The girls line up with flags from Georgia, Romania, Scotland, Argentina and England.
Group B has an Ulster Quotient of 2 with Simon Danielli the only Ulster connection!
Looking through these team sheets there are honestly few players that I’d like to see in an Ulster shirt. Plenty of good players but few, with the exception of Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, that would add to the Ulster side significantly.
England and Scotland are full of good honest pros and while some are very good indeed there are few that are World Class which makes this group very interesting indeed. It’s a genuine three way race with the two Six Nations sides expected to be slugging it out with Argentina for qualification, with the Argentinians having two genuine contenders on the World Stage in Contepomi and Lobbe. Unfortunately for the Argentinians, Hernandez is missing but they do have a strong front row and a good sprinkling of players from Top 14 French sides but they need to rediscover their flair, which could be difficult considering how infrequently they manage to field a full strength side between World Cups.
Scotland have made good use of their limited resources and play a style of rugby that suits them. They have beaten Argentina in Argentina the last three times they have played there and that will be a big advantage. They have a strong looking set of forwards, in fact very good indeed if they all hit their straps, but their backs just fail to excite.
England will do what England do best and that is try to steamroller their opponents, but I think in Argentina and Scotland they couldn’t have come up against two other sides as prepared to take them on up front. With Wilkinson a shadow of his former self it speaks volunes that Flood hasn’t been able to make the 10 spot his own and with no established scrum half the whole back line could suffer. Ashton and Tuilagi may be able to do something but will it be enough?
Pool B Fixtures.
| Date | Time (UK) | Match Details | Location | Stadium |
| Sat Sept 10 | 02.00 | Scotland v Romania | Invercargill | Rugby Park Stadium |
| Sat Sept 10 | 09.30 | Argentina v England | Dunedin | Otago Stadium |
| Wed Sept 14 | 08.30 | Scotland v Georgia | Invercargill | Rugby Park Stadium |
| Sat Sept 17 | 04.30 | Argentina v Romania | Invercargill | Rugby Park Stadium |
| Sun Sept 18 | 07.00 | England v Georgia | Dunedin | Otago Stadium |
| Sat Sept 24 | 07.00 | England v Romania | Dunedin | Otago Stadium |
| Sun Sept 25 | 08.30 | Argentina v Scotland | Wellington | Wellington Regional Stadium |
| Wed Sept 28 | 07.30 | Georgia v Romania | Palmerston North | Arena Manawatu |
| Sat Oct 1 | 08.30 | England v Scotland | Auckland | Eden Park |
| Sun Oct 2 | 01.00 | Argentina v Georgia | Palmerston North | Arena Manawatu |
Scotland appear to have the best spread of fixtures with Romania and Georgia up front and will know exactly what they have to do when they face Argentina and England. I think Andy Robinson had this in mind when he choose to only play two warm up games and he’ll be looking to nurse his key players through to the winner takes all fixtures against Argentina and England.
I fancy Argentina to beat England first up and I think this English side will struggle in the group but they may just save themselves for qualification by turning over Georgia and Romania by bigger margins than Scotland and Argentina thanks to their greater strength in depth, it really is getting too close to call.
At the end of the day I fancy Scotland to be the surprise package and to qualify alongside Argentina but it could all come down the the points difference in the match between the two and Euan Murray’s refusal to play on a Sunday may be enough to let England sneak through.
To Qualify: 1. Argentina, 2. Scotland
Outsiders: England
Match of the Pool: Argentina v Scotland
Squads
| Argentina | England | Georgia | Romania | Scotland |
| Forwards | Forwards | Forwards | Forwards | Forwards |
| Agustín Creevy | Dylan Hartley | Jaba Bregvadze Hooker | Marius Tincu (c) | Ross Ford |
| Mario Ledesma | Lee Mears | Akvsenti Giorgadze | Bogdan Zebega | Dougie Hall |
| Marcos Ayerza | Steve Thompson | Vasil Kakovin | Dragos Dima | Scott Lawson |
| Maximiliano Bustos | Dan Cole | Davit Khinchagishvili | Silviu Florea | Geoff Cross |
| Juan Figallo | Alex Corbisiero | Davit Kubriashvili | Paulica Ion | Alasdair Dickinson |
| Rodrigo Roncero | Andrew Sheridan | Goderdzi Shvelidze | Mihaita Lazar | Allan Jacobsen |
| Martín Scelzo | Matt Stevens | Davit Zirakashvili | Nicolae Nere | Moray Low |
| Patricio Albacete | David Wilson | Levan Datunashvili | Cristian Petre | Euan Murray |
| Manuel Carizza | Louis Deacon | Vakhtang Maisuradze | Valentin Popirlan | Richie Gray |
| Mariano Galarza | Courtney Lawes | Giorgi Nemsadze | Cosmin Ratiu | Jim Hamilton |
| Tomas Vallejos | Tom Palmer | Ilia Zedginidze | Valentin Ursache | Nathan Hines |
| Alejandro Campos | Simon Shaw | Givi Berishvili | Stelian Burcea | Alastair Kellock (c) |
| Julio Farías Cabello | Tom Croft | Giorgi Chkhaidze | Daniel Ianus | John Barclay |
| Genaro Fessia | James Haskell | Viktor Kolelishvili | Mihai Macovei | Kelly Brown |
| Juan Manuel Leguizamón | Lewis Moody* | Shalva Sutiashvili | Daniel Carpo | Ross Rennie |
| Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe | Tom Wood | Dimitri Basilaia | Ovidiu Tonita | Alasdair Strokosch |
| Leonardo Senatore | Nick Easter | Mamuka Gorgodze | Richie Vernon | |
| Backs | Backs | Backs | Backs | Backs |
| Alfredo Lalanne | Joe Simpson | Irakli Abuseridze (c) | Valentin Calafeteanu | Mike Blair |
| Nicolás Vergallo | Richard Wigglesworth | Bidzina Samkharadze | Lucian Sîrbu | Chris Cusiter |
| Felipe Contepomi* | Ben Youngs | Lasha Khmaladze | Florin Surugiu | Rory Lawson |
| Nicolás Sánchez | Toby Flood | Merab Kvirikashvili | Ionut Dimofte | Ruaridh Jackson |
| Marcelo Bosch | Jonny Wilkinson | Lasha Malaghuradze | Danut Dumbrava | Dan Parks |
| Santiago Fernández | Shontayne Hape | Revaz Gigauri | Ionel Cazan | Joe Ansbro |
| Gonzalo Tiesi | Mike Tindall | Davit Kacharava | Csaba Gál | Nick De Luca |
| Horacio Agulla | Manu Tuilagi | Alexander Todua | Constantin Gheara | Graeme Morrison |
| Gonzalo Camacho | Chris Ashton | Tedore Zibzibadze | Stefan Ciuntu | Simon Danielli |
| Agustin Gosio | Matt Banahan | Irakli Chkhikvadze | Catalin Fercu | Max Evans |
| Juan Jose Imhoff | Mark Cueto | Lexo Gugava | Madalin Lemnaru | Sean Lamont |
| Lucas González Amorosino | Delon Armitage | Irakli Machkhaneli | Catalin Nicolae | Rory Lamont |
| Martín Rodríguez | Ben Foden | Malkhaz Urjukashvili | Iulian Dumitras | Chris Paterson |
| Florin Vlaicu |
Key Players.
Argentina: Felipe Contepomi
A lot is going to rest on Dr Phil’s shoulders now that Hernandez will not be taking part. If he can find his form and inspire the team to greater glory, as he did four years ago, then Argentina should make it through. If not the team could self destruct!
England: Toby Flood
It really is a struggle to find someone on the England side that has the ability to inspire though if Flood can lock down the starting spot at 10 then it means that England are playing a much more exciting brand of rugby. They really need someone to unleash Tuilagi, Ashton and Foden and if they do they become very dangerous indeed!
Georgia: Irakli Abuseridze
Big bustling forwards but quite limited backs, Georgia are going to be playing 9 man rugby and scum half Abuseridze is going to be key, both in the positional sense and in his role as captain. They have beaten Canada, USA, Romania and Russia in the last year so it looks as though the 72 times capped scrum half knows how to dog it out!
Romania: Ovidiu Tonita
A former second row and presently a number 8, Toni?a currently plays for Perpignan and is one of the few Romanians playing top flight rugby. Noted for his size, which is considered unusual for his position on the field he has been compared him to the Australian footballer John Eales,[and he is seen as Romania’s key player. Just not enough in the rest of the team to back him up and Romania’s big game will be trying to turn over Georgia.
Scotland: Mike Blair
Blair has his knockers but he has always had the ability to worry Ulster when he ran out at Ravenhill and if the wee man can find his game there are few better at mixing it up between the forwards and the backs. Scotland have good mobile forwards and an experienced back three and Blair’s sniping runs and astute kicking will keep them all involved.
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