The Rugby

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

I reckon the winner of the England France game might win the whole thing. Just a hunch.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

I reckon the winner of the England France game might win the whole thing. Just a hunch.

[flammableBen]

I've got a hunch that the winner of the England France game will have beaten the other team.

[Luci]

I wanted the Scots to win as I favour all the home nations bar Wales if England aren't playing.

Argies don't play in any other competitions nationally Rugby wise and fair play to them coming out and getting this far.

England V Australia was superb and some people are bitter as their nations are just not up to scratch.  Even better as the aussies have been whinging for the last 4 years how we shouldn't have won back in 2003.  Up yours aussies, we've just proved you wrong again!

[Samdy Gray]

I'm hedging my bets on an France v Argentina final.

I said right from the start that the Argies would be the dark horses of the competition and so far they've proved me right.

[Luci]

I think we can beat the french, but it won't be easy.

[Northern Red]

I'm hedging my bets on an France v Argentina final.

I said right from the start that the Argies would be the dark horses of the competition and so far they've proved me right.

They're not really dark horses - they were ranked 6th in the world leading into the World Cup (ahead of England)

So quarter finals was expected - it's just the win over France that got them to where they are now (4th in the world).

I think they'll meet their match in South Africa and go down about 35-15.

[Bob's Orange]

I would love it if we beat the French. Half the people in my office are French (the other half is mainly Irish), there are 4 English though including one who has tickets for the semi final and the final (which he was going to put on Ebay after we got mullered by the Springboks)

[Foggy]

i fucking hate people who use the phrase "the way rugby should be played"

why? fucking why does it have to be played like a cunting 7s match. the forwards are an integral part of rugby. dont see any problem in englands performance, they knew the strenghs of theor team and the weaknesses of australia. good fucking call.

And defence is an integral part of the game of football, but that didn't mean that George Grahams Arsenal side were as good to watch as Kevin Keegans Newcastle did it. Or that Macari's team was as good as Ossies.

England may have picked up a few tries without the Australian infringments, but trys scored by a bunch of fat arsed forwards grunting their way slowly up the field are the rugby equivalent of a scrambled Tony Adams goal from two yards out from a set piece. They all count the same but I'd much rather see a Tony Yeboah volley smack in off the underside of the bar from 35 yards, or a 10 pass cross field move from hand to hand between the backs ending in an overlapping winger nipping in at the corner thanks.

Surely to Christ you and Rob aren't blinkered enough to argue that todays Fiji/SA game wasn't about a dozen times more entertaining than England/Australia?

Have you ever played rugby? Thought not! The name of the game is to win. Englands greatest strength is built around the forwards who totally destroyed the aussie pack up front.Now let me think , Ireland,NZ,Oz, all teams that are supposed to play "entertaining" rugby are all on the plane home.

[ghanimah]

It seems the All Blacks were a little upset by their World Cup exit

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22548504-5006067,00.html

[larwood]

The All blacks make me laugh,they are such chokers,it was so predictable they'd lose on Saturday

[McLovin]

My uncle lives in New Zealand. Last world cup he had a bet with half his office that England would win the whole thing. Not a single person paid up, insisting that it didn' count as they never beat the All Blacks. From that day forth, I've always slightly disliked the Kiwis.