Pool B is an interesting group with South Africa the clear favourites.
Scotland and Samoa will be battling i tout for second place, but Japan and USA are both developing as Rugby nations and could produce a scare or two.
South Africa
Despite losing their last four games in the Rugby Championship, including a first loss to Argentina, South Africa are still the team to beat in this group.
The exciting Willie La Roux can produce moments of magic from anywhere and Victor Matfield and Eben Etzebeth drive the Boks in the engine room of a dominant pack. The 1995 and 2007 Champions can never be written off and will likely destroy their opponents in this group up front. The problem for the Springboks is that they are very one-dimensional. If they can’t dominate physically they often struggle to adjust to a different way of playing and this is something that will hurt them later on in the tournament.
For now though, you would expect them to be too strong for Japan and USA as well as being too well drilled for the Samoans and just too good for a Scotland team you just don’t know the ability of after a dismal six nations.
Scotland
As alluded to above, no-one knows what Scotland will turn up. A dismal Six Nations saw them lose all five games and drop to tenth in the world rankings. The potential has always been there with Stuart Hogg, who has been excellent in the last couple of years at full-back, new Fly-Half Finn Russell and brothers Richie and Jonny Gray in the second row. The problem has been putting it all into one performance.
Under Vern Cotter they are extremely well drilled but in the Six Nations this was their downfall as they were quickly worked out and struggled to implement a plan B. Russell was one player to come out of the tournament with a lot of credit and it is important he controls the tempo for the Scots if they are to beat the dangerous Samoans and survive this tricky group.
Samoa
For me, the Samoans are one the teams I’m most looking forward to seeing. Much like Fiji, they tackle hard, and have excellent ball skills, and will match anyone physically, including the South Africans.
They have made great inroads over the years but, much like Fiji again, there set-piece is a serious weakness. 51 capped Census Johnston, who plays for Toulouse, has come out of retirement and will be a bonus at scrum-time but it is something that Scotland will probably edge making that game a real forwards vs backs tussle.
In the backs the Samoans have some real talent including utility back Tim-Nanai Williams, who is an excellent runner with the ball, as well as scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’I, who Welsh and English fans will know very well following a previous spell at the Ospreys and his current spell at Northampton.
If the Samoans can master the set-piece then Scotland should be very worried, but either way the Samoans will be here to entertain.
The Rest: USA and Japan
Both these sides like to play fast, entertaining rugby. The USA have several ex American football players in their squad who are strong and explosive by trade and won’t be worried about the physical side of the game. The downside of that is their lack of time perfecting the skills of rugby. Set-pieces are likely to be ruthlessly picked apart by the better sides of the group and they will be relying on moments of magic from Takudzwa Ngwenya, the man we all remember for outpacing Bryan Habana in 2007 for that epic try. They will meet again, and the USA will be hoping for a repeat of that.
Japan will not be relying on their physicality but their pace will be something they attempt to utilise. Eddie Jones is now their coach and their line-out is something that has been worked on in an attempt to give them more ball. This is important for Japan as it brings into play there star player, Fumiaki Tanaka, who plays for the Super Rugby champions Highlanders. Whilst he is not a first-teamer, the scrum half will have learnt a lot from New Zealander Aaron Smith.