This world cup so far has been one of the better ones. The great David Campese has suggested it should be reduced to 16 teams, and while a rethink of the format is definitely warranted, I believe the results, passion and pride of the so called minnows has certainly warranted their inclusion. The only way they can get better is to play the bigger teams and it is pathetic that the only chance they get is at a world cup. That is the bigger issue. I am in favour of 24 teams, 6 pools of 4, and the top 2 go through to a round of 12 where they have 2 pools of 6. A round robin format can be used to have semis, or simply a final, that would reward consistency and have tougher games, whilst the minnows would get a chance to play at least one big team in the early stages. A second tier competition for the teams that finish in the bottom 2 of the inital pools (A plate tournament) could run concurrently to give the minnows something to aspire to and produce closer games. Obviously it would run longer, but the world cup is rugby’s showpiece.

As far as the games go, I stick to my orignial prediction of SA, NZ, and the Wobblies to makes the semis. I am not so sure about France. I think Argentina may get their spot. Regardless SA will make the final on their side of the draw, NZ and the Wobblies to fight out the second final spot. I make NZ a 70% chance to go through, but an upset is possible as evident 4 years ago.

As far as the Boks go this campaign is remarkably similar to 1995. There we came into the tournament and weren’t one of the favourites. There we had a big opening game that gave us the high road to the final. Here we started a tough one with Samoa and by beating England we have earnt the high road this time too. The emergence of John Smit as a strong leader is similar to Pienaar and the calm and composure of the team is testament to this. All it requires now is a “Joel Stransky” to step up and win us the final!