Former England rugby player, Matt Dawson gives his thoughts on the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
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00:00 What are your thoughts on the current England set-up?
00:18 Yes, they got off to the best possible start and I think we're all probably, England fans are relieved that they did get off to that start because of where England rugby was, ninth in the world, losing games left, right and centre.
00:38 This was a real shot in the arm, it was a momentum builder, it was great for the confidence of the team because they've been talking a great game, they've been talking about how it's going so well in training but not seeing it on the pitch.
00:51 Big games coming up in the few weekends to give their confidence in attack and scoring some tries, getting some momentum. Huge game against Japan which enables England to pretty much put their foot into the quarter-finals where the intensity gets even higher,
01:15 the risk and reward even greater and the consequence is enormous. You've got to embrace that, you've got to be excited about that and I'm sure the players will be over the next few weeks.
01:30 And so just building on top of that, do you have any predictions not only for the England team in this World Cup but indeed the whole tournament as well if England were not to go on and replicate what you did 20 years ago?
01:42 I think it would be a phenomenal effort for England to win this World Cup and I'm not necessarily saying that because of how England are performing, it's more about France, Ireland, South Africa, all blacks.
02:01 There are some unbelievable teams on tip-top form at the moment which is going to make life really, really difficult for the likes of England, Wales, Australia, Scotland who are maybe just that little tier behind the four.
02:18 However, England could find themselves in a quarter-final, England and Wales could find themselves in a semi-final rather and anything can happen. A missed time tackle and a red card, the game changes and at semi-final level I can't see a team with 14 men winning the game.
02:39 So, it's never a foregone conclusion particularly in this modern game and England do have a chance but I think a few things might just have to go their way in order for them to win it.
02:53 My predictions will be South Africa, it will be France, Ireland, New Zealand in that order.