[imagesource: Fanny Schertzer]

The latest World Cup prediction does not seem to favour the Boks. But at least, it’s just a prediction thus far.

Former England coach, Clive Woodward expects France to take the win in a close contest with defending champs, South Africa.

This is mainly because he predicts that all four World Cup semi-finalists will be Six Nations teams, AKA the Northern Hemisphere country teams that usually partake in the international men’s rugby competition The Six Nations Championship – typically England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales.

SA Rugby Mag notes how Woodward (writing for The Daily Mail) thinks that the quarter-finals have been rather interesting as northern hemisphere sides have topped all the pools for the first time in tournament history.

After 40 pool matches spanning five weeks, the quarter-final matchups have been determined.

Image: Google

For these games, Woodward emphasises that the top-ranked Ireland, who seem to be playing on a different level compared to their rivals, is expected to beat the All Blacks in the next knock-out round, while he also predicts a victory for Wales over Argentina and England over Fiji, so long as England improves their defensive game.

He reckons that Les Bleus will triumph over the Boks in the next showdown since they are the hosts:

“I think France will win because there is a feeling that, as hosts, they simply have to,” he writes. “I hope they do because it would be great if the northern hemisphere was leading the way.

“I think South Africa are a better team than when they won the last World Cup. They have an amazing side but face a big call at No 10.

“In big World Cup knockout games, the sort of creativity [Manie Libbok] brings can make a big difference, but it still might not be enough to down France.”

In other words, we’re in for a hectic next few games.

In other news, it seems our politicians did drop the ball when it came to amending South Africa’s anti-doping code in Parliament in time to comply with a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) deadline.

The punishment for this is that the Boks won’t be able to play under the SA flag, but that hasn’t deterred the team too much. The Daily Maverick, who has been keeping track of this development, reported that the Springboks are determined to fight despite this little setback.

If there’s one thing SA is good at, it’s fighting in the face of adversity and incompetence. Let’s go Bokke!

[source:sarugbymag]