Hunt for Great Britain is on down under!

Winning the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand is about being the dominant power in Rugby Union for the next four years, and all the more so for the year 2011.

Current Rugby Global Cup standings, after the World Rugby Sevens World Championships, the 6 Nations and the Tri Nations are as follows:

1.       Great Britain 236 pts

2.       New Zealand 224 pts

3.       South Africa 176 pts

with impressive Tri Nations winners Australia (90 pts) trailing fourth-placed Fiji by 10 pts.

 

The hunt for Great Britain (incorporating England, Scotland and Wales) is on.

Assuming battleship GBR comes outside of the first 8 in the World Cup (what are the odds?), then the Kiwis need to finish at least 8^th to run away with the 2011 Rugby Global Cup. The Springboks need 6^th or better, and their narrow pool victory vs Wales stands them in good stead, while Australia must reach at least the final.

 

France, Ireland and Argentina, even if they were to clinch the title, cannot beat GBR but they can surely make it very difficult for them to maintain their current position of supremacy

 Argentina are arguably the only real contention for England and Scotland in their pool group, as demonstrated both by England’s narrow win over the South Americans (only 1 try in the game, and territorial advantage 51% to 49% to Argentina), and by the Scots easy defeat of Georgia.

The Oz in the meantime have steam rolled Italy, and so’s done NZ vs Tonga.

The hunt for the pack leaders is on!