"Ireland out in the quarters" - Chris Ashton makes surprising World Cup predictions
Rugby NewsFriday, 02 June 2023 at 09:30
The boys over on the BBC have made there predictions for the World Cup with one pundit backing Steve Borthwick's England to go all the way.
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In their last episode before a summer break, the Rugby Union Weekly team of former England and Lions player Ugo Monye, the Premiership's record try-scorer Chris Ashton, Harlequins and England scrum-half Danny Care, and BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones looked ahead to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
TRANSCRIPT:
Care: It's between France, South Africa and England for me.
Ashton: South Africa are the team to beat.
Monye: I agree, South Africa. Their game has moved on significantly in the last year. However, for the first time New Zealand are going into a World Cup as slight underdogs, which never really happens, and that is dangerous.
Care: Ireland are going to have something to say about this!
Ashton: Ireland gone in the quarters…
Monye: That Leinster defeat has changed how people view Ireland's chances….
Care: We can't just write Ireland off because Leinster lost to La Rochelle by one point! How mad is that?
Jones: Saying Ireland could get knocked out in the quarter-finals is not insulting though. They have a massive World Cup hoodoo to overcome, and they will play New Zealand or France in the last eight, if they even get there, because Scotland will mean business.
Care: England will be in the semi-finals, and then you are just two games away.
Jones: There is a chance there will be a surprise finalist from that side of the draw, because it is very slanted.
Fans Have Shared Rugby Facts That Sound Fake But Are Actually True
Everyone loves rugby facts that not many are aware of and so back in April 2020, one chap got a serious discussion going by asking folks to share rugby facts that sound "extremely fake" but are in fact legitimate.
A whole host of mad facts about many different players and teams surfaced and so here are 20 of the very best.
RUGBY FACTS:
1. England have scored one try in FOUR World Cup finals
Unfortunately true, Jason Robinson's try in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final is the men in whites only score. Arguably Mark Cueto should have doubled that tally in 2007, but that is a discussion for another day.
2. Basketball was actually created by a rugby coach who wanted some form of indoor sporting activity to keep his players conditioned when it was off-season!
Knew we liked basketball for a reason.
3. Owen Farrell has never won the Premiership Player of the Month award
Yes, despite being England's premier fly-half for almost a decade, the Saracens man has never been crowned player of the month. Danny Cipriani (2), George Ford, Joe Simmonds and Freddie Burns have all won the award in recent seasons.
4. The All Blacks had no red cards between 1967 and 2017, when Sonny Bill Williams was sent off against the Lions.
That is just mental.
5. Wayne Shelford tore his scrotum in a match against France. He got stitched up and returned to the field.
That must have hurt.
6. Joe Marler has scored more tries for the Lions than Manu Tuilagi, Mike Tindall and Jonny May combined
Indeed, the prop who has failed to score for his country did touch down in one of the warm-up matches during the 2017 tour of New Zealand.
7. Ellis Genge could be Muhammad Ali’s great-grandson…
The intriguing links between Ali and the Leicester prop stem from Genge’s grandmother, according to The Mirror.
8. A hooker was the first ever World Player of the Year
Keith Wood remains the only front-rower to win the award 21 years later.
9. England's 2003 Rugby World Cup-winner Ben Cohen's Uncle, George, was the right-back for the England side that won the 1966 World Cup
Talented family all-around.
10. Jonah Lomu met Robin Williams in 1998 and the pair remained friends for life
We miss them both. The way they met is a great story.
11. Alun Wyn Jones lost on his 1st, 50th, 100th and 150th cap
The loss against Italy on his 150th must have stung the worst.
12. Twickenham stadium sells around 160,547 pints each match
Outrageous
13. In 2007 Bryan Habana, who has clocked 10.2s for the 100m, raced against a cheetah as part of a conservation campaign.
For once he finished as a runner-up.
14. Gloucester have been runners-up in the Premiership FIVE times without winning the darn thing
Hard life supporting the Cherry & Whites who on top of that have finished top of the table three times.
15. The first ever rugby balls were made by a Richard Lindon who fashioned it out of hand stitched leather casing and pigs’ bladders.
Gruesome.
16. Owen Farrell wasn't always named Owen Farrell
He was not at first registered as a Farrell, but took mum Colleen’s family name of O’Loughlin. The couple married in 1995, changing Owen’s surname to Farrell the following year.
17. England legend Martin Johnson actually played for New Zealand first.
However, what you might not know is that All Blacks legend Colin Meads invited the raw but promising teenager to New Zealand to play for the King Country province in 1989 and Johnson, who took up the offer, would go on to be capped by New Zealand U21s.
18. In 2012, following his Scotland debut, Stuart Hogg discovered he was a distant relative of football legend George Best.
Totally insane.
19. The notion of singing a national anthem before a sporting event originated at a rugby match
Makes sense.
20. Scotland have never beaten New Zealand
Wait, that is totally believable.
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