Former All Black predicts Folau to shine at Rugby World Cup

 

Folau

LONDON – Former All Black scrum half Justin Marshall has backed Australia’s Israel Folau to shine at this year’s Rugby World Cup whilst also tipping the Wallabies to be there at the very end of the tournament.

While at a training session for Friday’s Rugby Aid 2015, a Charity Match at Twickenham Stoop, the Sky Sports NZ Rugby commentator predicted that Folau would be a catalyst in the Wallabies success.

“If you think about a guy that’s going to shine right through to the World Cup Finals, I think it’s going to be Israel Folau,” Marshall said.

“He’s that good and he’s dangerous in any part of the field. If Australia gets going than Folau is going to be a huge part of that success.”

In terms of who would be the player of the tournament, Marshall chose a player who Australia will meet during the pool stage.

“For me it’s going to be Nemani Nadolo, he’s going to light up the tournament… Fiji can really cause some headaches and a guy like Nadolo can really play so watch out for him”, he said.

 

Nadolo

 

Taking a closer look at the pool dubbed the “Pool of Death” involving Australia, England, Wales, Fiji and Uruguay, Fiji are tipped by many to trouble the three higher ranking teams. However, when discussing Fiji’s hopes of causing any monumental upsets, Marshall was cautious in predicting Fiji to achieve too much in their pool.

“(Australia, England and Wales) probably have to be slightly off their guard (to be beaten by Fiji) as current form shows. But the advantage that Fiji has is that they’ve got two or three goes at it so they can quite easily turn up on their day and cause an upset,” he said.

“They’re a bit like the French and while they don’t have the firepower up front, the whole team is full of excitement machines. The problem for the other teams in Pool A is that in normal World Cups, big teams can usually cruise into it but that’s not the case at this year’s tournament.”

In one of the more open Rugby World Cups in recent time, a number of countries have tricky early pool match-ups. But when asked about his predictions for the World Cup final, Marshall was quite adamant about who was going to make it.

“I think it will be a New Zealand Australia final judging by the way the pools are set out. New Zealand’s got some challenges with France and possibly South Africa in the quarters and the semi finals,” he said.

But the winner in pool A doesn’t have a bad run and I think Australia is creeping up real quick,”