The Rugby World Cup is heating up in France, with attention starting to turn to the knockout stages as the respective pools begin wrapping up. At this stage, World No.1-ranked side Ireland and defending champions South Africa are the joint-favourites in the Rugby World Cup betting — and they could meet in the final at the Stade de France on October 28.
The Springboks and Ireland have, of course, already played each other at this tournament — with Andy Farrell’s men coming out on top with a 13-8 victory after a nerve-jangling 80 minutes in Paris. Despite the low scoreline, both sides had thousands inside the stadium and millions watching from home on the edge of their seats, and it was nothing short of dramatic as Jack Crowley’s late penalty sealed a titanic win for Ireland.
There’s no doubt it was one of the best games we’ve witnessed thus far, and very few would oppose a rematch between South Africa and Ireland in the final after what we saw at the Stade de France recently. But there is still a long way to go before the showpiece match in Paris, and a lot could happen.
So, let’s look back at some of the other standout fixtures from the pool stage.
France 27-13 New Zealand
The opening game of the Rugby World Cup saw a blockbuster clash between hosts France and three-time winners New Zealand at the Stade de France. Les Bleus had the chance to make a statement against the All Blacks as they entered the tournament as the favourites to win the sought-after Webb Ellis Cup.
Pressure was on France to get the win, however, and it wasn’t as easy as the scoreline suggests. Fabian Galthie’s side went behind after just two minutes and had to fight back twice before ultimately beating New Zealand 27-13. Les Bleus put 18 points on the board in the final 25 minutes thanks to two tries, a conversion and two penalties.
Ireland 82-8 Romania
Being ranked the best side in the world comes with an added weight of expectation, but Ireland are living up to the billing thus far — and this 82-8 win over Romania in their opening game at the Stade de Bordeaux was a new record win in a World Cup fixture for the Irish.
It looked like an upset might have been on the cards when Gabriel Rupanu gave Romania an early lead over the reigning Grand Slam champions. But it was one-way traffic from there as Johnny Sexton, Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Peter O’Mahony bagged two tries each, while Jamieson Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan, Rob Herring and Joe McCarthy added to the rout.
France 96-0 Namibia
Namibia have been on the end of some heavy losses in their six previous Rugby World Cup appearances, including the biggest rout in the tournament’s history when they lost 142-0 to Australia in 2003. Now they have added another hefty defeat to the record books with this 96-0 thrashing at the hands of France.
The Africans just couldn’t contain Les Bleus and nine different try scorers got on the board for the hosts. Damian Penaud racked up three tries, while Jonathan Danty, Charles Ollivon and Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored braces. Thibaud Flament, Antoine Dupont, Baptiste Couilloud and Melvyn Jaminet were also on the scoresheet.
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South Africa’s dominant 76-0 win over Romania and Wales’s 40-6 win over Australia to all but confirm the Wallabies exited the competition in the pool stage for the first time ever, are worth noting. Portugal also picked up their first-ever World Cup win with a 24-23 victory over Fiji.
