ashley bach
Cricketer Of The Year
Make no bones about it but Argentina are a powerful force. They can't win the cup, but they could certainly beat any team on their day.I guess the one question is what have NZ beaten? SA look like they're saving themselves for the World Cup, Australia are clearly rubbish and I'm not sure how good Argentina are. They were in 'crisis' because they'd just been well beaten by Ireland. I don't think they've played anyone of that calibre since and I suspect the French are going to be even better too.
Argentina are an intriguing E/W bet. I'm still not sure how good they are, but I can definitely see them making the semi finals. Whilst they wouldn't be favourites in that game, it'll be interesting to see what the Big 4 (plus a decent Scotland side) from Pools A & B have left having had to play so much hard rugby against each other.
Problem for them though is maintaining the level required to win three big matches in a row. The best example of this is last year when they beat
the blacks only to lose the next week by 50 points in the rematch.
IMO there are only three teams that can win the cup. Only NZ and SA have won over the past 20 years so they go without saying.
France it appears have timed their run perfectly and with the home advantage this is their best ever chance to pull it off.
Ireland is the 4th best team and I rate them very highly, but to actually win the dance feels a step too far given their cup record history.