is coming from. 3 Aussie teams are dire this year. The Waratahs aren't great. The Reds front row is 22/23.

Slipper looked absolutely awful when he played tests last year and i firmly believe he'll struggle again.

Who are this fantastic new front row? I certainly haven't seen them in Super 15.

sock puppet

Morf wrote: »

I'm not sure where you imagine this Australian front row strength is coming from. 3 Aussie teams are dire this year. The Waratahs aren't great. The Reds front row is 22/23.

Slipper looked absolutely awful when he played tests last year and i firmly believe he'll struggle again.

Who are this fantastic new front row? I certainly haven't seen them in Super 15.

Bar the Crusaders game the Waratahs scrum has been quite good. Don't know which games you watched Slipper in but the in the games where he played tighthead the scrums held up pretty well and he was far better than the props he replaced. Robinson is a proven test performer but showed some mixed form after coming back from injury last year.

The likes of France etc will be looking to target them but I'd be pretty confident they'll hold up well against the others.

Wylie Luke

Samoa

Strenghts:
Ray Ofisa!