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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hong" data-source="post: 1213697" data-attributes="member: 537">There doesn't seem to have been any thread on the rugby World Cup at all in the last month. Terrible omission. So here's an attempt to redress things, now that the silliness of the pools is out of the way.Impressions on the quarterfinals:NZ v SA: the Blacks are back. That was a win with the authority you'd expect from a champion side, and shows that they can go all the way. Made all the better considering how many stars weren't present (Umaga, Lomu, Cullen, Wilson, etc). Going by this match, you'd expect them to trounce Austria next week in the semi. Complacency may be their biggest enemy; but given their experiences of crashing out in the last 3 World Cups, including the biggest boilover evar in 1999, they'll no doubt be aware of this.Austria v Scotland: terrible first half for us Austrians, but we improved a lot in the second. Scotland were supposed to be easy pickings, but clearly nobody told them. It took until three-quarters of the way through for the result to be beyond doubt, and the Scots were fighting all the way. Unfortunately, match fitness seems to be the key dividing factor between the top teams and the rest, and Scotland just couldn't keep it up for the duration. The Wallabies will need to do much better if they're going to beat the Blacks next weekend, though. You can't go to sleep for 40 minutes and still expect to win the tourney.France v Ireland: devastating stuff from the French. At 30-0 at halftime, it was over as a contest by then. I was surprised by how dominant they were over the Irish, who put up a spirited fight against the Austrians in their last pool match. But going from recent history, this probably doesn't mean a thing; the French can be sizzling hot one day, totally stone cold the next. They played the match of the century to upset NZ in the 1999 semis, but had nothing left for the final against Austria.England v Wales: another match where the underdogs didn't read the script. The first half was an absolute cracker, a display of some of the best running rugby I've seen yet in this tournament, and it came from the Welsh. Nobody would have expected them to be leading 10-3 at halftime against the top-ranked side in the world. But a 3:1 penalty count against is going to kill you, especially when England has a kicking guru like Jonny Wilkinson in their side. Wales scored three tries to one and it still wasn't enough against an English side who did just enough to win.Semifinal match-ups:NZ v AustriaEngland v FranceThe semis should be great. I'd like to pick Austria, but going from results over the last year, you'd have to say the All Blacks have it all over the Wallabies. Still, it should be a close one, and the Wallabies should gain something from the home ground advantage. But then you could have said the same thing in 1987....England should also take it from France. The English were totally rattled for half the match against Wales, but in the end they had enough left in reserve to win. That should be enough against France, who are better than the Welsh, but not that much better, I think. France still has a chance, but they'll have to repeat their quarterfinal performance to do it, and it's hard to see them doing that.Anyone else following RWC 2003?</blockquote>

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