Third pool threat a potent one

The World Cup is mere hours away.

It's going to be a terrific feast of rugby, ending with another classic England-New Zealand final. A mouth watering prospect. Except it may not quite go that way.

While all eyes are on the Big Two playing in Pools 1 and 2, elsewhere there are a couple of teams who could upset all of these calculations.

We are not talking about the possibility of England or New Zealand tripping up somewhere in the pool stages. While there is a theoretical chance of Irish or South African glory, the fact is that neither of the favourites have lost, while playing at full strength, to anyone other than each other since before the last World Cup, and there are no signs that this will change.

In fact the threat comes from teams that England nor New Zealand are currently scheduled to play at all - Canada and France.

Pool 3 of this years tournament is something of a quiet backwater - certainly Sky TV think so as only one of their 13 televised games will come from this group but the results in this Pool could have a greater bearing on the outcome of the tournament than any other.

The draw for the semi-finals will be based on performances in the pool stages, with the team winning the most points getting the top seed and a semi-final against the best runner-up. If either France or Canada manage that then they will avoid both England and New Zealand. And it really could happen.

In Pools 1 and 2 New Zealand and England face some tricky games games that they should win, but where four-try bonuses wins are far from guaranteed. Their coaches will also be wanting to keep their powder dry and not necessarily fielding their strongest possible team in all game.

Canada and France, on the other hand, face two opening fixtures where high scoring wins are possible, even likely (especially if recent results are considered), and will have coaches willing to risk all for that top semi-final seeding. It is even possible that a high scoring game between the two sides in the final round of pool games will see both qualify for the semi-finals!

: New Zealand pick up maximum points against South Africa and Wales, but are held to narrower win by Australia 14 points (3 wins [4pts] plus 2 try bonus points)

England score well against Kazakhstan, but the defence of USA and Ireland hold them to narrower wins 13 points (3 wins [4pts] plus 1 try bonus)

Canada and France beat Scotland and Sweden easily, with France winning a high scoring decider by a single point France 15 points (3 wins [4pts] plus 3 try bonus points), Canada 12 (2 wins [4pts] plus 3 try bonus points and one losing bonus).

Giving us these semi-finals - Seed 1 (France) against Seed 4 (Canada); and Seed 2 (New Zealand) versus Seed 3 (England).