chickenfeet

The official IRB rankings still have Australia in the top 3 but that doesn't seem to make any sense at all. A team that concedes penalty tries because of its lousy scrum and which even resorted to a fake injury to force uncontested scrums against England isn't a contender. Mind you, if one put the Australian backs behind the English scrum one would have a potential world beater!

So what should the rankings look like? Clearly New Zealand are well on top. England gave them a run for their money but across all fifteen positions they outpoint any other side. They will be the team to beat in 2007. The next tier would appear to be England, France and South Africa. Of these, England has the most potential because it so obviously is not the finished article. If England can develop some creativity in the midfield they will be awesome. Let's hope Robinson doesn't make the mistake of thinking that powering to a 6N win is good enough.

Next, I'd place Australia, Wales and Argentina. Wales and Argentina are capable of upsetting a top team on their day but neither has the depth to be a consistent threat. Australia are a pretty good team with top notch backs but their front row is absolutely pathetic. If they can't fix that they are in deep trouble.

After those seven it hardly matters. Ireland are thoroughly pedestrian. They have about as much flair and pace as a cart horse. Scotland, Italy, Fiji, Tonga etc are gutsy but so lacking in depth as to be irrelevant.

My money is on the All Blacks for 2007 but I think England are the team most likely to prove me wrong.