Rugby League World Cup 2013: improving England too strong for France

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Australia v USA
Wrexham 1pm Saturday

The USA have had a dream run, a wonderful World Cup so far. They came out

intending to shock the world, and they have definitely done that so far.

They have got some of the NRL’s best players in there among the local

American guys, it is a great thing to witness. Looking from the outside in,

it looks like they have got a strong team spirit which has enabled them to

give a couple of teams the leap, which has been one of the standout stories

of the World Cup.

But their run ends against Australia, who I think will beat them by a

significant margin. Clint Newton is a good player who has done well in Super

League but Australia captain Cameron Smith looks set to be the standout

player and everything will just run off him. I think they could win by a

good 50 or 60 points.

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England v France
Wigan 8pm Saturday

I expect England to win this. They have successfully built on their

performance from every game and got better and better throughout the

tournament. Although they have played well so far, now they need to take

another step up to go through to what should be a semi-final at Wembley

against New Zealand.

In terms of the strongest French players, the young kid Morgan Escare really

is an exceptional young talent, he was outstanding against Samoa and I think

he will be good against England as well. He is also a dangerous broken-field

runner.

Prop Sam Burgess is the strongest and one of the best players England have at

present, but I also like the look of the halves — utility Kevin Sinfield and

stand-off Rangi Chase. England have decided to go with stability, and it has

paid off. England to cruise to victory by 20 or 30 points.

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Samoa v Fiji
Warrington, 3pm Sunday

This is the best quarter-final. These are the two teams who are the most

closely matched, and it is going to be a game full of physical

confrontation. There is a lot of athleticism and skill on show too, and if

you are only going to watch one of the quarter-final matches, it should be

this one.

For the Fijians Petero Civoniceva is the one to watch out for, as it may be

his last game. He is 37 years of age but he is a legend in Australian rugby

league. Also the Sims brothers, Korbin and Tariq are very good. For Samoa,

it is Mark Taufua, he is a jack-in-the-box kind of runner with the ball and

a great broken field runner. Captain Iosia Soliola has also had some really

exceptional performances during this tournament. These two teams are so

closely matched it is too hard to call. The game could be anyone’s.

Wooden Spoon, the children’s charity of rugby, is the official charity

partner for Rugby League World Cup 2013. Visit woodenspoon.com

Article source: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/news-comment/rugby-sevens-brazil-adding-samba-style-to-scrum-for-2016-8877760.html

Rugby League World Cup 2013: improving England too strong for France