Probably supporting Argentina from now on, let's see how it goes!

 

Watching the rugby last weekend was nearly as painful as Dave Kearney having his dislocated finger shoved back in (after a few attempts). The tournament just doesn’t have the same appeal now that Ireland are out. But it’ll be slightly more relaxing to watch, I’ve been on the couch for 80 minutes, defending the line, making the tackles, pushing in the scrums and mauls – it’s been exhausting!

What we do have left is an all Southern hemisphere affair, with the Springboks taking on the All Blacks on Saturday to get things going. The match is going to be about a 9 on the Roy Keane intensity scale (where 1 is Roy walking his dog, and 10 is Roy when a journalists’ phone goes off in a press conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFulcDJDJEU ) There’s no secret about how the Springboks are going to approach the match – hits measured on the Richter scale, as much contact and set play as possible, and not much pace on the game. While the All Blacks will looking to speed the game up, and bring their backs into play as much as possible. The Springboks tend to run the ball more when they play New Zealand, with the realisation that penalties won’t build a big enough score to win. So it could be a good match but the All Blacks are favourites and should win.

Then Sunday sees the Pumas, fresh from battering Ireland, taking on Australia, who scraped through their match with Scotland thanks to a few bounces of the ball and fortuitous refereeing decisions. The Wallabies were the best thing since sliced bread in the pool stage, dispatching England and Wales with ease, and fancied to hammer Scotland. Now they are the unknown quantity, will the real Wallabies please stand up? I think that having Folau and Pocock back will make them a lot more dangerous. Argentina are the surprise package of the quarters, and could do a lot more in this tournament. I for one would love to see things shaken up a bit and have a new mane etched on the Webb Ellis trophy. They will do well to beat Australia though.

Saturday, October 24           
MATCH        TIME  (BST)    TV
New Zealand v    South Africa     4:00 PM   
Sunday, October 25           
MATCH        TIME  (BST)    TV
Argentina v    Australia     4:00 PM