We already know seven of the eight quarter-finalists: Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and South Africa. They are the teams with two blameless victories.
The fun starts with the thrilling 31-31 draw between Australia and the USA.
The Wallaroos are the short-odds favourites to advance: they have 5-point lead in the pool table (yes, this is still rugby), plus a massive superiority in onfield points. But you never can tell.
The Eagles’ one advantage is, they play Samoa next weekend; the Wallaroos take on England. Can England keep a clean sheet? They don’t often.
So the key games are:
Saturday September 6: USA v Samoa and England v Australia.
I’m afraid several of the other sides are left playing for pride.
Structures
The way this RWC is built means only a few pool-stage games were likely to be tight. That is par for the course. Each pool of 4 consisted of the top 16 ranked nations (except Brazil replacing NL). The attainment gaps between 1st and 16th remain unbridgeable.
No easy solution available.
There have been close games, notably between South Africa and Italy and Ireland and Spain.
By the way; our friend at ladiesrugbyclub.blogspot.com gives a detailed and critical analysis (dated 31st August) of all that is wrong with women’s rugby in Italy. A few matters can be corrected with a change of approach; most can’t, for example the quality of coaching. His is a salutary warning.
The remaining matches:
September 6
Canada v Scotland
Wales v Fiji
September 7
Japan v Spain
Italy v Brazil
New Zealand v Ireland
France v South Africa
There are some tasty confrontations here. How close can Ireland get to exploiting NZ weaknesses (line-out, field kicks, etc)? One Kiwi critic has offered any number of shortcomings in their performances.
Can South Africa build on their confidence to blast a few holes in French defences? How far can Scotland get in throwing doubt on Canada’s untroubled advance to the final?
This third and last round has plenty to offer. Grounds are likely to be packed full again. You may need a drone to see the Brighton match.
