I think in the past the All Blacks have definitely been the best team but that doesn't mean the World Cup was ever their right. In 2015 the All Blacks will have to be favourites for the World Cup. They probably will have say a 40% chance of winning the tournament. What that means is that they have a greater chance of winning it than any other team but it is more likely that someone else wins it than the All Blacks. The All Blacks can actually not win a World Cup by not choking like in 2003 where they were outplayed by the better team. 1999 was the biggest choke because they lead by so much. 2007 was quite bad too how they couldn't nor did they try to kick a drop goal but there were other factors involved.
Technically yes it was opened up in 1995 but I pretty much see the beginning of the professional era as being the start of the 1990s and as reflecting the careers of the proper professional players.
My sort of view of the history of rugby combines the 5 point try changeover and professionalism as being the real sort of products of the modern game. To a lesser extent I include the first World Cup as being the modern game but I tend to just consider it the harbringer of it and the game as we see it today as beginning in the 1990s and actually properly coming into being during the 1995 world cup.
And these are the stats for my own view of the modern game http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsgur...=8;template=results;type=team;view=opposition
Huh. Wobblies have a much better record versus NZ than yer Yarps. Wouldn't have guessed it. NZ are definitely the team against which others measure themselves tho. The first time I really believed we were a chance for 2003 was when we beat them down there.
good stats athlai. The winning record of new zealand vs sa looked too high here are the all time stats and it comes back to 59% http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsgur...=8;template=results;type=team;view=opposition
Wouldn't that be a 1990s hangover? Australia were pretty much the premier team when I was growing up.
Yeah, looks that way. NZ v Oz in the 90s Early & late 90s especially; Wobblies won 5/6 from 91-92 & then 4/5 from 98-99. Obvz we had WCs in 91 & 99 which they won, so yer crims were definitely peaking at the right times too, because NZ still hold a winning record in the decade.
Group A looks tougher every time I look. Turns out the 4th team in there will be Fiji, Goneva and all, who would probably challenge for 2nd place in group B or C. Japan have pretty much qualified btw, they only have to win the Asian 5 Nations. It's a competition in which they've won 24 matches out of 24 so far (all bonus point wins) and last year they scored 300 points and conceded 8 in the four games.
And yet Ireland can't play Bangladesh in a cricket Test because it'd be apparently be too one-sided. That's just so pointless in general though. Surely they should be removed from that level and form a competition with someone else; Canada and USA perhaps?