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England face a massive task
The 2007 Rugby World Cup kicks off on Friday evening in Paris when the hosts France take on Argentina.
Sky Sports rugby commentator Miles Harrison will be in the Stade de France calling the shots on that historic night and here on skysports.com he will give you his views on what is going on at the World Cup.
In his first column from France, Miles runs the rule over the four home nations as they prepare to take on the world again.
England
It is hard to retain the World Cup, no one has ever done it before, and the evidence is against England becoming the first team to do it. I think everyone would agree that we have seen nothing since the last World Cup that suggests England have any chance of retaining their crown. Even the current players and management would agree that recent performances weren't those of world champions.
But I think those same players will believe they can do it. In the build-up to the tournament you hear a lot of people talking about how a semi-final would be a good return for this group. But here is the key thing, to reach the top, you have to shoot high. That is what England's players will do.
I believe that this group of players, born from the universal writing-off of their chances, will have a belief or determination or a combination of the two, that they can go all the way. They have a strong desire to prove they can do it.
That said, you cannot argue that on the world scale of things, England are underdogs. They should however reach the quarter-finals and their job from there is to take one game at a time.
New Zealand are favourites to win the tournament and they, in contrast to England, have shown since the last World Cup that they have the attributes to win it. But you also talk about the sides in the frame to upset New Zealand and France, South Africa and Australia, on any given day, in a one-off scenario, can beat New Zealand.
England will say 'we can beat them too'. They got close to France recently at Twickenham and I think they would have a good chance against the Australians too. As for South Africa, yes it didn't go well on the summer tour, but that wasn't a full strength England team, far from it, and at times the back-up team pushed them hard. Looking in those terms, England cannot be ruled out and will feel if they can beat all of those teams on their day, they can also beat New Zealand.
It is not out of the realms of possibility but all of this will take a monumental effort and a very real shift from the recent performances seen from England.
Wales
Wales have a group from which they should qualify and a real bonus with their match against Australia taking place in Cardiff. It could be the moment that ignites their campaign.
Remember that Wales, at the last World Cup, were taking some flak before the famous game against New Zealand and then of course they were only a whisker away from beating the soon-to-be champions England, in the quarter-final.
Wales have not had the best preparation for this event, you can't deny that, and if you went into the bookies to place a bet on them to win the World Cup, it is fair to say you might get some funny looks.
They need to rediscover 'that game against England' because they have personnel to play rugby that can unsettle the very best. The game against Australia is a 50/50 call and matches between Australia and Wales are often closely matched. The Cardiff factor could be the swaying factor and if it ignites the Welsh campaign, then you never know how far they can go.
Ireland
Ireland have been much hyped as the strongest of the home nations if not of all of the northern hemisphere contenders.
There are two things that strike me about Ireland's chances. First of all, this is a hell of a group to get out of with both France and Argentina in it. The second thing is that on the recent evidence of their warm-up matches, that hype is not based on not too sound a ground.
Based solely on the way they played against Scotland and Italy, Ireland looked anything but finalists or semi-finalists, but of course there is more to it than that.
You have the sense that this group of players has been waiting for this moment. They came together a long time ago and have grown as a team with this World Cup the one they have been aiming at. They didn't take their Grand Slam moment in the Six Nations this season and so now we will discover if they have learnt from that or if in fact they are a team that simply cannot go the whole way.
Their time is nigh and the day of reckoning for a group of men is nearly upon them. Are they truly a great or just a very good team? We will soon see.
Scotland
Scotland will be too strong for Romania and so their chances will come down to the match against Italy.
Scotland have always reached the quarter-finals in the World Cup and Frank Hadden has rightly said a quarter-final is the priority again. And as I have said of the other teams, then you are in a one-off situation and Scotland have the ability to upset and so maybe a semi-final is within reach.
Standing in their way is a team that has beaten them though, Italy. Italian rugby is going through a good phase under Pierre Berbizier, an excellent coach who is getting the most out of this squad - he knows how he wants them to play.
Scotland seem to have addressed their issue of weakness against Italy by using the summer wisely, increasing their size and power. Of all the home nations, Scotland have produced the most positive warm-up spell, even though they were well beaten by South Africa. They showed in all of those matches that they were addressing the issues that undermined them in the Six Nations.
Scotland have to retain their discipline and avoid defensive lapses which give the opposition too many easy chances to accumulate points. Endless and stupid penalties as well as these six-minute bursts when they leak tries have cost them dear.
I have two hopes for this group. Firstly that we get a genuine occasion for Scotland v New Zealand at Murrayfield. Although I anticipate the All Blacks winning, a Murrayfield packed to the rafters for a World Cup match should be worth savouring. It certainly softens the blow to all those that say every match should be played in France. We could have two great occasions with this game and Wales v Australia in Cardiff.
My other great hope is that Scotland v Italy delivers a real shoot-out. With the power back in their game, I think Scotland could just be too strong for Italy, but it will be close.
