World Cup Seeding Watch

[Big D]

Well as the RWC is still seeded ridiculously far in advance we are as well keeping an eye on it.

Down to 11 in the world after losing to England. Behind Japan and Fiji.

[Lizard]

When does seeding take place?

[Big D]

Liz, December this year IIRC.

For those not as stato as some:

1 New Zealand 96.1


2 Australia 89.33


3 South Africa 87.66


4 Wales 83.56


5 Argentina 82.59


6 Ireland 81.1


7 England 80.89


8 France 79.77


9 Japan 77.05


10 Fiji 76.96


11 Scotland 76.82


12 Italy 72.74


13 Tonga 71.6


14 Georgia 71.45



Good news is we still have to play Ireland, Wales, France, Japan x2, Australia and Argentina who are all above us and we are not that far behind the top 8 in points. We do still also have to play Italy and Georgia but think only they will gain points if the beat us? Still can't work the points system.

As things stand I contemplate a stop off in Fiji in the summer.

[BigAl]

I suspect we'll need to beat France, Japan twice, and win two of the three AIs to even stand a chance of finishing in the second seeds pot. Even then I bet we finish nine due to a late score by an opposition team.

It's possible to gain points by beating a lowered ranked team but only if they're close in points value.

Points system explained.

http://www.worldrugby.org/rankings/explanation

[General Zod]

I thought it was still not confirmed when it is drawn. Bonkers as it sounds, I think we can win our next 3 and beat Japan twice. And beat Australia.

And whoever the feck else we play this Autumn.

[cashead]

On the other hand, Scotland have the ability to be roughly 5~10% worse than their opponents on any given day, regardless of the difference in rankings - case in point their most recent fixture against the All Blacks where they drew the ABs into their kind of game, but ended up being about 5% worse than them on the day.

That said, Scotland are always also capable of tipping over anyone, and inexplicably have one of the better recent records against SH teams in the last 10 years.

[Which Tyler]

I thought it was still not confirmed when it is drawn.

The draw is December 2016.
There was talk of delaying it, whilst RWC15 was in the press; but nothing has happened since; so until any delay is announced, it sticks to it's original timeframe.

[General Zod]

Sound, cheers. Have they decided how many teams are in the finals this time? I also heard wild and utterly unsubstantiated rumours of 24 teams. Can't believe it's not settled yet and wiki has changed since I read it last!

[Which Tyler]

Sound, cheers. Have they decided how many teams are in the finals this time? I also heard wild and utterly unsubstantiated rumours of 24 teams. Can't believe it's not settled yet and wiki has changed since I read it last!

I thought the wild and unsubstantiated rumours of increasing to 24 teams is only if South Africa host in 2023; which is being discussed by 1 individual on the SHMB

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Hard to see us getting into pot two after this shower of shite in the 6N so far. The lads really need to pull their fingers out though, we've been incredibly lucky with RWC seedings in recent years. There is no guarantee it'll happen again if we do indeed end up in pot 3 (likely).