Pool B - Argentina, England, Georgia, Romania, Scotland
 

10 September 2011
13:00 Scotland v Romania Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)

10 September 2011
20:30 Argentina v England Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)

14 September 2011
19:30 Scotland v Georgia Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

17 September 2011
15:30 Argentina v Romania Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)

18 September 2011
18:00 England v Georgia Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

24 September 2011
18:00 England v Romania Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Referee: Romain Poite (France)

25 September 2011
20:30 Argentina v Scotland Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

28 September 2011
19:30 Georgia v Romania Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)

1 October 2011
20:30 England v Scotland Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

2 October 2011
13:00 Argentina v Georgia Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Well at least we know Scotland have this group tied up.

Be a fair old scrap for second between Scotland and Argentina. The sweaties have had some good results against the Pumas of late.

Pretty sure England should win it.

When do England ever play as well as they should? Scotland have it sewn up.

World Cups. Four semis, three finals and a win plays one semi.

Pretty sure they didn't play as they should in 2007. Well above and beyond.

This one's looking like a pretty favourable draw for England.

Living in the past I see. :ph34r:

1. Argentina
2. Scotland
3.Georgia
4. Romania
5. England - Following point deduction for playing an ineligble player (due to admin cover-ups and false Grandmas it will be discovered one quarter of the England team is in fact not English)

1. England
2. Argentina
3. Georgia
4. Romania
5. Scotland

:ph34r:

Arguably Argentina's best player, Juan Martin Hernandez not named in the Pumas' WC squad due to injury:
Rugby: Argentina's Hernandez out of World Cup - Rugby World Cup - NZ Herald News

Thats rather disappointing given how impressively he performed in the 2007 tournament.

Thats bad news for the Argies, Hernanadez is a fantastic player.

Odds of them causing an upset just diminished significantly.

Bring back Porter.

Porta*

Scotland
Romania
Argentina
Georgia
England

England squad announced
 

From the BBC.

Forwards: (17)

Props: Dan Cole (Leicester, Age 24, 17 caps), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish, 22, 6), Andrew Sheridan (Sale, 31, 38), Matt Stevens (Saracens, 28, 34), David Wilson (Bath, 26, 18).

Hookers: Dylan Hartley (Northampton, 25, 29), Lee Mears (Bath, 32, 37), Steve Thompson (Wasps, 33, 67).

Locks: Louis Deacon (Leicester, 30, 24), Courtney Lawes (Northampton, 22, 9), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais, 32, 27), Simon Shaw (unattached, 37, 67).

Back row: Tom Croft (Leicester, 25, 25), Nick Easter (Harlequins, 33, 44), James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams, 26, 36), Lewis Moody (Bath, 33, 67), Tom Wood (Northampton, 24, 7).

Backs: (13)

Full-backs/wings: Delon Armitage (London Irish, 27, 20), Ben Foden (Northampton, 26, 16), Chris Ashton (Northampton, 24, 12), Mark Cueto (Sale, 31, 52).

Centres: Matt Banahan (Bath, 24, 13), Shontayne Hape (London Irish, 30, 12), Mike Tindall (Gloucester, 32, 71), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester, 20, 1).

Fly-halves: Toby Flood (Leicester, 26, 41), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon, 32, 86).

Scrum-halves: Joe Simpson (Wasps, 23, 0), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 28, 7), Ben Youngs (Leicester, 21, 12).

---

No Flutey is the big news, I suppose.

Few areas of concern for me. 3 scrum-halves is one too many when Foden's more than capable of covering 9 & 4 specialist locks similarly, when Croft and even Wood could be used there in extremis.

Centres & fly-halves the big areas of concern for me. Only two specialist tens and no specialist insides is a strange call. I presume it means Hape will play 12, but really if a bloke who can't pass off his left hand and who has no kicking game at all is the answer we're clearly asking the wrong question.