People rave about the defensive effort in NZ v IRE, but if the first 5 minutes of SA v FRA are to go by it could be the best quarterfinal purely from the attacking rugby.
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Fucking hell. Whoever wins this match is winning the tourney
If they catch their breath in time
This match is 🔥🔥 I came to the only bar I could find leaning pretty neutral, but the unexpectedly large rugby crowd is so lopsided for France I'm cheering with the 4 Spring Boks fans. Of course my Houston Sabercats have a huge contingent of Saffa players, so I might be seeing some of these guys find their way here in a few years!
Oooooo we got ourselves a contest here!
What a final ten!
We love to see it.
Ok, WTF has Rassie cooked up that SA call a scrum from a free-kick when catching fairly deep in their own 22m?~~?~?
That was so quickly called by Willemse it must have been a pre-match decision; and the SA scrum wins the penalty too. This forces France to only do contestable shorter kicks or lose territory through penalties.
I didn't expect it to be this close. Does this mean the Wallabies actually aren't crap?
Lol, nah
Four teams vying for a chance to lose to New Zealand in the final.
Meh. Either France or SA will fancy their chances against them.
Still reckon there’s a chance of England walesing their way to a final.
NZ-SA or NZ-FRA will be a very good match.
Shame it’s gonna be England :D
We'll wish them best of luck in any case.
This is a better match than IRE v NZ so far. Which team is going to tire sooner?
Those pressure-cooker 30-phase defensive plays were 🔥 too tho.
That was a saucy bounce out of the scrum! Fiji seem to be having a lot of this today, scrambling to recover the ball when it just meanders out of control.
England shutting down all attacks here really effectively. And taking the 3, forcing Fiji to play even more desperately now
Ommggggg comoooon Fiji!
Itshappening.gif
Statement of intent from the boys in blue.
T F is going on, they'll be dead by half time if they keep up this pace.
Damn Eng gonna win this on these 3-pointers
Knock out rugby at its best. England with more experience at this
I was thinking it wasn't as exciting a game as yesterday's two but then that final quarter happened. I think we were a little lucky to get away with that intentional knock on not being a yellow, but I think Eng haven't played that well in a long while.
England keep getting better. Already written off for next week. But not by me
This Kolbe, is he made of Teflon?
His shit don't stick, that's for certain
Etzebeth charging straight through defenders like he's Jonah fucking Lomu.
Gutted for Fiji. Bricking it for tonight.
Oh God my fucking heart
My fucking ~~beverage~~ confidence for NZ in the final.
lol! Love the edit!
Does Bryan Habana talk even less sense than Sean Fitzpatrick?
SA intent on the hard way 2nd half
Allez les blues!
Aw man would've loved Farrell to have gotten a card on that disgusting knock
FUUUCCCKKK YEEESSSSS
Well that has ruined my year. Some weekend of matches.
Guess I’m Argentinian now.
Tbe NH folding the story for me. Really thought the 6n had turned a corner, alas
In fairness ireland and France could easily have won their games.
By “easily” I mean it didn’t take a hugely different set of circumstances, such as a ref decision, bounce charged down conversion etc.
Both of those games were won on the finest of margins, and it just so happened that it was the SH teams that won both. Replay both those games ten times and I reckon you get like five wins apiece or whatever
I'm thinking the only way to play with that kind of chaos and flair at the pace we saw tonight is to base it on a foundation of the kind of well drilled precision we saw last night. So maybe these two teams are a level above IRL and NZ.
Or maybe they're all four about the same level and it was just different game plans. Last night's was "keep possession" and tonight's was "get their defence scrambling"
That had to hurt.
Kick-off time! I love a good underdog, but I also have English ancestry to root for. As long as them match is competitive that's all I could ask for.
A little sloppy but great close by Fiji to put their first try of the match on the board!
Well. In tears. England ain't gonna hold SA next Sat. NZ for the cup imo!
Missing kicks going to be very costly here. Come on Fiji!