It will be very interesting to watch all the matches of Group A. It is not to be expected that there will be major surprises, but everything is possible in modern sports. We saw that in 2015 Japan defeated South Africa in the group stage, so we can hope that another of the underdogs will beat the big favorites. In any case, New Zealand and France are the main favorites and if one of them does not make it to the quarter finals, it will be a big surprise. In the rest of the text, we have analyzed all the teams within the group A.
New Zealand
Number of tournaments: 9
Best result: 1st place (1987, 2011 and 2015)
Head Coach: Ian Foster
Captain: Sam Cane
Nickname: All Blacks
The most successful national team in the world when looking at historical performance. They are the team that is the favorite in every tournament. They are a team that has had perhaps the strongest teams in rugby history in several tournaments, such as the 2015 team . The All Blacks have been World Champions three times in their history. We’ll just say that their worst ranking at the World Cups is elimination in the ¼ finals. And that happened to them only in 2007 . In all other 8 tournaments, they were at least in the ½ finals. If we look at the fact that they have never been in a worse position than 5th in the World Ranking . A truly amazing string of results.
Rugby is definitely the number 1 sport in New Zealand, and we had the opportunity to see that at the 2011 World Cup when the whole country was about rugby. New Zealanders live rugby. They are also among the favorites this year, although they received a serious slap in the face in the Test match against South Africa last Friday as they lost 35-7. Believe it or not, it was the biggest defeat in history that they experienced. The atmosphere is definitely shaken, but it should be kept in mind that it is a test match and that the matches in the tournament will be the real ones.
The best players in the world play in all positions. By the way, New Zealand has a tradition that only players who play for domestic clubs at that moment can perform for the All Blacks. However, romanticism in professional sports still exists at a high level. When you play against the All Blacks, danger looms from all sides. You wouldn’t really like to find yourself up against a huge and experienced second line where Retallick and Whitelock are. At the top is the exceptional Ardi Savea, who is fantastic on both sides of the pitch. The lineup is filled with talented players, from the Barrett brothers to Jordan, McKenzie and Mo’unga.
Expectations │ In the first game of the tournament, New Zealand will play a decisive derby match in the fight for first place in the group. We don’t think the other teams will cause too much trouble for the All Blacks. Someone might say that it is not very good to decide immediately after the first round who will be in the first place and who will be in the second place, but it is not bad for the teams who will have more time to prepare for the ¼ final matches.
France
Number of tournaments: 9
Best result: Finals (1987, 1999 and 2011)
Head Coach: Fabien Galthié
Captain: Antoine Dupont
Nickname: Les Bleus
France is a world rugby powerhouse, among the favorites for the upcoming World Cup. Maybe it’s a good thing that they are in the group with New Zealand, because in the playoffs, their path to the final will be separated. The French will have enormous support from the trinity and in general among the people. We can safely say that they finally have a very good and quality team that they have been building for years. Every position has players who are among the best in the world. When you combine that with the home ground and the huge support, we can hope that it will go all the way.
France participated in all World Cups. France even played in the Grand Final three times, several times in the 1/2 finals. But in the professional era, they were not among the top three favorites to win the title of World Champion. Now finally comes the collection of dividends of serious and thorough work in the younger categories, where quality emerges from the huge base of players every year. When we just look at the fact that they have won the last three U20 World Championships, with the fact that 2020, 2021 and 2022 were not played, where they would certainly have added a few more trophies to the showcases, we come to a serious continuity of quality.
The French experienced a lot of bad luck in the preparatory matches because the starting opener Roman Ntamak was seriously injured. Unfortunately, he will miss the World Cup because there will not be enough time to recover. But the French have a large number of quality solutions, so they will replace the opening position without any major problems. They have Dupont in their ranks, who was the player of the year in 2021. In the line next to him will be the excellent shooter Ramos, who covers the position of the fullback. Ficou and Danti are fantastic in the centers, while Penaud is very strong and fast on the wing. In the scrum, the French have one of the best third lines in the world dominated by Aldarit, Jelonch, Cross and Olivion. In the first and second lines, they have fantastic players like Willemse, Woki, Flament, Antonio, Marchad, Bailey and others.
Expectations │ Fight for first place in the group. We expect a big fight with New Zealand. What’s more, this match will be played at the opening of the competition, so we will know immediately after the first day of the competition who will win the group. What a spectacular World Cup opener it will be. With the other teams, we believe that the French will not have too many problems.
France has been preparing for this competition for years. Now is the time to show value on the field.
Italy
Number of tournaments: 9
Best result Group stage
Head Coach: Kieran Crowley
Captain: Michele Lamaro
Nickname: Gli Azzurri
Italy definitely belongs to the very top of the world rugby, but over the years they have never managed to break through the ice and finally do something big in the World Cups as well as in the 6 Nations Cup. However, the Italians have long since crossed the barrier in the younger categories, where they achieve excellent results. We must not forget the teams that play in the URC league with teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and South Africa. They also have a TOP 10 league that is quite strong. They have a very large player base from which they can draw a large number of young talents.
Italy has participated in every World Cup so far. They never made it past the group stage. Somehow they never seem to have had much luck in the draw, like now, where they find themselves in a group with two favorites not to win the group, but to win the entire tournament. Maybe Italy’s destiny is to be third in the group and win direct qualification to the next World Cup. But Italy is no longer the team it once was. From year to year, they improve quite a bit and thus raise expectations. It would be quite unrealistic to expect them to be able to get involved in the fight for a place in the quarter-finals, but don’t forget that France narrowly beat them in their 6 Nations Cup opener this season, 29-24. Azzuri needed 13 minutes for a sensation.
A large number of Italian players play in the best leagues in the world and play important roles in their teams. The vast majority of players play for Zebre and Benetton, but a lot of players play in France and England. It will be especially interesting to see off a scrum that has shown that it can deal equally with the best scrums in the world. Here we are thinking above all of Fiscketti, captain Lamaro, Negri and the ever-improving Ruzza. In the line, they have two excellent kickers, Garabizi and Alan, where one of them can often retreat to the fullback. The hit of the last 6 Nations tournament Capuzzo has recovered and is ready to continue with great games. Also, the somewhat forgotten Monty Ioane, who was fantastic last year and can be a huge threat on the wing, has also recovered from injury.
Expectations │ We’ll be blunt and say that we expect Italy to finish third in the group again. New Zealand and France are simply better teams and Italy can hardly cope with the big favourites. But he will definitely try to do everything to reduce the difference. It is absolutely to be expected that the Azzurri will be better than Namibia and Uruguay. The Italians know this very well and are already making a team for the next World Cup 2027, which can be guessed from the composition, because only 5 players are over 30 years old.
Uruguay
Number of tournaments: 4
Best result Group stage
Head Coach: Esteban Meneses
Captain: Andrés Vilaseca
Nickname: Los Teros
Uruguay has a huge tradition in rugby. She started playing Test matches among the First Nations. The history of rugby is quite interesting, where in the middle of the 19th century played a big role. However, there is disagreement as to who played the first match. It is undeniable that British expatriates brought the first rugby, but the members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers from Ireland definitely popularized the sport. Rugby culture was established in Uruguay quite early, which is a real rarity if we exclude the British Isles.
So far, Uruguay has participated in four World Cups. The tournament in France will be the fifth in total for the popular Los Toros. As a Tier 2/3 nation, the Uruguayans haven’t had much success, they’ve never made it past the group stage so far. They have recorded three World Cup victories in history, which is not a bad record, if we look at the competition.
Although they do not have a large population, Uruguayans have a fairly developed player base. They have the experience of playing in World Cups, while their younger selections are rated very well in the World Cup. They compensate for the small player base with excellent training and hard work. They are one of the most trained and disciplined teams. They like to play fast and in a high rhythm, that’s why they are so much fun to watch.
They have no stars in their team. Most of the players play in the domestic Championship, especially playing for Peñarol There are several players who play in France in the PROD2 and National 1 leagues. Also, an increasing number of players go to the United States of America where they play for clubs in the MLR league.
Expectations │ The Uruguayans are definitely far below France and New Zealand, where we should not expect a better result. It will be a very interesting match against Italy, where the Uruguayans will look for an opportunity to get even closer to them, but we shouldn’t expect a big surprise. The match that will be the most interesting is definitely the match against Namibia, which will decide which team will end up fourth.
Namibia
Number of tournaments: 6
Best result Group stage
Head Coach: Allister Coetzee
Captain: Johan Deysel
Nickname: Welwitschias
Namibia is an offshoot of South Africa’s school of rugby. To be honest, when we look at the history of the country, it also seems logical. Namely, most of today’s Namibia was a German colony from the 19th century . After the Great War, the territory was conquered and occupied by the Union of South Africa, which received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer the territory. Later, the successor to the League of Nations, the United Nations, revoked the mandate of South Africa, where they demanded the withdrawal of troops. However, only in 1988 South Africa agreed to withdraw its army, and in 1990 Namibia declared independence. Rugby was brought to Namibia by soldiers from South Africa in 1916 and since then, rugby has been the number 1 sport in the country. Before independence, Namibia participated in South Africa’s competition system, where it competed under the name South West Africa in the Currie Cup, one of the oldest competitions in the world.
Namibia failed to fill her spot in qualification for the 1991 World Cup. Ali has therefore been a regular participant in the World Cup since 1999 until today. They have never managed to do anything in competitions, even more so, they have not recorded a single victory. When we look at the demographics of a country with just over 2 million inhabitants, without a quality domestic competition, we cannot expect anything more than that.
Of the current players, there aren’t too many notable ones. Some of them play in the highest ranks of the strongest leagues in the world. But no one is the master of the game. They are mostly one of the better players in the domestic competition or like the captain Dysel who plays in the French Colomiers in the ProD2 league. They practice a similar style of play to South Africa, are very strong in contact and prefer to play defensively with quick counter-attacks.
Expectations │ In a very strong group, not too much can be expected from Namibia. What is certain is that New Zealand, France and Italy will celebrate convincingly, it would be a big surprise if the opposite happened. However, we can expect a good game against Uruguay, because they are teams that play at a similar level, and we believe that it will be an ideal opportunity for the Namibians to achieve victory. Namibia is ranked 21st in the World Rugby Federation ranking while Uruguay is on 17th. place. Our final prediction is that this match will decide who will be 4th and 5th at the end of group stage.
Verdict - Final standings
- France
- New Zealand
- Italy
- Uruguay
- Namibia
