Latest News On The Rugby World Cup 2007 After The Second Week

In the last article we covered the grand opening of the Rugby World Cup 2007 and the results of the first 13 matches, played in the first week of the tournament. In this article, we pick up from there and record the results of the next 10 matches, played in the second week of the tournament.

Since the 13th match, in which South Africa gave England a hiding, another ten games have been played. The 14th match of the tournament was New Zealand versus Portugal. The Portugese fought the whole time and even managed to sneak a try past the All Blacks, which in itself was quite a feat. The All Blacks were far too god for them and ran in Raquelspeller tries, without too much effort. The final result was 108 - 13, which is the highest score recorded, so far. This result gave New Zealand an easy 5 points, and elevated them to the top of the log with a full 10 points, from 2 games.

The 15 th game was Wales against Australia and the Welsh never let the Aussies walk all over them. The Aussies only managed 4 tries to 2 from Wales, but still earned a full 5 points, which also placed them at the top of the log, in Pool B, with Australia, with 10 points.

Match 16 was played between Ireland and Georgia, but the Irish were unable to stamp their authority on the game and only managed to squeak in 2 tries against 1 from Georgia. The final score was 14 - 10, to Ireland, but they are going to have to elevate their game a lot, if they want to beat the likes of France and Argentina. They earned 4 points, but gave 1 away, to Georgia.

The next match, the 17th of the tournament, was Fiji versus Canada, played on the 16th of September. Fiji battled to overcome the Canadians the end result was only 29 -16, with 4 tries to 1.

Next up was the 2 tough South Seas teams doing battle. Samoa faced Tonga and the match was expected to be very physical, particularly amongst the burly forwards. I thought that Samoa would be victorious, but surprisingly Tonga got an upset victory with a score of 19 - 15. Tonga scored the only try of the match.

Also played on the 16th was the match between France and Namibia. France were expected to rally their troops after losing to Argentina in the opening game and show that they were still to be taken seriously. This was their opportunity against minnows, Namibia and that is exactly what they did. They ran in 12 tries to 1, won by 87 - 10 and picked up 5 valuable points. But is it a case of too much, too late, or can France still remain in contention?

The 20 th game was Scotland versus Romania. Scotland were expected to easily win this game and they did. The end score was 42 - 0, with 6 tries to nil.

Italy played Portugal in the 21st match of the World Cup 2007 and in my books this outcome was a toss up between the 2 fiery minnow teams. Both had showed their enthusiasm and determination in earlier games and were very evenly matched. Surprisingly, Italy ran all over Portugal and were convincing winners with a final score of 31 - 5. Italy scored 3 tries and Portugal were only able to get 1.

The 22nd game was played in Cardiff, between Wales, in their home grounds and Japan. Well, this match was also expected to be a walkover for Wales. Playing at home against sadly outclassed Japan, Wales should have run in big scores against the Japanese. This they did, managing 11 tries in the process. Japan failed to score any tries and the final score was 72 - 18, to Wales, netting them a full 5 points.

The 23rd match and the last for the second week, was France against Ireland. It was the second match in the week for France and after hammering Namibia a few days earlier, they had a far bigger game on their hands with Ireland, but they pulled through, by beating the Irish 25 - 3. France scored 2 tries and Ireland 0. After their disastrous beginning to the Rugby World Cup and after considerable criticism, France have rallied their troops and are still in contention for a top berth.

The real competition is in Pool D. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand seem certain winners of their pools, but France may have irrepairably damaged their chances, because they can only earn a max of 5 points in the next encounter, with Georgia, whereas Argentina still have 2 games in hand and could possibly earn 10 more points, putting them on 19 and ahead of France with 15.

So, after the second week of the Rugby World Cup 2007 and after 23 matches, the pools look like this:

Pool A : South Africa 9, Tonga 8, England 4, Samoa 1, USA 0
Pool B : Australia 10, Wales 10, Fiji 10, Japan 1, Canada 0
Pool C : New Zealand 10, Scotland 10, Italy 8, Romania 1, Portugal 0
Pool D : France 10, Argentina 9, Ireland 9, Georgia 1, Namibia 0

So, at this stage of the Rugby World Cup 2007 tournament, 44 teams have met, in 22 matches and the point standings, are as follows. Points/Games

New Zealand 10/2, Australia 10/2, Fiji 10/2, Scotland 10/2, Wales 10/3, France 10/3
South Africa 9/2, Argentina 9/2, Ireland 9/3
Tonga 8/2, Italy 8/3
England 4/2
Samoa 1/2, Romania 1/2, Georgia 1/2, Japan 1/3
USA 0/2, Canada 0/2, Namibia 0/2, Portugal 0/3

If I may hazard a guess at the quarter finals, I would say this scenario, is almost assured.

Winner B vs Second A definitely Australia vs probably Tonga or England

Winner C vs Second D definitely New Zealand vs probably France or Argentina

Winner A vs Second B almost definitely South Africa vs almost definitely Wales or Fiji

Winner D vs Second C probably Argentina or France vs almost definitely Scotland

I would even go as far as suggesting that the semis end up being

Australia vs New Zealand and South Africa vs Argentina

This would definitely say something about the superiority of southern hemisphere rugby

All being equal, New Zealand must surely beat Australia and play South Africa in the finals, but rugby is a strange game and anything can happen, especially as we are only half way through the tournament.

Saturday sees South Africa up against Tonga, but word is that the main Springbok players will be rested, until the quarter finals and Bob Skinstad and the "dirt trackers" will do battle against both Tonga and USA the next week. This is just a precautionary measure by Jake White to prevent any unnecessary injury to the star players. Then, Schalk Burger will also re-join the team. They will then be brought back to contest the quarter finals, the semis and any further ranking. We just hope that the 'Boks don't take the threats of Tonga and USA too lightly, but by the strength of the replacements, on the bench, it doesn't look that way at all.

Derek Robson is an up and coming, South African, internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success, on the internet. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African business, list building, affiliate marketing, the law of attraction, rugby and general topics, check his blogsite, at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness

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