Looking at the Northern Hemisphere World Cup contenders, England may be seen as the best Challenger. But Wales and Ireland must be considered seriously too.
Northern Hemisphere World Cup contenders
Six Nations’ champions Wales goes into the RWC as one of the favourites to win the cup.
The Welsh side which was ranked first, albeit for only two weeks, was the first in a long time to upstage the RWC two-time defending champions New Zealand from the position they have gotten comfortable enough to call home.
Gratitude to Coach Gatland
All this has been thanks to the amazing job done by the soon-departing coach Warren Gatland.
The team believes that he deserves a perfect send-off and there is none greater than taking the Webb Ellis Cup. This on its own is a huge motivating factor for the team.
"He's got better with age. He's like a good wine" 🍷
Warren Gatland praised his captain’s contribution to the game of rugby at today’s #WALvGEO press conference in Toyota. #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/XFFCWStJkV
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 21, 2019
It has also not escaped notice that the current team is most dangerous especially when they seem to be at their lowest. With that in mind we are very keen to see what they have in store.
Based on the fact that they lost three out of four of their RWC warm up matches then they are bound to perform wonderfully in their matches starting in their pool.
With all that said we still have our fingers crossed for the very strong side that their past bad luck in the RWC will stay in the past. Maybe they should have a four-leaf clover in their back pockets.
Ireland on The Hunt
Speaking of lucky charms, Ireland is also one of the fan favourites to be a first-time winner of the RWC.
The Irish side qualified automatically for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and they come in with great confidence having the 2018 Six Nations grand slam still fresh in their hearts and minds. They also came into tournament as world number one seeds.
The coach Joe Schmidt, who guided the team to their first-ever win against the ultimate fan favourite New Zealand back in 2016, has chosen a great squad.
The squad has an array of talent across the board with the likes of flyhalf Jonathan Sexton who pairs up perfectly with his half back Connor Murray and ultimately their tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong who strengthens the scrum immensely.
Maybe, just maybe, the Northern Hemisphere nation might have enough luck up their sleeve to take home the cup. They certainly got campaign off to a strong start against Scotland.
#RWC2019
Check out the highlights from Ireland's 27-3 win against Scotland at the Rugby World Cup.#TeamOfUS #ShoulderToShoulder #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/BmJkIjfYAd— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 22, 2019
We’ll have to wait and see if one of them takes it home..will it be the Welsh or the Irish?? Find out by following Last Word on Rugby thought the tournament.
Main image credit: Embed from Getty Images
