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Home / Sport / Rugby / Rugby World Cup

Your World Cup predictions: 'Bull' Allen

24 Jul, 2007 10:25 PM3 mins to read

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It's only weeks away from the Rugby World Cup and we want to hear your predictions of who will win. Who do you think will be in the final and what do you think the score will be?

We'll run your predictions online and you could be the winner by picking the right score.

The winner gets to the right to call themselves the Rugby Brain of New Zealand... and our sports team at nzherald.co.nz will also rustle up a prize for the most accurate prediction.

KEY POINTS:

Here are Mark "Bull" Allen's views:

Allen is more confident, heading into the World Cup after last weekend's win over the Wallabies.

"That was the second most important game of the year for the All Blacks, the World Cup final being the most important, of course," Allen said.

Australia is the nemisis of the All Blacks at times and the win was a huge psychological advantage heading into the World Cup, he said.

"Particularly that fella, the best referee in the world of course, George Greegan. It was good to see him silenced, especially on his last referee apointment in New Zealand," Allen said.

The ABs got things right on Saturday night and it was a relief to see some form heading into the World Cup, he said.

"We were playing a lot of lateral rugby but on Saturday we got some forward momentum going and some pick-and-goes," he said.

He said the All Black's scrum is strong but line-outs will be the key.

"You can generate a lot more off a line-out because you have more space," Allen said.

He said the Australian scrum was out-classed on the weekend, while the All Black's scrum is looking solid.

"Our mate Matt Dunning, the lawn mower man, the grass nibbler, he got pinged and rightly so. He'd look good rolling down the beach but doesn't look good collapsing all the scrums," he said.

Carl Hayman out-classed Dunning, and as a former prop, Mr Allen said that was a delight to watch.

He said the team selection was a bit surprising and Piri Weepu and Troy Flavell could be disappointed.

"They were with the squad the whole time, they've had match time," he said.

He said it must be frustrating but one thing about Graham Henry and co, they seem to get it right.

"I'm 100 per cent behind those guys, they're doing a fantastic job," he said.

One thing the All Blacks have to watch out for is the danger of losing key people like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter to injury.

"That could change the whole World Cup for us," Allen said.

Everything points to the All Blacks meeting Australia in the semis.

"They're the danger team. If we pass them in the semis then we'll win it. I'm not saying it's a 50/50 call, I think we've got the wood on them," Allen said.

But Mr Allen said if the All Blacks are down one per cent and the Australians are up one per cent that could be enough for the All Blacks to lose.

For the final, Mr Allen is picking an All Blacks versus France clash.

"They're going to be pretty hard to topple on their home ground. In terms of world rugby, that would be an ideal final. That certainly wets the whistle and gets us pretty excited," Allen said.

Mark "Bull" Allen's prediction

Final: All Blacks vs France
Result: All Blacks by "hey, mate, 1 is as good as 100 in a final so I don't care"

Mark "Bull" Allen's All Black career
(Source: www.allblacks.com)

Full Name: Mark Richard Allen
Born: July 27, 1967
Position: Prop
All Black Debut: July 31, 1993
Matches: 27
All Black points: 10, 2 tries.

Discover more

New Zealand

What is your prediction for the 2007 Rugby World Cup?

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