Odwa and Akona Ndungane share their 2023 Rugby World Cup analysis ahead of Friday's tournament opener between hosts France and the All Blacks in Paris.
Odwa
“What a game to start with, with France kicking off against New Zealand. I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s going to be quite an exciting game and a lot of people don’t give New Zealand a chance, especially after their last warm-up game against the Boks.
“I think it’s going to be a very good game to watch, it could go either way. New Zealand are on the backfoot but they will come at the French team and do as much as they can to try and have a good start to the World Cup.
“Overall I think it’s going to be quite an exciting and open World Cup. If you look at Pool B, where South Africa is in a very tough group against Ireland and Scotland, those three teams are in the top five of the world rankings, and one of them won’t even go through to the quarterfinals.
“Which team will go all the way? I don’t know. It’s quite an open one.
“I’m excited to watch the Fiji team. They’ve had very good games leading up to the World Cup and I possibly think they could win the group and finish first.
“Argentina are another team who could possibly win the group with England and Japan.
“So overall I think it’s one World Cup where it’s too early to call. I think you have to see how the teams perform, but I’m obviously going to back the Boks to go all the way.”
Akona
“This one is the most exciting World Cup we’ve had so far, purely because there are about five teams that could go on and win. We don’t only have the two or three teams that are favourites to win, but it’s closely contested which is exciting for the fans.
“Looking at the game on Friday between France and New Zealand, New Zealand will come into the game as underdogs purely because of the way they performed against the Boks in that loss at Twickenham, and France being the host country and obviously beating the All Blacks two-years ago in Paris.
“But the pressure of playing at home and having never won the World Cup will play a big role. So I believe it should be a very exciting game, and hopefully the French side can go on and win that game which will be good for the country. The support will just move to another level.
“For the Boks, playing on Sunday against a very good Scotland side who’ve made a big transformation over the past couple of years, it’s not going to be easy. But the Boks are looking very, very good. They’ve built a very good squad with quality depth, lots of experience and have some exciting, youthful backs that can punish any team on any given day.
“I believe the Springboks have a very good chance.
“I think the winners of the World Cup will definitely come from either Pool A or Pool B because those are the strongest pools. In Pool C, Australia might not make it with Fiji and Wales looking very good as well. I think England might just make it out to the quarterfinals, behind Argentina as runners-up.
“As a proud South African, I’m hoping the Boks can do a repeat of 2007 and lift the trophy [in France] and be the first country to win it four times and the second to defend it.”
