GHANA – Last week, I promised you a systematic determination of the best all-time Rugby World Cup squad, since it’s start in 1987. I didn’t have time to listen to my RWU constituents, Johnathan Wicklow Barberie, Pyk O’Kallapfer, Kevin Fegan or Declan Yeats, who is not to be confused with Ireland head coach and window-licker Declan Kidney.
Anyway, I borrowed/stole from the March Madness NCAA bracket setup, which you can see below. It includes every team to make the quarterfinal since 1987 and the last 8 incarnations of the British & Irish Lions, to give us the number 64. I didn’t do regional brackets and came up with random names for each of the 4 brackets. The last 4 champions were put in different regions, with the next 3 and the British & Irish Lions. The seeding is based on the following:
Seeds 1-4 & 9-12 : Actual Tournament standing
Seeds 5-8 & 13-16: Points scored in Quarterfinal matches
Note: The difference between 1-4 and 9-12 is chronological, with the more recent team receiving the higher seed.
Here’s the bracket. If you click on image, it is viewable on a larger scale in a separate window:
There were a few upsets along the way – but not many. For me, the most major upset was #6 New Zealand 2007 upsetting #1 South Africa 2007 to take the French O’France Region.
The Final Four became:
Irish New Yorker #1 New Zealand 2011 vs. Contrived Kiwi #1 England 2003
Frenchie O’France #6 New Zealand 2007 vs. West Ghana Bronxite #1 Australia 1999
The Championship game?
Contrived Kiwi #1 England 2003 vs. West Ghana Bronxite #1 Australia 1999
The winner… and Greatest Rugby World Cup Team? The 1999 Wallabies. Micheal Lynagh and co. were just a little more talented offensively, and snatched a tight victory with a 18 – 16 win.
I look forward to your angry comments. In the next two weeks, I will take a look back at my Lions 2013 predictions now that the Six Nations is complete and also my Super 15 predictions. Time will tell whether I’m a rugby Nostradamus or his lesser know cousin – Yostdadumbasse.
