2011 Rugby World Cup: Quarterfinals Review
The Rugby Union’s premier world event's quarter-finals have concluded after the top eight teams of the tournament contested with each other for their place in the top four of the 2011 Rugby
World Cup (RWC) during their October 8 and October 9 encounters.
Four quarter-final matches were played during the weekend, with two matches being played each on Saturday and Sunday. Ireland, England, Springboks and Argentina ended up on the losing sides,
which has also ended their 2011 RWC campaign.
While on the other hand Wales, France, Wallabies and All Blacks; have progressed to the top four of the tournament. All Blacks is the only team, which is still to suffer a defeat in the tournament,
while the remaining three teams have conceded a game each, apart from France, who lost two of their pool matches. All Blacks defeated France in their pool A encounter and they suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Tonga in their last pool match of
the tournament.
In the first quarter-final match, the top qualifying team of Pool C, Ireland, took on the second qualifying team from the pool D, Wales. Ireland defeated the 2011 Tri Nations champions, Wallabies
in their pool match and started the match as favourites. However, Wales had other plans as they outplayed Ireland from the game with a final scorecard reading 22 – 10. The match was played at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on Saturday.
The second match on Saturday was played between France and England. France finished at second position in pool A while England finished on top of pool B. France took revenge for their former
two semi-final defeats from the England, as they thrashed them by seven points at Eden Park, Auckland.
England was left trailing by six points at the end of the first half, as they regrouped in the second half to achieve a difficult task. The final scorecard read 19 – 12 in favour of France.
The win has helped France to climb three positions in the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) World Rankings from eighth to the fifth position.
In the third quarterfinal match, the defending champions, Springboks, title defence campaign was put to an end by 2011 Tri Nations Champions, Wallabies. The final scorecard read 11 – 9, as
Wallabies regained their second place on the IRB World Rankings.
In the last quarter-final of the tournament, 2011 RWC hosts, All Blacks defeated Argentina 33 – 10. At the end of the quarter-finals, the southern hemisphere team will compete with each other
in the semi-final, while the northern hemisphere teams will take each other on in the other semi-final.
The semi-finals will be played during the coming weekend on October 15 and 16 respectively.
Tags: