Just after dawn here on the opening day of RWC 2011. The sun is already bright down here in Dunedin. It's had a bad press has Dunedin as a cold, distant place. Couldn't be further from the truth. It's been a great week's build-up to England's opening game. All looking forward to the stadium. I'm not a fan of the Aviva in Dublin, great from the outside, poor and lacking in old Lansdowne Rd atmosphere inside. I don't like the Millennium with its roof shut either. And yet the Otago Stadium, an indoor stadium, looks is if it might be the business.
Anyway, table talk from Thursday night. Why wasn't the opening game NZ-France, the sort of attention-grabbing fixture that we had in 2007 when France hosted Argentina? The Pumas' victory put the tournament on the map straight away. Much as RWC 2011 dominates the airwaves here, it needs to make an impact in Europe. The All Blacks facing France would have ensured that.
A few thoughts.
1 ) England will win with reasonable ease on Saturday but will struggle against Scotland. I fancy Andy Robinson's side might be the surprise package.
2 ) Wales to beat South Africa. And if they don't, then they won't qualify from their group.
3 ) NZ will beat France and stroll through the pool. And that could yet be their undoing later in the tournament . They didn't get tested in 2007, and didn't test themselves in the build-up by their daft policy of rotation, and it cost them.
4 ) The Wallabies to win RWC 2011 ( maybe )
5 ) Hats off to New Zealand. They've done a smashing job so far in staging the event. There's been a real buzz this past few days, everyone is getting involved, the volunteers have been wonderful and there's a freal sense of people swinging behind the entire event. Take a bow Kiwis!
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