By Kris Chesney, Saracens legend and current Southend Saxons star

THE World Cup is always a fantastic occasion and it’s great that it’s finally about to kick off again.

Even more exciting is that all of the top teams are now hitting their straps at just the right time.

I think you would expect that in the professional era when the preparation can all be geared to making sure you peak at the right time.

South Africa are playing well, so too are Australia and New Zealand, who I think will win it.

They have an experienced side now and time and time again when their backs are against the wall they still manage to get the victory.

I know they lost to Australia not so long ago but I wouldn’t read too much into that.

They also broke a bit of a hoodoo when winning the last World Cup in their own backyard and I’m confident they will be celebrating again this year too.

What’s going to be very interesting is who they end up playing in the final.

I would love it to be England but they’re in a very tough group with Australia and Wales.

But Fiji are also in there and they shouldn’t be forgotten about because they’ve been playing very well too.

SAME OLD ENGLAND!

ENGLAND have reverted to type with a very defensive squad.

I don’t think they’re going to be scoring many points but I also don’t think they are going to be blowing teams away either.

I think they’re going to be grinding out results and it will be intriguing to see how far that gets them.

MY THREE TO LOOK OUT FOR

THERE will be a number of top players taking part in the World Cup and I’m sure everyone knows all about the game’s superstars.

But there are three players in particular I’m really looking forward to seeing in action.

1 Sam Burgess, England: Sam’s inclusion in the England squad has been a big talking point.

Sam switched from rugby league to union in February last year and personally I do think this World Cup has come too soon for him.

But I think the RFU had to include him to justify bringing him in.0 He certainly has the skillset to do well in union and it takes time to fully adjust.

I had a spell playing League in 1998 when I went to London Broncos so I fully understand what it’s like.

Back then it was slightly different though and league was a very long way ahead of union, so I was twice the player when I went back to playing for Saracens.

2 Sonny Bill-Williams, New Zealand: Sonny-Bill is another player to have come to union from league and he’s a huge talent.

I had two years playing with him at Toulon and there’s still a lot more to come from him. He’s very exciting to watch and I’m sure he will respond to playing on a massive stage like the World Cup.

3 Jamie Cudmore, Canada: Jamie plays for Clermont in France. He’s very aggressive and a good leader. He will be one to keep an eye on.