Rugby legends launch World Cup frenzy in Dubai

British rugby legends Jeremy Guscott and Scott Gibbs agreed to disagree with South Africa’s World Cup winner Joost van der Westhuizen that hosts New Zealand and not reigning champions Springbok are the hot favourites to win the Rugby World Cup (RWC).

The retired greats engaged in a verbal bout of sparring spiced with light-hearted banter as they launched OSN’s coverage of the third biggest sporting event in the world at the television channel’s studio at Dubai Media City on Tuesday.

OSN will bring RWC 2011 to viewers in the Middle East and North Africa providing live and exclusive coverage across all 48 matches in stunning high definition.

The seventh edition of the RWC will kick off in New Zealand on OSN Sports 1 HD from Friday with the final on October 23 at Auckland’s Eden Park Stadium.

OSN has assembled a world class team who will present what promises to be a spectacular tournament live from the OSN studios in Dubai sharing their passion for the sport, experience and in-depth rugby knowledge.

One of Britain’s leading sports presenters Jim Rosenthal will take the reins as anchor of OSN’s HD coverage. Jim has worked on 5 Rugby World Cups and was ITV’s anchor for the 1999, 2003 and 2007 tournaments. 

OSN reunites the British and Irish Lions centre pairing from the victorious 1997 tour of South Africa, Guscott and Gibbs who will be in the studio for the entire tournament.

South Africa’s 1995 World Cup winning scrum half Van der Westhuizen joins the team for the duration of the group stages, while renowned dual-code international Jonathan Davies is on board for the knockout stages. Other former internationals will be coming into the studio throughout the tournament.

Perhaps the only thing they could agree upon was being in Dubai doing commentary during RWC.

“To be in Dubai for the tournament is a huge thrill for me. The weather is beautiful. We can analyse the game and also see it live on HD. So it’s going to be an amazing experience because you get to feel exactly what the tournament is all about,” said Gibbs.

He is also relishing the prospect of taking on Van der Westhuizen. “I’ve bumped shoulders off the field and smashed a few ribs together on the field with Joost. It’s going to be interesting,” he said.

“I think the experience on the panel is going to be fun. I’ve been doing it now for eight years. We have an experienced team…that’s what I like. To have a conversation with somebody and agree to disagree and vice versa, than have somebody just saying yes or no,” said Van der Westhuizen.

Guscott would not miss being in New Zealand although he is used to being in the stadium while doing punditry for BBC.

“I would rather be here (Dubai) than New Zealand. One it’s sunny. Weather is fantastic for me. I love my golf and got family and friends here,” he said.

But they pulled out their daggers and did not mince words when ‘Emirates 24|7’ asked them who are the favourites to win the RWC.

Gibbs is confident Wales would go through to the knockout stages and predicted South Africa would struggle to qualify from pool D which also includes Fiji, Samoa and Namibia.

“I think for me the strongest, most physical group, most daunting group is pool D. It’s just because of the physicality of the South Sea islanders coupled with the brutalness of the South Africans makes that a very tough group for Wales,” he said.

“It is a bold statement I know because in the evidence of last 18 months South Africa are regressing as a side. They are not improving whereas Wales are improving as are Samoa,” said the Welsh great who was Player of the Series on the Lions tour of South Africa in 1997.

Van der Westhuizen, who jointly holds the Springboks record of 38 Test tries with Bryan Habana, naturally begged to differ.

“There is also a lot of experience. That’s what you need to win a World Cup. Can they handle the pressure, I think they can,” he said.

He added: “They did not play too well recently, reason being I think they tried lot of stuff going into the World Cup.

“Some worked, some didn’t work. To judge them on that performance I think isn’t quite fair.

“They showed in the last game they can beat the All Blacks. I think we got a very good chance.”

Guscott appears to be an admirer of South Africa.

“I will not write off South Africa because of their physicality, their intensity. They are very direct. They play a very simple game. Kick the ball in the half, pressurise, defend, defend, defend. Opposition gives a penalty away and they kick goal and scoreboard ticks over,” he said.

“Look what they did to New Zealand in Port Elizabeth four weeks ago. Australia have beaten South Africa twice but they did not play a full strength side in first game. They really did well against New Zealand two weeks ago. They got to be considered one of the favourites,” he added.

The former England great felt Samoa could be a “dark horse” but would not be surprised if they beat Wales.

“It would be against the odds but I don’t think we would be surprised,” he said.
England?

Giving a brief on England’s prospects he felt Argentina were a bit “undercooked” and skipper Lewis Moody’s injury was expected.

“Probably within the squad they knew it was going to happen and so probably they’ve been preparing themselves for that eventuality,” he said.

His advice to England was to go against Argentina as they did against Ireland in Dublin two weeks ago. “Lots of belief, play the game straight as they can, don’t make any mistakes and don’t bring out Argentina into the game,” he said.

“I really don’t think Argentina have prepared well enough as they did four years ago. As a professional you are used to be paid to do a job. You work hard and train together as a squad. This hasn’t happened with Argentina. While 26 of their 32 play top class rugby in Europe, I don’t think they are going to gel well enough to put in big performances,” said Guscott who was hailed as the ‘Prince of Centre’ by former England coach Clive Woodward.

The Springboks will be aim to do what no team has yet managed - to retain their World Cup crown.

Hosts New Zealand haven’t held the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft since the inaugural event in 1987.

When pressed for a final prediction, Guscott said: “I believe New Zealand will win .I can’t see them being beaten in Auckland.”

Meanwhile, OSN’s Head of Sport, Andy Warkman said: “OSN first brought rugby to the region and we are thrilled to again be showcasing Rugby World Cup this time in stunning HD. It’s going to be a fantastic six weeks.”

OSN also announced Emirates Airline will be the sponsor of OSN’s extensive coverage. Emirates, Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2011 in conjunction with OSN, are running the Emirates Flag-bearer competition where one lucky boy or girl between the age of 14-16 will be flown to New Zealand to lead one of the teams out to the pitch at Quarter Final 4.

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