Gareth Thomas: It may be harder to win 'Pool of death' than reach the final

I can't help looking at Pool A and thinking in a way that it's quite sad it's so strong. We're talking about three of the top teams in the world, three of the sides who could genuinely win the whole tournament, and one of them will get left behind in the group stage.

But in another way, it's absolutely brilliant - because it means right from the start we'll have pool games which are so relevant. In previous World Cups we've often seen pool games that are irrelevant in the early stages, but all of a sudden every game is important - even when playing Uruguay, because there's a huge chance that points difference will come into play.

And there's a big prize for whoever comes out on top, because when you look at the draw it'll probably end up being harder to win Pool A than it will be for the winner to then go on and make it to the final. I think it adds a lot of excitement.

Unfortunately, from a Welsh point of view, it adds danger of going out early as well. Effectively they're a home team - Wales play two of their home matches in Cardiff, and even playing the other matches at Twickenham they'll be going somewhere they're familiar with, and where they've won in the past.

It's not quite the advantage England will have, but it's not far off - and you'd hope that the two teams which feel most comfortable in that environment will qualify from the group.

Australia have one huge advantage going into the tournament, however: it's just a few weeks since they enjoyed a triumphant win in the Rugby Championship, beating New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina. Training and preparation are important in rugby, but there's simply no substitute for actual matches - that feeling of purpose, and being truly battle hardened and battle-ready.

The home nations are some way off that, as we saw in the warm-up matches. Nothing said it better than Scotland's game against France, when late-on they decided to run the ball instead of taking shots at goal that might have got them a victory. The mindset of a World Cup is so, so different to that - and the Southern Hemisphere teams will already be in that win-at-all-costs mode.

That's not to say that the Wallabies are favourites to win the Pool - you'd have to be a very, very wise man to pick out a favourite. If you were going to name anyone it'd have to be England. They're the host nation, they're the ones with home advantage for every game, playing in their most favoured environment.

And given that England take on Fiji in the opener while Wales take on Uruguay, both sides will have a match to get into the World Cup mindset before they take on the Aussies.

In the case of England, of course, that opening match could be very, very tough. Everyone's talking about the big three teams in the group, but Fiji have come to the World Cup with every intention of earning a big scalp, not to make up the numbers. You can't write them off: the Fijian team is packed with players who play top rugby in Britain and France, and yet suddenly when we talk about them as a nation we don't rate them.

So who will make it through? It's very difficult to see past England in this group. I think they've got the measure of the other sides, and they've turned Twickenham into a fortress of late. You can't really choose between the three sides on rugby ability, so psychologically you have to look at the pros and cons for the sides, and that favours the home team.

It'll be absolutely thrilling to watch, whatever happens. The group could well come down to a couple of kicks at goal here or there which go one side or the other of the posts. And with that in mind even those matches against Uruguay will be really important since racking up a big score might prove critical. Every point, every second of that game will be vital.