2007 PreviewRight now the Wallabies face a monumental assignment to sift through the wreckage of a shattered 2005 season - where national coach Eddie Jones was sacked after equaling Australia's worst losing streak in 36 years.
But as Australian Rugby Union CEO Gary Flowers recently outlined, the Wallabies have the player base to overcome the demons of 2005 and re-develop into a world rugby superpower in time for a 2007 World Cup assault in France.
At this point any one of the five rugby super powers - New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England and France - are well placed to be crowned world champions in 2007.
The tournament will consist of four pools of five teams, with the top two in each pool progressing to the knockout quarter final stage. Although not all the qualification matches have finished, teams who reached the quarter final stage at the last RWC receive automatic qualification.
The Wallabies have drawn the challenging pool B division, where their toughest assignment appears to be navigating a tightrope walk against Wales at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on September 15, 2007.
The match is scheduled to be played on the same hallowed turf where the Wallabies famously lofted the William Webb Ellis Trophy in 1999 after overcoming a gallant French outfit - and also the same ground where the Welsh recorded a stunning upset over Australia at the end of last November, their first victory over the Wallabies since 1987.
Bound to be a 72,500-seat sellout, the clash represents the Wallabies grand final of pool matches considering their recent poor result against the Welsh and the guaranteed parochial support of the home side's fans. Provided the Wallabies can win they should guarantee themselves a first-placed finish in Pool B.
The Wallabies opening game of the 2007 tournament will be against an Asian outfit still competing to qualify for the tournament, and will be played in the southern city of Lyon on September 8 at Gerland Stadium.
Australia is expected to breeze through this encounter against the relative rugby minnows, but the fixture also represents a chance to take in some of the culture on offer in France's third-largest city.
Famous for its tremendous “bouchouns'' or restaurants, the food on offer in the city is world-renowned, while Lyon itself is also rich in French heritage and history.
For their third pool match assignment the Wallabies meet Fiji in the town of Montpellier in the south of France on September 29 at La Mosson Stadium, a match Australia will again be expected to cruise through.
La Mosson Stadium is a 35,000-seat venue and played host to some of soccer World Cup fixtures in 1998.
To conclude Pool B fixtures the Wallabies meet an Americas outfit still to qualify for the tournament in the south-western city of Bordeaux, a city equally as famous for its fine wines as its passion for rugby.
Provided everything goes to plan the Wallabies should finish on top of Pool B with Wales in second place, setting up a showdown against either England or South Africa in the first quarter-final for Australia in Paris.
If the Wallabies are to progress to the semi-finals, they will follow a similar path to the one traversed in Sydney 2003, when they will meet New Zealand, again in Paris. The final of the 2007 World Cup will also be contested in the French capital city.
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