Not too many surprises in round four of the Rugby World Cup with maybe the exception of how close Georgia played Fiji. It’s Rafters view that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of international rugby could have pick all the winners in a lopsided week of round four pool play.
Though Rafters was perfect with our winner picks, try and margins of victory continue to leave us flatfooted. We have yet to pick the first try scorer in a pool match, and the wide margins of victory has scored the minimum five points here and six points there for each match.
Rafters drop a couple thousands places to 31,288 with a measly 202 total points. The only consolation is that we sit a 214 among USA fans, which is on par with the skill of our national team, a team sitting out this years tournament.
Compare Rafters with rwc_guru who retained the top spot on the table for the second week running with 430 points, and it’s easy to see that we have some work to do.
Though Rafters had no illusions about winning the Predictor Game, we believe that striving for an ideal is worth the effort even if that ideal may be impossible to reach. In this case the ideal is possible though unlikely, but the basic lesson runs well beyond the scope of rugby.
That’s one fan’s view of Rugby from beyond the rafters.
Rafters’ Round Four World Cup Predictor Game Picks
Pool A Round Four match predictions.
Uruguay 36
Namibia 26
Rafters’ Prediction - Uruguay by twenty over Namibia.
New Zealand 96
Italy 17
Rafters’ Prediction - New Zealand by twenty-seven over Italy.
France - Bye.
Pool B Round Four match predictions.
Scotland 84
Romania 00
Rafters’ Prediction - Scotland over Romania by fifty-nine.
South Africa 49
Tonga 18
Rafters’ Prediction - South Africa over Tonga by fifty.
Ireland - Bye.
Pool C Round Four match predictions.
Australia. 34
Portugal. 14
Rafters’ Prediction - Australia over Portugal by forty-one.
Fiji 17
Georgia. 12
Rafters’ Prediction - Fiji over Georgia by fifteen.
Wales - Bye.
Pool D Round Four match predictions.
Japan 28
Samoa. 22
Rafters’ Prediction - Japan by five over Samoa.
Argentina. 59
Chile. 05
Rafters’ Prediction - Argentina over Chile by forty.
England - Bye.
Quarterfinals - As it stands at the end of round Four.
Quarter Final Number One (Pool C winner v Pool D runner Up).
End of Round Three - Wales* v Argentina.
Rafter’s pre-tournament call - (England v Australia) - England advances to Semifinal Number One.
Quarter Final Number Two (Pool B winner v Pool A runner Up).
End of Round Three - South Africa v New Zealand.
Rafter’s pre-tournament call - (Ireland v New Zealand) - Ireland advances to Semifinal Number One
Quarter Final Number Three ( Pool D Winner v Pool C Runner Up).
End of Round Three - England v Australia.
Rafter’s pre-tournament call - (Argentina v Wales) - Argentina takes the win and moves on to Semifinal Number Two.
Quarter Final Number Four (Pool A winner v Pool B runner up)
End of Round Three - France v Ireland.
Rafter’s pre-tournament call - (France V South Africa) - France moves on to Semifinal Number Two.
*Clinched a semifinal appearance.
**Pool Winner
Teams mathematically eliminated from the quarterfinals.
Namibia, Tanga, Romania, Portugal, Georgia, and Chilie