Ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Paul Radley takes the supporters' pulse for Pool B's South Africa and Samoa.
South Africa
Name: Aidan Requin-Delfau, British School Al Khubairat pupil
Nationality: South African
I believe South Africa will do brilliantly, as we always try our best until the very end and never want to be defeated. We have a very well organised team and I think that will give us a great advantage in the World Cup.
If the Springboks don’t win the cup, I think it will be England or the All Blacks that will. They are both great teams that have always been a challenge for us. They always put on a great show.
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My favourite moment in rugby was the 1995 final. Even though I wasn’t there for it, it means a lot to me as it was just after apartheid had ended and our country was united as one. Another reason is because of how Joel Stransky scored the drop kick in extra time to win the final against New Zealand.
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I’m most looking forward to seeing Bryan Habana because of his speed, and his ability to read the game as if he has already played it. He is one of the fastest people I have seen in rugby. There are videos on YouTube to prove it. There is one where he races an A380 and wins.
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I think the way to improve the World Cup is to make sure the referees do not make any silly mistakes. I know the refs can’t always see everything, but they often make bad calls or miss something that should have been seen.
That gives an advantage to the other team even if it was their fault. One way they can do this is too first look at the replay properly to see what happened fully before giving the call.
Samoa
Name: Noah Perelini
Nationality: New Zealand
For Samoa, coming second in the pool would be a success. I don’t believe they will have too much trouble with the majority of their opponents, however the Springboks obviously pose the greatest challenge. Therefore, defeating Scotland, which I believe they have the ability to do, would be an extremely good outcome.
If Samoa played New Zealand, I would have to support the All Blacks. I have greater ties with New Zealand. Firstly, I’ve never been to Samoa nor do I hold citizenship there, moreover most of family are based in New Zealand and I’ll be soon attending boarding school there. In all honesty, my dream is to be an All Black, so I’ve admittedly got to back the home side while I can.
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I expect New Zealand to win the World Cup, plain and simple. They have a fantastic blend of new and old talent, and have been on superb form of late. Though they incurred a loss to Australia this past season, it was well timed to help reassess and humble the boys in black.
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As my favourite World Cup memory, I’d have to go with the 2011 final, mainly because it was the first tournament that I’d been engrossed fully in. It was great to see a team I supported win for the first time in far too long but also to win the title on home soil.
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I’m most looking forward to watching Kieran Read. Not only is he my favourite All Black but he’s also a personal inspiration, being unequivocally the best No 8 (my position) in the game at the moment. They utility and raw strength that he brings to the team is like no other.
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