Qualification Update, 12 Months to France

Well, with under a year to go before the great Rugby feast in France, I flt it appropriate that we should start looking forward to how the Tournament is shaping up, what the Pools are, who the new faces (if any) will be an of course, if the All Blacks can get that four year monkey off their collective backs!
I have displayed the Pools below with the matches/Nations still to be decided however my understanding of the Repechage Qualification is a little scratchy, feel free to let me know so I can update the format if wrong.

POOL A:

England
South Africa
Samoa
USA
Repechage 2 (Winner of Morocco v Portugal to play Uruguay)

POOL B:

Australia
Wales
Fiji
Canada
Japan

POOL C:

New Zealand
Scotland
Italy
Romania
Repechage 1 (Korea v Tonga)

POOL D:

France
Ireland
Argentina
Georgia
Namibia


Namibia win leaves Morocco a mountain to climb

Namibia have given themselves a great chance of reaching France next year by beating Morocco 25-7 in the first leg of their World Cup qualifying final on home soil in Windhoek.

Namibia's victory means that Morocco will need to win by at least 19 points when the two teams meet in Casablanca on 11 November.

The winner over the two legs will qualify for the Rugby World Cup and join France, Ireland and Argentina in Pool D.

Portugal and Georgia on collision course

In Europe Portugal and Georgia both scored priceless victories to keep alive their hopes of a World Cup place.

Portugal beat Russia 26-23 to finish second in Pool behind Italy. They now face the Georgians after they overcame Spain on home soil 37-23 to finish second in the other Round 5 pool behind Romania.

The sides meet on 11 and 25 November with the winner qualifying as Europe 3. The loser will enter the répechage rounds and play the loser of Namibia and Morocco for the right to face Uruguay for one of the two final spots.

Asian qualifying finals postponed

The International Rugby Board Executive Committee today announced the postponement of the 2006 Asian Rugby Football Tournament that was scheduled to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on November 18-25. The decision was taken due to the current security situation in Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, the Rugby World Cup Board has determined that the Asia Rugby World Cup 2007 Round 3 Qualification matches between Japan, Korea and Hong Kong – that were due to be played as part of the Asian Rugby Football Tournament – should be rescheduled.
The Rugby World Cup Board will make a decision in the coming days regarding alternative arrangements for the completion of the Asia Round 3 qualification matches.

As the governing body of the Game the IRB has wider obligations that require it to take into account security issues relating to participants. In this respect the IRB sought advice on the security situation in Sri Lanka following concerns expressed by several Participating Unions.
The recommendation made to the IRB was that in the present climate the tournament should not go ahead. The IRB and the Asian Rugby Football Union (the IRB’s Regional Association in the region) will continue to monitor the situation and a decision on the rescheduling of the tournament will be made at an appropriate time

The 12-team tournament was to involve Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Arabian Gulf, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, India and China.

Pretty good and very useful summary Burgs. Still think the USA pulled the easiest group on offer :P

Actually in all seriousness, considering that they qualified ahead of Canada I wonder if the USA will feel hard done by.

USA get the current RWC holders England (god its hard for me to admit that)
Canada get an Oz side that can't even beat the Ospreys ;)

USA get the mighty Bok's (go on Shaun)
Canada get the less than mighty Wales

USA get Samoa (the NZ 3rd XV)
Canada get Fiji (the NZ 4th XV)

USA get (I'm guessing) Uraguay
Canada get (I'm guessing) Japan

Not sure I would swap any of Canada's opposition for any of the USA's. Any views Larry?

If the Kiwi's choke again this time they may as well give it away, couldn't wish for an easier Pool!

Asia RWC 2007 Qualifiers to be played in Hong Kong
From: www.hkrugby.com

The International Rugby Board has announced that the rescheduled Asia Rugby World Cup 2007 Round 3 Qualification matches between Hong Kong, Japan and Korea will be played in Hong Kong.

The three matches were originally due to be played in Sri Lanka as part of the 2006 Asia Rugby Football Tournament but had to be rescheduled after the IRB announced the postponement of the Tournament following recommendations that it should not go ahead due to the current security situation in Sri-Lanka.

The rescheduled matches will now be played in a round-robin format hosted at the Hong Kong Football Club between November 18-25.

The playing schedule is as follows:

Japan v Hong Kong, Saturday November 18 (kick-off time: 7:30pm)
Hong Kong v Korea, Tuesday November 21 (kick-off time: 7:30pm)
Korea v Japan, Saturday November 25 (kick-off time: 6:30pm)

The winner of the round robin tournament will qualify directly to Rugby World Cup 2007 in France as Asia 1 to join Australia, Wales, Fiji and Canada in Pool B.
The runner up will advance to the repechage round as Asia 2 to play Tonga.

That has to be good news for Oz. I would consider Japan the strongest and most established of the three, playing all fixtures in HK may give HK an edge that could see this go close, of course HK wouldn't have that same advantage when playing in France/Cardiff in 07.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Burgs

If the Kiwi's choke again this time they may as well give it away, couldn't wish for an easier Pool!

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dont worry about the pool, its the finals they will choke in

Well done to Namibia for making it through, though a little sad to see that we didn't get another debut Nation in the rapidly improving Morocco.
Namibia try their guts out but they are going to be up against it again in a pretty tough Pool.

Namibia qualifies for World Cup

November 12, 2006 - 1:57am
Story by: Sportal

Namibia has qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France with an impressive 27-8 victory over Morocco.
The win added to an impressive 25-7 triumph in the first leg, giving the African nation a berth in next year's World Cup finals.
Namibia took a 10-3 lead into the break and built on its lead in the second half to run away to an impressive victory.
The controversial sending-off of Morocco captain Jalil Narjissi marred the second half as Namibia qualified for its third World Cup.
On the wrong end of a 0-142 loss to Australia in the 2003 World Cup, and also qualifying in 1999, Namibia is still yet to win a World Cup finals match.
The Namibians will face hosts France, Ireland, Argentina and either Georgia or Portugal in Pool D.

Japan and Georgia qualify

25 NOVEMBER 2006
By Chris Thau, in Hong Kong

Japan and Georgia both qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup today, Japan beating Korea 54-0 in Asia's final and Georgia drawing 11-11 with Portugal to maintain the 14-point lead they built on home soil two weeks ago.

Japan will start their sixth RWC campaign against Australia in Lyon on 8 September, followed by matches against Fiji, Wales and Canada. Korea, runners-up in Asia, will return to the battlefield against Tonga in the RWC Repechage early next year.

The quietly spoken Korean coaching advisor former All Black John Boe – a former coach of Samoa and the Pacific Warriors - was aware of the enormity of the task for his side and in the end the lack of match practice was their major undoing against a team playing inspired rugby.

Japanwere clinical in their approach as they took the Koreans apart with consummate skill. The scrum was rock-solid and the back five had a roaring game, with Philip O’Reilley and imaginatively named Tongan-born second rower Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei in majestic form. After about five minutes of exciting exchanges Japanese hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto was driven over for the first of Japan’s eight tries - a significant break during a period of Korean domination.

Diminutive Japan full back Go Aruga regained his kicking form and slotted is first of seven conversions before scoring the second Japanese try after a superb individual effort of about 60 yards that saw him sidestep and outrun the entire Korean defence.

The Koreans returned to attack with a vengeance but their lack of match practice let them down against an opponent who seemed prepared to absorb anything they threw at them and just before half time Phillip O’Reilly scored again for Japan.

After half time Korea tried briefly to regain the upper hand but superior Japanese fitness and indeed ability denied them any opportunity to take control. Instead, Japan captain Daisuke Ohata switched into top gear after a rather quiet first half to amass an impressive hat-trick of tries, taking his world record tally to 69 in 58 matches. With Ohata leaving the field it was the turn of his left wing team mate Hirotoki Ozonawa to score the final try, duly converted by Aruga.

"I am pleased with the team's performance tonight and I am as pleased with the eight tries we scored as I am with the zero indicating the Korean score. I thought we defended well and I must give credit to the team who worked very hard and wanted to play well,” new Japan coach John Kirwan said.

Japan try Scorers: (in order) Mitsugi Yamamoto, Go Aruga, Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, Phillip O’Reilley, Daisuke Ohata, Daisuke Ohata, Daisuke Ohata, Hirotoki Ozonawa

Georgia qualify for France

In Lisbon, Portugal improved from their display in Tblissi to draw 11-11 with Georgia, however the Georgians' 14-point lead from that first leg books their World Cup place as Europe 3.

Portugal now go on to play Morocco over two legs for the right to take on Uruguay for the other repechage qualifying place.

I am open to the possibility that France won't make it past the pool stages.

Go Georgia:)