SCRUM Magazine – September 2019

USA

ARGENTINA

TONGA

The Pumas are the dark horses of Pool C, having

been installed as the third-ranked side but shown

great improvements since Mario Ledesma

succeeded Daniel Hourcade as Head Coach.

Their drubbing at the hands of Scotland in

summer 2018 now seems but a distant memory,

and with overseas-based stars such as Nicolas

Sanchez and Joaquin Tuculet back to bolster

an impressive home-based squad that features

almost all of the Jaguares squad that reached

the final of Super Rugby, they could pose real

problems in Pool C in Japan.

SCRUM Prediction

Argentina are on the rise once more - from a

dreadful 2018 where they could hardly buy a win,

to pushing the All Blacks all the way in July. It has

been quite the transformation, and their World

Cup fate may (as mentioned earlier) be decided

by the outcome of their pool opener against

France.

The Pumas hold an advantage over Les Bleus in

that they’ll go into the World Cup having played

regularly together in The Rugby Championship,

and after that crunch clash, they take on Tonga

before a clash with England.

Their final pool game, against USA, should be

navigated easily enough and that could give

Ledesma an opportunity to rest some of his

first-choice squad ahead of the knockout stages.

This is an ominous looking pool for the US Eagles,

despite their continued improvements that saw

the record a first-ever win over a Tier 1 nation

when they beat Scotland in summer 2018.

With bulldozing forward Samu Manoa having

called time on his Test career, the Eagles will turn

to the likes of stand-off AJ MacGinty and wing

Blaine Scully for experience; while look out for

centre Paul Lasike.

There could be a couple of players with Scottish

connections in their squad – former Glasgow

Warriors lock Greg Petersen and ex-Edinburgh

hooker James Hilterbrand are both in the

extended training squad.

They should have too much for Tonga and leave

Japan with one win.

SCRUM Prediction

An opening match against England is probably

not the ideal way for the USA to open their

campaign, and it does not get much easier as

they play France and Argentina, respectively,

thereafter. They’ll hope to get through all of those

without too much damage to key personnel as

they target victory in their final pool game against

Tonga.

A tough old ask for the Tongans, who must

also be eyeing their pool finale against USA

for a chance at a rare Rugby World Cup

victory. They’ll take heart from recent wins

over Samoa and Fiji, while they pushed

Georgia to within a point last year.

Keeping key men will be the key for the

Tongans, who could include ex-Edinburgh

back-row Nasi Manu in their squad after

the back-row, now with Benneton Rugby,

successfully overcame testicular cancer.

SCRUM Prediction

It’s difficult to see anything other than four

losses in the final pool table, but the Tongans

will be targeting their finale against the USA

for victory. Will need their key men to stay fit

throughout the campaign.

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ISSUE 116 2019 • WWW.SCRUMMAGAZINE.COM • 103

RUGBY WORLD CUP - POOL GUIDE