One year to go: How do the Rugby World Cup contenders rank?

With exactly a year to go until the start of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, let’s take a look at how the likely main contenders (taken from top eight in current IRB rankings) might fare in a year’s time.

NEW ZEALANDForm: WWDWWWWWWorld Cup Record: Best – Winners (1987, 2011), Worst – Quarter-finalists (2007)WC Bogey Team: France.

Les Blues knocked the All Blacks out in 2007 and so nearly spoiled the party in the final in 2011.

They’re in the same side of the draw next year, too, so a quarter-final encounter is far from out of the equation.

Most likely tabloid fodder: Sonny Bill Will…