Rugby World Cup 2007

Five weeks tomorrow England will announce the team to play Wales in their opening match of the Six Nations. And while the coaching team remains the same, there is bound to be movement out on the pitch. World Cups tend to be watersheds. Two players - Mike Catt and Jason Robinson - have retired from international rugby and are out of contention but others in England’s World Cup final starting line-up could also be vulnerable to the charge of the golden generation.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/12/23/srackf223.xml

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This was a weekend of upsets in the quarters at the rugby world cup. The only game that went the predicted way and barely so

Was the South Africa Fiji game. Seems to me that some teams have mastered the ability to peak just at the right time. The Newzealand all blacks have

Again failed to live up to their promise and and disappointed their legion of fans.

Most disappointing however was the wallabies loss to Johnny Wilkinson again. I think the irb will have to come up with a rule about kicking because quality of play suffers when such important games are won by penalty kicks.

Only The springboks who were favourites won their game but barely. Fiji definitely gave a good account of themselves.

The final score of 37-20 hardly tells the story of a dramatic, bone-shaking quarter-final at the Stade Velodrome in which South Africa just about preserved the reputation of the southern hemisphere, two thirds of whom are now on the way home.

But it was the tightest of squeezes.

There is no doubt about it. The southern hemisphere giants have been taken out of their comfort zone in the knockout stages at this World Cup.

England had powered past Australia 24 hours earlier on the back of their forward domination on this same ground.

The Springboks had expected to do much the same to Fiji.

After all, there is no substitute in international rugby for putting in the hard yards and in Jannie Du Plessis, Os Du Randt, Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger South Africa have power to burn.

“Keep it short, keep it boring and put some points on the board,'’ was how centre Jaque Fourie had declared the Springbok intentions.

They had no desire to be caught in a sling-it-around, sevens-style points-fest.

Easy to say, not so easy to do against a Fijian side who epitomise what attacking, entertaining rugby is all about, but who have added a touch of steel to their undoubted style.

At times in the second half South Africa were even sucked into off-the-cuff, undirected rugby of their own.

That is part of the reason the Pacific nations have caused such a stir at this tournament.

Opponents simply do not know what is coming next. It makes for unpredictability, even if tries from Fourie and a typical, close-range burrowing effort from John Smit had given South Africa a largely expected 13-3 interval lead.

Springbok power would see them romp home from there, or so we thought.

That was not allowing for the brilliance of such as Seremaia Bai, Seru Rabeni and excellent scrum half and captain Mosese Rauluni.

Nor for two magical tries in two bewildering minutes from Vilmoni Delassau and Sireli Bobo and that with Fiji down to 14 men, Rabeni having been sin-binned.

True, ultimately, South Africa’s forward power saw them to safety, allowing JP Pietersen and Juan Smith and Butch James to score touchdowns. But the sight of South Africa opting for scrum after scrum to run down the clock, in rugby’s version of wasting time by the corner flag, told of their concern.

The good news for England is that Fiji’s intensity and willingness to have a go, to greet collisions with collisions, caused South Africa all sorts of problems.

Who knows, that knowledge might come in handy come the final in two weeks’ time.

If the Tongans play anything like they did against the spring Boks then England better prepare themselves for probably their most bruising game at this world cup. It is telling that the holders of the cup are finding themselves playing catch up with the other teams. Tonga is not an overnight success however they have a competent team that loves to tackle very hard.

England will have to take the game to them from the very beginning if they are to have a chance of winning this game. England have not deluded themselves that a patchy performance against Samoa last weekend has cleansed all the ills from their system, or silenced all the inner demons, nor wholly restored a sense of well-being and confidence.

My prediction whoever wins it will surely deserve it.

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New Zealand 108 Portugal 13

Long after the final whistle, and with only a handful of supporters still lingering in the ground, the unused squad players of both New Zealand and Portugal strolled out into the sunshine of the Stade Gerland for a light workout. The New Zealanders had brought a football, as they often do, so the Portuguese challenged them to a game. Final result: Portugal 2, New Zealand 1. Small comfort for the Portuguese after a 16-try hammering by the All Blacks, but a marvellous cameo for the Rugby World Cup and the spirit of the event as a whole. When the tournament reaches its business end, the destination of the Webb Ellis trophy will be decided in a clash of rugby titans, but Saturday in Lyon was a chance to celebrate the sport’s wider and more colourful tapestry.

In which light, the game’s authorities would do well to heed the words of Portuguese coach Tomaz Morais, whose appeal to maintain the status quo of a 20-team format, in the face of suggestions that it should be cut to a 16-team event in 2011, was a heartfelt warning that the World Cup should not become a cosy club for rugby’s self-perpetuating elite.

“It was an excellent day for rugby in Portugal and an excellent day for rugby across the world,” said Morais as he reflected on a match in which his side had collected a full house of try, conversion, penalty and dropped goal against the tournament favourites. “Rugby has to evolve. This is what the World Cup is for.”

His view was echoed by All Blacks coach Graham Henry, who said: “Portugal will go home a better team because of their exposure to better teams. We’ve got to give them that opportunity.”

Portugal achieved their aims of scoring a try — collected by a delirious Rui Cordeiro in the 48th minute — and of preventing a record score by New Zealand. Morais had hoped to keep the All Blacks’ scoreline below 100, but the exhaustion of his players made the defence increasingly permeable as the match wore on.

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Samoa expect leading players Henry Tuilagi, the former Leicester No 8 bound for Perpignan after the Rugby World Cup, and Bath outside-half Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu to be fit to face England on Saturday in Nantes. Both players missed Sunday’s surprise 15-19 defeat by Tonga after sustaining shoulder strains in Samoa’s first Pool A game against South Africa the previous week. However, Samoa, who sit second from bottom in Pool A, will still have to check on the fitness of full-back Gavin Williams later in the week. The New Zealand-born player fractured a bone in his hand against Tonga and is considered doubtful. Michael Jones, the head coach, said he had already decided to call for one replacement after Justin Va’a, the prop from Glasgow Warriors, pulled a calf muscle in training last Friday.

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