Why a Wallabies great thinks the All Blacks are RWC 'favourites'
Australian rugby great Tim Horan believes the All Blacks are “still the favourites to win” next year’s World Cup in France, even though they’re currently ranked third in the world.
While the All Blacks had a mixed campaign this year, which included historic losses at home against both Ireland and Argentina, they began to hit their stride towards the backend of the season.
After losing against Los Pumas in Christchurch, the men in black went on a seven Test unbeaten run to finish their campaign – which included a dramatic draw with England at Twickenham.
But with the World Cup almost nine months away, the All Blacks’ greatest challenge awaits them in France next season.
The All Blacks are always under pressure to perform, but for a rugby mad nation like New Zealand, the sports biggest event simply means more.
As the attention of the rugby world begins to shift towards next year’s World Cup, Wallabies legend Tim Horan has explained why he thinks the All Blacks are “the team to beat.”
“I still think, and I said this a couple of weeks ago, the All Blacks in my opinion are still the favourites to win the World Cup,” Horan told Martin Devlin on The Platform earlier this week.
“Yes you’ve got Ireland (who are) number one in the world, yes you’ve got France who are going to be very hard to beat in their home World Cup.
“That first Test match for the All Blacks against France will be incredible to watch that.
“I still think the All Blacks, when they get a few players back from injury, got very good depth and understand how to play the game. I just think the All Blacks in my opinion are the team to beat in the World Cup.”
The All Blacks do face an almighty challenge at the World Cup though, having been drawn in Pool A along with hosts France.
France, who are ranked second in the world, won all of their Test matches in 2022 and are widely believed to be among the favourites for the sports ultimate prize.
As these two traditional rugby rivals go head-to-head in search of World Cup glory, they’ll likely have to play either Ireland or South Africa in the quarterfinals.
World No. 1 Ireland have never made it past that stage of the tournament, while the Springboks are of course the reigning world champions.
“At the moment with the way the seedings are you’d think (one of those four teams would win it), but two of them are going to get knocked out,” Horan added.
“You look at the way England played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, they had that one massive match against the All Blacks in the semi-final to put them into the final.
“Of course the Wallabies in the pool will end up finishing one or two in the pool, and end up playing Argentina or England in the quarterfinals.
“It’s a really competitive World Cup. There’s still a lot of rugby to be played between now and then and there’s going to be some injuries to some key players and that might hurt some teams.”
The Autumn Nations Series has proved to rugby fans around the world that the sport is simply more competitive that it ever has been before.
Georgia recorded a famous win over Wales in Cardiff last month, Italy beat the Wallabies for the first time ever, and Argentina ended a lengthy drought at Twickenham against England.
As Horan said, there are “probably seven or eight teams” capable of winning big Test matches on their day.
“I think you could probably pick seven or eight teams at the moment, even Argentina, they can upset someone, Japan might upset someone in their pool.
“I think Scotland could beat Ireland in their pool the way they’ve been playing.
“The hard thing on the draw is the top four teams at the moment in the world, Ireland, France, the All Blacks and the Springboks, are of course all on one side of the draw.
“Two of those teams won’t make a semi-final. It’s going to be probably the most competitive World Cup that we’ve seen for a long time.”
Comments on RugbyPass
One that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
110 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
1 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
110 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
3 Go to commentsWell one thing about World Cup knock out rounds and Ireland is very clear: they won’t be getting ahead of themselves in ‘27! Because making it beyond the QF is well and truly ‘IN THEIR HEADS’ now…😉
110 Go to commentsHas this guy been dope tested? Sounds like a case of “roid rage”.
1 Go to comments