If I’d just written “Well, I’m gonna support the All-Blacks now that Ireland are gone, how’s about you?”, it wouldn’t have made for very interesting reading.

Back in ‘03, I did something similar for the final. Deep down I didn’t want either Australia or England to win, but in the end I went for England, because (a) no Northern Hemishere team had won the World Cup heretofore, (b) I didn’t wasnt Australia to win for the reason I set out in the post above, and (c) an England win would mean that we would have a pop at the World Champions in a regular annual competition. And happily, we were the first to beat them at Twickenham, and never lost to them once during their reign.

“Eight teams remain in the competition – South Africa, England, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Scotland, Argentina and France. From a neighbourly perspective, perhaps I should offer it to England or Scotland, but seeing as both of them are going to be on their way home after next weekend, it’s probably not worth my while. Similarly Fiji, as the plucky underdogs, but again they have no hope of getting past South Africa.”

Just expected a lil’ more post that than “I’m gonna back the overwhelming favourites!”…

But they probably will win. Still – what would the point of the world cup be if there were never any upsets… which was my point on the beauty of these type of events. It’s not “Best-record-over-the-last-4-years”… it’s who’s best on the day. And I love it.

Just don’t get romantic about the lesser-lights then tell me you’re going to go for the All Blacks!

I’m not. I actually stopped short of endorsing Argentina to go all the way. I would like to see them do well, for the sake of the game of rugby in Argentina.

The only team for which I expressed a wish to win the tournament is New Zealand.

Read back over the post again, and you will see that I am being entirely consistent.

But fair’s fair… support who you want.
Just don’t get romantic about the lesser-lights then tell me you’re going to go for the All Blacks!

Felipe hates ROG for his own reasons and viceversa, but he truly respects Ireland and his people as we all Argentines do, even when they call us Argies.
About Pichot and the marketing ploy, you have it wrong for sure.
Agustin was talking about the world rankings, nothing else.
you can see it here:

http://www.irishrugby.ie/8684_9186.php?PHPSESSID=c9b9d3d0cabe94fa904e8cce352cb156

http://worldcup.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,21043,13117_2768084,00.html

It´s all good baby!!!

“We knew that Ireland would give us a tough time physically. I thought we played really well, a totally all-round game. I think the Irish and the Welsh (who both failed to make the quarter-finals) have a lot of soul searching to do.

“The economic ramifications for them will be enormous and they will have to do a lot of restructuring in the next four years.

“I have never held them in high regard, as I always thought they were a marketing ploy. We will not underestimate Scotland, even if we start as favourites.

“We would never allow ourselves to run onto the pitch believing we were superior to another team. It is always vital to believe that we have to give everything to beat a team like Scotland.

“Playing for my team is an absolute pleasure, it’s really special. I don’t talk about statistics or how many times I’ve played as captain. It’s an absolute privilege for me and an unbelievable achievement to be part of something like this.”