Likely French squad in 2013:





FB: Cyric Stacul, Morgan Escare



WG: Damien Cardace, Freddy Vaccari,



WG/CE: Mathias Pala



CE: Vincent Duport, Jean Philippe Baile,



SO: Thomas Bosc



SH: William Barthau, Remy Marginet



LF: Jason Baitieri



2R: Olivier Elima, Gregory Mounis, Cyril Gossard, Andrew Bentley



PR: Remi Casty, Jamal Fakir, Mickael Simon, Julian Bousquet



HK: Eloi Pelissier, Kane Bentley,





The main rivals for 4th place are Wales, Papua-New Guinea, and Fiji.

[uWales [/umay have Lee Briers, Ben Flower and a few other fringe SL players.





[uPNG[/u will likely have a team that includes:





FB: David Mead (Gold Coast)



CE: Menzies Yere (Sheffield)



CE/SO: Jessie Joe Parker



SH: Paul Aiton (Wakefield)



2R: Jason Chan (Huddersfield), Neville Costigan (Newcastle)



PR: Makali Aizue (Halifax)



HK: James Segyaro (Penrith)



The full back, scrum half, second rowers and hooker are all first rate international standard players. The others listed are not bad players. But there are gaps in the team in terms of professional quality 80 minute players.





[uFiji [/ucould [ipossibly[/i have a squad that included:





FB: Lote Tuqiri (Wests Tigers)



WG: Marika Koriobete (Wests Tigers), Sisa Waqa (Melbourne Storm), Ratu Peni Tagive (Sydney Roosters),



CE: Darryl Millard (Catalans), Kevin Naiqama (Newcastle)



SH: Ryan Millard (Shellharbour)



2R: Wes Naiqama (Penrith)





The Fijian 3/4 line would be very formidable. Problem would be inexperienced nonprofessional forwards (which is why I would expect Wes Naiqama to play 2R not centre).



Jarryd Hayne, who was so important in the 2008 Fiji World Cup team, is likely to play for Australia in 2013.

As good a chance as Fiji PNG or Wales but I think they play England in the quarters at the DW so..

Briers has retired from international footy. One of coaching staff now.

Wales will have a good pack if the 3 guys at Wigan (Flower, Dudson & Lloyd) keep developing. The latter 2 could be particularly good.

It's certainly going to be a close one... On the case of Fiji they do have a few decent professional forwards in Jayson Bukuya, Kane Evans, Ashton Sims and Jay Masueli

France haven't had a good showing at a world cup for a long time. They need to step up their game. I think Fiji will be fourth but there's usually a surprise package, which could be Italy if they get a good team together.

I reckon Fiji will surprise everyone this WC. PNG should be stronger as well. Samoa and Tonga depends on who doesn't get picked for NZ.

It's a shame that it's pretty much the same French squad as the last WC. I just don't understand why more SL clubs don't sign french players. Cyril Stacul is going PIA, he would be an ideal signing for someone like Salford have last most of their back line. He's not going to be on much. France will never develop further than this until Sl clubs stop their obsession with Aussie rejects and start signing up some French players with potential.



I have to admit, the Fijian back line looks awesome.

Only four teams in it isn't there?

Italy will likely include:



FB: Anthony Minichiello (Sydney Roosters)



CE: Vic Mauro (Manly),



SH: Craig Gower (London)



LF: Rocky Trimarchi (Western Suburbs)



2R: Aiden Guerra (Sydney Roosters), Cameron Ciraldo SR (Penrith),



PR: Anthony Laffranchi (St. Helens) , Jean Christophe Borlin (St Gaudens),





Top quality players above. Italy lacks a class hooker and stand off. Rotation will also be an issue because only native resident Italians will be able to come off the bench.



France obviously has the advantage over all the other teams who will be competing for 4th place, of depth (relatively speaking).