{"id":320952,"date":"2023-08-03T04:25:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T04:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=320952"},"modified":"2023-08-03T05:59:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T05:59:44","slug":"legends-huge-call-on-world-cups-biggest-chokers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=320952","title":{"rendered":"Legend's huge call on World Cup's biggest 'chokers'"},"content":{"rendered":"

The northern hemisphere's top nations begin their preparations for the Rugby World Cup<\/a> in earnest on Sunday (AEST) with the first batch of warmup matches ahead of the tournament in France starting on September 9 (AEST).<\/p>\n

Wales will give a 100th cap to fullback Leigh Halfpenny in their match against England in Cardiff, while flanker Jac Morgan will captain the Welsh for the first time with Ken Owens out.<\/p>\n

Owens was ruled out of at least the World Cup's pool stage because of a back injury.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Summer Nations Series and Rugby World Cup on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1686922297603510272?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Scotland will also have a new captain, in Finn Russell, for its match against France at Murrayfield with regular skipper Jamie Ritchie missing through injury.<\/p>\n

Scotland has already played one warmup match, a 25-13 win over Italy last weekend.<\/p>\n

Italy is also playing again this weekend with a trip to Six Nations champion and Grand Slam winner Ireland.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> O<\/strong><\/a>fficial suspended after runner's 'embarrassing' effort<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Chappell says 'stupidity' behind 'sad' Aussie dearth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Jamaica sends Brazil crashing out of World Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

Ireland will be without star flyhalf Johnny Sexton for its entire warmup campaign<\/a> after he was handed a three game ban for misconduct.<\/p>\n

He will, however, be available for the start of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

World No.1 Ireland have never made it beyond the quarter-finals but 2019 world champion Tendai Mtawarira believes that is set to change in France.<\/p>\n

\"'Oh,<\/p>\n

"I believe that Ireland have learnt from their lessons," Mtawarira told the official Rugby World Cup podcast.<\/p>\n

"Everybody has been on about them choking at the World Cup so I'm sure it will play a key role in motivating them to go on and really perform.<\/p>\n

"The way they're playing right now, I don't see them getting knocked out come playoff time. I think they will go all the way.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Sean Maloney, Stephen Hoiles and Justin Harrison unpack a heavy Bledisloe Cup defeat and search for hope ahead of the return clash in Dunedin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/bledisloe-cup-blow-silver-linings\/embed?style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

"There has been improvements from the northern hemisphere sides, specifically Ireland and France. I don't know about England.<\/p>\n

"(France) can just dismantle any other forward pack on any given day. With a full strength team, they can really give a team like South Africa a tough time.<\/p>\n

"They're the only team that can match us up front, come scrum time and the driving maul."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The northern hemisphere's top nations begin their preparations for the Rugby World Cup in earnest on Sunday (AEST) with the first batch of warmup matches […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":316733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320956,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320952\/revisions\/320956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/316733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}