egafd.com

Given the form of the teams involved, few (if any) of the European sides deserve to be there. The home nations have looked pretty bad, and the French have struggled.

Seems to be down to the tri-nations as to who will win.

Even at 16 its will still have some pathetic results

I favor a round robin style tournament with the 3/4 from the south with the 5/6 from the north

New Zealand beating Portugal 106-13 did no one any favours.

True but tell that to the portuguese fans in the stand

They just scored a try against the All blacks(52-10) and are acting as if their winning

educated fans obviously

For a team like Portugal, who were expected to get battered by everyone, a try against the All Blacks is the equivalent of a win. Just taking part is a huge boost to the sport in Portugal, and hopefully they will progress as the sport grows in popularity.

I understand that mentality perfectly coming from adelaide ,south australia

All the Aussie rugby players come from the east coast (queensland,New South wales).

Progressing from a sport to a business is where its at

Its the main difference between the best and the underlings

If most countries had access to the facilities & expertise that Australia and the same have then the results would be more evenly spread

Not so sure about that. There seems to be a stronger sporting ethos in Australia---whether that is just our perception, or reality, I don't know, but sport seems to play a higher role in your country for participation than it does here.

Oz used to be a nation of participants

Now its a nation of watchers & supporters of those that play sport

We're not known as the 2nd mosdt obeses antion on earth because of our love of participating in sport

Perception maybe but as My old man pointed out to me there are more registered rugby players in Britain than Australia

Crickets is similar

We've seen the results of what a cricket academy can do in England

Yet again, I'm proved wrong