Who's hot….and who's not!

In a new regular feature, we look at who should be getting a visa for New Zealand and who should be packing for an unwanted vacation.

With the World Cup fast approaching, we take a look at who should be packing their kit for New Zealand and who should be packing their sunblock for an unwanted vacation.

They're so hot right now

Quade Cooper and Will Genia
The Reds half-back duo set the Super Rugby season alight with their attacking genius, leading the Queenslanders to their first title of the professional era. There was more of the same to come in the first Tri-Nations Test as the Wallabies' backs, under the impetus of Cooper and Genia, put the Springboks to the sword.

Manu Tuilagi
The youngest of the famous five Samoan brothers was in the news for all the wrong reasons not long ago after introducing Chris Ashton's jaw to his right fist. But that flare-up was no more than a speedbump in the Leicester centre's meteoric rise. Ashton and Tuilagi have patched up their differences and England manager Martin Johnson has been positively gushing over the 20-year-old's impact in his senior team as he makes the step up from the Saxons. Our sources tell us he'll start at 13 against Wales on Saturday. Expect fireworks.

Cory Jane
Three weeks ago things weren't looking good for the Hurricanes flyer, as first he failed to make the All Blacks' first-choice 30-man squad and then suffered a finger injury. But a stellar performance against the Springboks – complete with two tries – has put Jane back in contention for the World Cup squad with the national coaches singing his praises. Hosea Gear is likely to get a run this weekend and will need to impress.

Argentina and Italy
All the World Cup kits have been released (except for Namibia) and we reckon the Pumas and the Azzurri are going to be stylin' in New Zealand. Trust the Italians to come up with some cool threads – they always do. Samoa's floral effort isn't bad either.

The Sharks girls
They're hot. They dance around the Currie Cup touchlines in lingerie…enough said.

They're colder than a wet winter night in Dunedin

Matt Giteau
That loss to Samoa didn't do much for Giteau's standing in the Wallabies' camp as Robbie Deans saw fit to drop him in the aftermath. There's no sign of him in this week's squad to travel to Auckland either. His form from the kicking tee hasn't been great in a gold jersey over the last year or two and the Brumbies' poor season hasn't done much for his confidence either. He might be flying off to Toulon sooner than expected.

Morne Steyn
Are we being too harsh? It's difficult to look good behind a pack that's going backwards, but by all accounts Steyn has been a far cry from the player that kicked the Boks past the British and Irish Lions. The common theory is that his confidence is down and with Pat Lambie and Butch James offering Peter de Villiers interesting options at 10 for South Africa, Steyn's future in green and gold has become the topic of much speculation.

Fiji
The flying Fijians had us all going bananas at the last World Cup as they upset Wales and then almost did the same to the Springboks in the quarter-finals. But this time things might be a little harder as the cash-strapped Islanders are still struggling to find a sponsor, not to mention the ongoing troubles surrounding travel bans imposed on a handful of their players due to their links to the military government. No five-star hotels for the Fijians then….

All those Kiwis who aren't excited about the World Cup
We couldn't believe the story when it first arrived via the wires at our HQ. A nationwide online poll found only 37 per cent of New Zealanders were looking forward to the tournament, 35 per cent were not and the remainder had no feelings either way. Eh? Something seems amiss. If the recent FIFA Football World Cup – when die-hard round-ball haters were turned into vuvuzela blowers overnight – is anything to go by, the numbers should grow exponentially once the tournament kicks off. We certainly hope so.

The RFU
We're sick and tired of having to cover stories about political wrangling and dummy-spitting at England's governing body, which looks more and more like an old-boys club by the day. Corporate communications director Peter Thomas was so fed up with the situation that he recently packed his bags and walked out. The RFU are still without a permanent chairman, chief executive, finance director or head of human resources and they are no nearer to deciding how a performance director will fit into the management structure. Struth…

Feel free to use the space below to tell us who YOU think is smokin' and who is jokin'