Astute followers of this blog will already know that the Rugby World Cup competition has started in grand fashion, with the 20 teams competing in the groups competition filling the pitch with action. The group stage began September 20th, and has continued on weekends since then. Last weekend the Quarterfinals were being contested, and already surprises abound, or maybe no surprises. Wales, New Zealand, England, and South Africa all won their brackets last weekend. This weekend the semifinals are being had fought. The first surprise, perhaps, was the win of England over the All Blacks, with New Zealand falling 19-7. England defeated favourites New Zealand 19-7 in an epic encounter at the Yokohama International Stadium in Japan, to reach the final of the showpiece for the first time in 12 years. Today, the other semifinal will be contested, between South Africa and Wales, this will definitively set up next week's finals. If the Welsh win that match, it could see Prince Harry and Prince William go head-to-head in the final of the tournament next Saturday. Some eyebrows were raised prior to the New Zealand vs. England Match. The All Blacks are well known for dancing their ceremonial Haka prior to each match, in a way to psych themselves up, in a way to psych out the opponents. The English were having none of that, they stood in a slight curve across the field, facing the New Zealanders with smiles on their faces, winking at them when they were looking their meanest. Some took offense at the Red Rose bravado in the face of the menacing All Blacks. England made it to the Rugby World Cup final for the first time since 2007 with an incredible display against New Zealand. The Red Rose overwhelmed the All Blacks from the word go with Manu Tuilagi scoring for England just two minutes into the game. Despite a second half try from Ardie Savea, Eddie Jones' men dominated the match throughout and could have won by a significantly bigger margin if they hadn't seen two tries ruled out by the TMO. The second semi-final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup sees Wales aiming to reach their first ever RWC final while South Africa are in the hunt for what would be their third winners title. Wales scraped through by the finest of margins in the closing stages of their quarter-final against France, and will have to be improve if they are to make next week's final. The second RWC semi-final takes place at the 72,327 capacity Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, Japan. The Springboks have improved as the tournament has gone on, going about their business somewhat under the radar, and go into the game as slight favourites. South Africa showed plenty of discipline in their quarter-final victory over Japan, resisting wave upon wave of the host nation's attacks before running out comfortable winners, and they'll likely need to show similar resilience against a talented Welsh side on Sunday. Jonathan Davies looks set to return at centre for the Welsh after he missed out against France because of a knee injury, but the news isn't so good regarding back-rower Josh Navidi who has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury. As Always, Eric http://speedorex.blogspot.com/ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/omnisporthttps://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Triathletepix/info -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/omnisport/1683513963.969554.1572150559896%40mail.yahoo.com.
