Humidity to home heroics: five things to look out for at the Rugby World Cup | Ben Ryan
(The Guardian Sports News)

The All Blacks could lose their opener and win the tournament, Fiji have a shock in them, while cancellations could play a partThe phoney war is over and on Friday there will be no more warm-yourself-up-but-nobody else games. The World Cup is upon us and, like the amazing welcome the people of Japan have already given to the teams, it´s worth taking a look at what else we might not have seen before.1) I think we are going to finish with the All Blacks in the final, so let´s start with Steve Hansen´s men. In my opinion they have the greatest squad depth of any team. They have a two-times World Cup-winning coach. They have played more international games in the last few years in Japan then any of the other top-tier sides. I also think they will lose for the first time in their history in a World Cup pool game when they come up against Rassie Erasmus and his resurgent Springboks. Continue reading...