Wales, Pool A

When placed in the same pool as England and Australia you’re never going to be given much a chance by bookies and punters.
However this Welsh side will not go down without a fight and could stir up quite the controversy by preventing either England or Australia from qualifying out of the group stages.
With a backline featuring some modern day greats such as Jamie Roberts, George North, Leigh Halfpenny and prolific try scorer Rhys Webb; partnered with the great mind of Warren Gatland and finally topped off with some brute force in the form of Toby Faletau, Sam Warburton and Richard Hibbard, one cannot help but worry for the other nations of Pool A.

After falling short to overcome the Australians in their November test and more recently England in the 6 Nations opener, the men of the Valleys will look to redeem themselves from their poor form by swapping the sun beds for the training field as September approaches and look to qualify out of the pool at either England or Australia’s expense.

Japan, Pool B

The modern game of Rugby Union is dominated by the scrum. Love or hate it, it holds an integral part to the game. Without a doubt, having a dominant scrum will usually mean you have a dominant team and if there was ever a team to take this fully into account it has to be Japan. In this video it shows how the Cherry Blossoms, hosts of the 2019 World Cup, have gone all out Sumo thanks to the introduction of scrum coach (former France hooker) Marc dal Maso who has brought about this colossal transformation from 2012 to 2013, with some really strange coaching techniques but hey, we’re not questioning it when it yields these kind of results. This will give their upcoming pool opponents (South Africa, Samoa, Scotland and USA) something to think, and worry about.

Japan (a nation with the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world) are not only a threat in the pack but also feature some serious talent from 9-15. For example Scrum half Fumiaki Tanaka has turned heads in Super rugby and in turn has been called up to rugby’s infamous star studded team, The Barbarians.

Yoshikazu Fujita, now signed for The Crusaders is another player to watch out for and at the mere age of 21, this winger shows some hope for the future of Japanese rugby.
Having competed in all 6 Rugby World Cups, the Blossoms have only ever won a single game (versus Zimbabwe in 1991) however Japan will be looking to end this drought and could impose a massive threat in this year’s RWC. We back them to be serious contenders this year and just continue to grow over the coming years.

Georgia, Pool C

As they blitz their way through the European Nations Cup, the Lelos are constantly turning heads with their relentless attitude and thirst for development. Now standing at 15th in the world rankings (just 1 place shy of Italy) one begins to wonder if their time to join the big boys of Europe is soon approaching so to make that 6 a lucky 7. With a team predominantly playing their club rugby in France (17 of 27) it’s true to say that much of their squad is well used to high standard professional rugby. This experience will come in great use to the Georgians as they look to disrupt the All Blacks, Pumas, Tongans and Namibians in the race to reach the knockout stages.

Backrow Mamuka Gorgodze (aka Gorgodzilla) will definitely be a player to watch out for. Now playing his rugby in Toulon this monster of a man earned 2 Man of the match awards in the 2011 World Cup versus England and Romania and since signing for the infamous French side, his game has surely only just improved. On the other hand his short temper and ill-discipline featured in the video below may just lead to Georgia’s downfall.

Canada, Pool D

The land of big men and bigger beards… Having competed in every RWC since its inception in 1987, the lumberjacks are well aware of the challenge that is at hand. Now with a bigger budget and backroom staff, the Maple Leafs have made such a vast improvement that their ranking of mere 18th in the world does not reflect on the threat that they (and their beards) bring to the rugby pitch. Aided by their new centre of excellence, Canada Rugby have been able to hone in on their players in more detail and will definitely bring a well-rehearsed and organised style of play with them to England come September.

With players making appearances in Europe such as Tyler Ardron (c) (Ospreys), Jebb Sinclair (London Irish), Jamie Cudmore (Clermont) and Connor Braid (Glasgow Warriors), among others. This Canadian side are showing the world of rugby that they are not just aboot (sorry, not sorry) good manners, cutting trees down, flannel shirts and ice hockey but are churning out some fine rugby players which could cause some havoc for their rivals: Ireland, France, Italy and Romania.

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