Unbelievable World Cup quarter-finals

[Dave A]

What happened to the southern hemisphere? First Australia goes down to England. And now the All Blacks go down to France.

Talk was of an all southern hemisphere semi-final round. Now there is a northern hemisphere side guaranteed for the final. But what a day of upsets!

Australia have not looked so solid this year, but England was looking much shakier in the group matches. But England brought it home.

Far more incredible was the All Black loss. There is no doubt that the All Blacks have been the form side, but tonight it all went horribly wrong. And France! What determination. What discipline!

The better teams won on the day. But two out of two upset results - What went wrong?

I desperately hope tomorrow isn't a day of upsets too.

[duncan drennan]

I'm still trying to recover from watching India win out of two sub-continent teams playing in a T20 semi-final on South African soil, so I'm hoping that today goes well.

But yes, what a shock outcomes!

[duncan drennan]

Phew! Relieved by the end

[Dave A]

Some tense moments there for sure. I'm impressed we held our composure. It's where Australia and New Zealand let themselves down. I think.

An encouraging sign for things to come.

I loved John Smit's comment "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing."
Just two more good landings to go.

[Debbiedle]

Oh my goodness, it was tense at 20 all! This has been a weird world cup. John Robbies comment was funny! If it had been cricket, there would be speculations of bribery and corruption!

Don't get me wrong, I have no prob with SA beating NZ, but I did feel sorry for them, they just aren't able to get there - even being as good as they are!

[Marq]

Latest News just in

Johnny Wilkinson has controversially called upon the International Rugby Board to ban tries from rugby just days ahead of the World Cup final between England and the Springboks.

"I think it's only fair", said Wilkinson, who is regarded by many as the greatest Englishman since Winston Churchill, "You've got to reward the sides that make rugby worth watching-the teams that kick mainly drop-goals and penalties and can barely string seven passes together".

England's captain Phil Vickery backed up his teammate: "New Zealand and South Africa are ruining the game with their almost total reliance on tries and running rugby. I don't think the fans want to see energetic, free-flowing rugby at the expense of the good-old fashioned, stop-start, kick, lineout, kick, maul, kick, scrum, kick game".

England, who have exhilarated the crowds during this tournament, with many branding them 'the Brazil of Rugby Union', will present their case to the board on Wednesday, and hope that the men in charge will implement the new change ahead of the South African showdown.

"If South Africa win this tournament with their rubbish, boring brand of rugby then it will be a sad day", lamented Wilkinson, "You saw what they did to us in the group stages-scoring tries and all that other bullocks that goes against the tradition of the game".

"We just hope they're not going to be allowed to do that to us again", continued Vickery, "It was a disgrace. The scoring system means less talented teams who do nothing but score tries are rewarded almost with the same number of points as the skilful guys who are kicking penaltes galore. It needs to be stopped. It'll be the death of rugby."

South Africa star Bryan Habana meanwhile, has defended his country's style of play: "Not every team can be as exciting, inventive and flamboyant as England. We've got to make do with what we've got."

Stay tuned.

[Dave A]

Wicked!

By the way, anyone interested in some Australian wine?