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New Zealand are my firm favorites to win the World Cup this year. They have a well balanced team and an established coaching set up with loads of experience. They are truly a professional squad in everything they do. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a players team book many years ago. There was so much thought that went into this I was stunned. Their team box was next door to our box and they left some memento's behind.
The All Blacks are the most successful team ever having a win ratio of 77.4 % from 580 test matches (1903-2019). That is fairly impressive and they deserve the tag of favorites. I don't think we can read much into the results coming into the tournament as all sides have been experimenting.
For me the one key player is Beaudon Barrett as his attacking flair and pace can break any defence. If he can stay injury free then this team can go all the way. There are some chinks in their armor if you can call them chinks and that is if Barrett doesn't play fly half and they use Richie Mo'unga. I don't rate him in the same class as Barrett even though he is a more reliable goal kicker.
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Why him of all the referees? He will only make a mess of this great game.
Barrett can score you tries but he will spray his kicks at goal so they will most likely play both players in the more important games cutting down their attacking options. If Mo'unga plays against England or South Africa both those teams have a great chance of winning. I will be looking out to see if he is playing plus who is refereeing the game. I honestly hope it isn't the useless Frenchmen as anything can happen then. Just checked and he is in charge can you believe it.
Whatever happens I expect to see them in the semi finals and being knockout it is the team that performs on the day. All I can say is I hope the best team wins and there is no controversy's this time around.