Semi-Final #1

In all honesty - if there are a couple of teams in the world that I know the least about...it's going to be France and Wales. France has only every drawn my attention because they tend to be the most consistent in getting the All Blacks where it hurts the most. But based on the last couple of games - I can do a bit of the position to position match ups...but let's not count my opinion as informed in this case.

My original prediction stands - Wales wins by 5. In the side by side line up below, Wales is on the left and France is on the right with the better of the match up bolded.

1. Gethin Jenkins / Jean-Baptiste Poux 
2. Huw Bennett / William Servat 
3. Adam Jones / Nicolas Mas 
4. Luke Charteris /  Pascal Papé 
5. Alun Wyn Jones /  Lionel Nallet 
6. Danny Lydiate / Thierry Dusautoir (c)
7. Sam Warburton (c) / Julien Bonnaire 
8. Toby Faletau / Imanol Harinordoquy 
9. Mike Phillips / Dimitri Yachvili 
10. James Hook / Morgan Parra 
11. Shane Williams / Alexis Palisson 
12. Jamie Roberts / Maxime Mermoz
13. Jonathan Davies / Aurélien Rougerie 
14. George North / Vincent Clerc
15. Leigh Halfpenny / Maxime Médard

Replacements:
  
16. Lloyd Burns  / Dimitri Szarzewski
17. Paul James  / Fabien Barcella 
18. Bradley Davies / Julien Pierre 
19. Ryan Jones  / Louis Picamoles 
20. Lloyd Williams / Francois Trinh-Duc 
21. Stephen Jones  / David Marty 
22. Scott Williams / Cédric Heymans 

You can see with the side by side why I have the feeling like Wales will slip away with this one. I think that Wales has a stronger side individually and because of stellar coaching - and their philosophy to go alcohol-free during the tournament, I think they have their priorities right. France is...well, France. I don't think they have the depth to go the distance. I think that Yachvili is not the right choice.

Players to watch for...Warburton has been playing like a superhero. Adam Jones, aside from Castrogiovanni from Italy, might be-arguably-could be-possibly is the best tight-head in the world. I highly expect to see France's scrum dismantled from minute one. Leigh Halfpenny has also been playing with a fire under his whites.

For France - well - if Maxime Médard's chops were worth a try each, I would say that France would have a chance. However, as it stands, they've only been cashing in as one. I actually doubt Dusautoir's leadership more than anything. I don't think they will have it in them to compete against a team who can stand them up in set piece. England wasn't a challenge - are you kidding me?