Rugby World Cup Pools

Pools - Rugby World Cup For the 2011 Rugby World Cup the IRB introduced a new strategy for determining the composition for the four pools at the tournament.

Previously the top four teams at the previous Rugby World Cup were each allocated a separate group. However, for the 2011 Rugby World Cup the IRB rankings as of the 1st of December 2008 were used to determine the composition of the four pools.

2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	BP	Pts
New Zealand	4	4	0	0	240	49	36	6	4	20
France	4	2	0	2	124	96	13	9	3	11
Tonga	4	2	0	2	80	98	7	13	1	9
Canada	4	1	1	2	82	168	9	20	0	6
Japan	4	0	1	3	69	184	8	25	0	2

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World Cup - World Cup Group A Winner -
France	95	8

New Zealand takes top spot in Pool A for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The composition of the group is great news for the Kiwis as they are virtually assured of reaching the knockout rounds, and will be spared another potentially disastrous knockout-round encounter with France.

The French won’t mind the draw either, knowing that they have the beating of New Zealand, and bar an unlikely loss against Tonga, will progress to the quarterfinals. Tonga is considered to be an outsider to make it through to the knockout rounds, and hence will target the match against France as a must-win fixture.

2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	BP	Pts
England	4	4	0	0	137	34	18	1	2	18
Argentina	4	3	0	1	90	40	10	3	2	14
Scotland	4	2	0	2	73	59	4	4	3	11
Georgia	4	1	0	3	48	90	3	9	0	4
Romania	4	0	0	4	44	169	3	21	0	0

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World Cup - World Cup Group B Winner -
England	1/20	1/20	1/10	1/33	1/25	1/20	1/33	1/25	1/33
Argentina	9	8	13/2	10	8	9	9	8	9
Scotland	33	40	17/2	28	33	33	33	25	50
Georgia	1500	-	-	-	-	1500	-	-	-
Romania	1500	-	-	-	-	1500	-	-	-

Argentina’s excellent performance at the 2007 Rugby World Cup has earned it the top seed in Pool B, the 2011 Rugby World Cup’s ‘pool of death’. Whilst England will fancy its chances of progressing to the knockout rounds of the tournament, nothing is a given in this pool, with each of the top 3 teams capable of beating the other on its day.

2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	BP	Pts
Ireland	4	4	0	0	135	34	15	3	1	17
Australia	4	3	0	1	173	48	25	4	3	15
Italy	4	2	0	2	92	95	13	11	2	10
USA	4	1	0	3	38	122	4	18	0	4
Russia	4	0	0	4	57	196	8	29	1	1

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World Cup - World Cup Group C Winner -
Ireland	1/8	1/8	1/33	1/8	1/12	1/17
Australia	5	11/2	9/2	5	6	7
Italy	50	50	71	50	-	99
Russia	1000	-	-	1000	-	-
USA	1000	-	-	1000	-	-

Pool C has a competitive look about it, and whilst Ireland and Australia will be favourites to advance, much will depend on the progress Italy makes under Nick Mallet in the run-up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Australia should come out on top in this pool, however, the Irish are overdue a big performance at the Rugby World Cup and 2011 could be their year.

2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	BP	Pts
South Africa	4	4	0	0	166	24	21	2	2	18
Wales	4	3	0	1	180	34	23	4	3	15
Samoa	4	2	0	2	91	49	10	5	2	10
Fiji	4	1	0	3	59	167	7	19	1	5
Namibia	4	0	0	4	44	266	5	36	0	0

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World Cup - World Cup Group D Winner -
South Africa	1/33	1/33	1/50	1/33	1/33	1/50	1/33
Wales	14	12	16	14	14	14	14
Samoa	25	25	9	25	25	25	25
Fiji	1000	-	-	-	1000	-	-
Namibia	5000	-	-	-	5000	-	-

Pool D is another tough pool, with both Fiji and Samoa capable of pushing Wales and South Africa all the way. The Springboks must be favourites to finish at the summit of Pool D, whilst Wales will dread playing Samoa and Fiji, both of whom have inflicted defeats on the Welsh at previous Rugby World Cups.