Best Rugby Union Team?

[MrPresident]

Who is currently the best international rugby union team?

 

[Pillager]

England, naturally.

 

[zenga]

I voted for Australia, I'd put them just in front of NZ and England at the moment. I know England have just beaten both but suspect it would be a different story if the games were played in the southern hemisphere. I guess we'll know the real answer at next World Cup.

 

[col]

England if 'currently' means 'this week'. Dont know who will be best come the next world cup.

I think England, Australia, New Zealand and France can all beat each other on a given day.

South Africa seem to be in decline right now

 

[Bob Sock]

I believe the All Blacks have taken more out of the autumn series than anyone, and the top 21 players left at home will now face real competition for places in the team.
England obviously have a great record at Twickenham but an awful one away from there.
Come the world cup I believe the teams to beat will be NZ, Australia and France.
England could do well with a favourable run but I didn't see anything in the last month to suggest that they can beat at least 3 of NZ, Australia, SA and France on good tracks for running rugby.
If England want to compete away from home they must start to tour.

 

[ainwood]

I also don't think that England have what it takes to win a world cup.

If you want a poll with a wider audience, check out this one.

I do think that the gap between the top 5 nations has closed in the last few years, however would still put either NZ or Oz at the top. To get a true reflection of current ability, I think you would need a round-robin tournament with NZ, Aust, SA, France & England a la the tri-nations format, except you play each team twice or three times at home and away.

 

[MCdread]

I vote for New Zealand too. The pack looks great, and more importantly they seem to have a good strenght in depth, which is not the case with other top teams.
England is the best team at Twickenham, but take them away or take 3 or 4 players out, and what do you get? This was the case with New Zealand in the recent tour and they were up to it.
I think that, given the location and the time of the year, the next WC will still be for the southern hemisphere.

 

[Pillager]

I'd agree with Col.

It's hard to say, really. One thing that's true is that there is certainly no equivalent of the Aus. cricket team, which makes any match between Eng/Aus/NZ/SA/France very hard to predict.

 

[KingWilly]

I'd have to agree with Ainwood. England don't have what it atkes to win the World Cup. A 32-31 win over the Aussies at home hardly comes close to what it will be like come the World Cup in Australia.

For mine, Australia are the team to beat (although I might be slightly biased ) with New Zealand and France also up there and England and South Africa sitting behind them.

 

[Pillager]

Well, I'll be putting a fiver on England for the World Cup, but I non plus think that they'll do it. As long as the Frenchies don't, though, I'll be happy.

 

[mordhiem]

France have as much chance of walking away with the trophy as my left toe does.

 

[Groovin']

I still rate New Zealand and Australia as the top teams. I would say NZ but im slightly biased. When it comes down to it, these two teams are the best and favourites and basically equals in recent history. Hopefully it will end up these two in the grand final.

 

[ainwood]

Unfortunately, the way the draw has been done, I think that they can only meet in the semis (unless NZ comes second in its pool, which is unlikely).

 

[Groovin']

Unfortunately, the way the draw has been done, I think that they can only meet in the semis (unless NZ comes second in its pool, which is unlikely).

Damn! Oh well, beating them in the semis would give almost the same amount of satifaction!