KEY POINTS:
The familiar grounds, food and hotels will ensure France make the final, Rod Kafer said, but the former Wallaby centre is not 100 per cent sure if Australia are good enough to join them.
Kafer said the history of the World Cup says the host-nation always makes the
final but the French will have to watch out for the Pumas.
"The Argentinians are potentially a land mine for the French," he said.
He said South Africa have hit some form and the Wallabies "are a chance".
"You can't get away from the form of the sides and the way they've been playing. It doesn't determine who is going to win the World Cup but if you've got bad form, you're unlikely to find good form in the World Cup," Kafer said.
He said while the All Blacks played reasonably well in the Tri-nations, they would have liked to be in a stronger position heading into the World Cup.
"The Springboks have prepared pretty well and rested their players through the later parts of the Tri-nations and their form early on in the Tri-nations was pretty good. I think they'll be hard to beat," Kafer said.
He said the Boks have a great line-out and a solid scrum but are lacking a star first five.
"They have plenty of pace out wide and good defence - almost the full package," Kafer said.
He said Australia don't have as great a scrum and they're lacking pace on the wings.
There will be some expansive rugby, particularly in the south where the pitches are likely to be dry and hard, Kafer said.
" It will suit the All Blacks, the Springboks and the French," he said.
And the refereeing may play a role.
"On any given day, any referee can ruin a game of rugby and they've done it in the past. Having said that, some refs also have good days. It's almost a bit of a lottery and you need a bit of luck to go your way to be successful," Kafer said.
There could be some surprises and New Zealand supporters know all about that.
"Particularly back in `99 with the French. I think it was 24 - 10 at half time and then the game was turned on it's head with a few drop goals and a couple of tries," he said.
Kafer said the Wallaby management had already begun preparing for an All Black versus Wallaby final but that all went out the window.
"The cheering coming out of the Wallaby rooms was unprecedented," he said.
Final prediction
France versus South Africa or Australia.
Score: "It will be pretty close, in the 20s for both teams".
Rod Kafer's Wallaby career
Name: Rod Kafer
Born: June 25, 1971
Position: Centre
Debut: August 28, 1999
Points: 5, 1 try
Caps: 12
YOUR PREDICTIONS
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.
