Ignore form, this World Cup is just starting for Red Roses

It was the basketball great Kobe Bryant who best summed up the precarious status of the dead cert.

- Robert Kitson

It was the basketball great Kobe Bryant who best summed up the precarious status of the dead cert. His multitalented LA Lakers team came into the 2004 NBA finals as clear favourites to beat the less fashionable Detroit Pistons only to lose 4-1 in the series. "Talent doesn't get it done, you have to be able to execute," Bryant said. "When you have talent and you execute, that's when you win."

In other words there is no such thing in sport as an absolute certainty, no matter how good you are. Pretty much everyone is assuming England's women will prevail at this Rugby World Cup on the basis they have been unbeatable for the past few years. A record-equalling 30 wins on the trot, however, does not guarantee fulfilment over the next three weekends. The knockout stages have arrived and, to a great extent, the tournament starts here.