Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Quarter Final Time

Mon Oct 01 03:19PM

With three weeks of rugby gone we've seen some great games, some awful games, some surprises and a lot of what we knew would happen. As I have always said a World Cup is a unique event, going into it you can have the team rankings, the favourites, the minnows but you just never know how things will turn out. This World Cup has been no different to the others and going into the quarter-finals the Cup itself is still up for grabs with no clear leader.  What astounds me is seeing the number of errors at this level of rugby, the inaccurate passing, the ball being lost forward and the decision making by some of teams has been very poor and has cost them points, even games. This is what happens in pressure situations, some deal with it well and some don't.

I went to the Argentina-Ireland match at the Parc des Princes yesterday. It was the highly anticipated game of the week and for me attending the game was special as the stadium is a personal favourite of mine. Parc des Princes has always been a favourable ground to play rugby at, the atmosphere is electric and the noise created by the crowd especially yesterday was deafening. It's so loud that as a player you struggle to hear the calls on the field. I've attached a photo of me with some of the Argentineans supporters.

The magic about the game was the amazing support for both teams, the Irish and Argentinean supporters were singing and cheering their teams on and willing them to win.  There was a sea of green jerseys in the crowd with big pockets of blue and white Pumas jerseys amongst them. The game and the crowd were the entertainment on the day, as much as there was a battle on the field there was the battle of support off it. Every movement made by either team was reverberated by the noise from the stands. For Argentina it was an unusual situation with three possible outcomes (1) End up top of their pool (2) End up second in the pool (3) End up out of the World Cup, although (3) was never really a possibility.

The game itself did not disappoint and for the opening ten minutes Ireland camped in the Argentine half but came up empty handed. The teams were pretty even for the first-half but it seemed Ireland were making all the plays and Argentina were just defending well rather than attacking. Argentina got some good go forward around the 20 minute mark allowing Juan Martin Hernandez to slot a drop goal and the two wingers to get over for tries. Going into the second half 18-10 the Pumas never looked like losing but it was made it harder than it needed to be. Overall the Argentineans handled the pressure of this match well and better than the Irish. There wasn't just the physical pressure there was a big mental game going on as well with the players of both sides having words with each other like Felipe Contepomi and Ronan O'Gara.

The Irish never gave up and didn't play that badly, in fact it was probably their best performance of the tournament but it wasn't enough to take down the Argentineans who had everything to play for. In the second-half the Pumas found their stride and dominated the Irish, keeping all the play in their half and not allowing them any time with the ball.  Their ability to scrounge the ball was amazing and it starved the Irish of all opportunities. 

The Argentineans now go on to face Scotland in the quarter-finals at Stade de France and they would have to be the favourties going into the game. Congratulations to the Pumas for not only making the quarter-finals but finishing top of their pool, you deserve to be there.

The game between France and Georgia was as expected with the French putting on a strong performance running in nine tries and taking a bonus point but it was not enough to restore their number one position in the pool and to avoid travelling to Cardiff next weekend to play the All Blacks. There was a great performance by Lionel Beauxis who proved his worth and his ability to stand up to the plate at this level kicking five conversions and three penalties and playing an instrumental part in more than one of the tries.

Georgia have impressed me this tournament and will be one of the teams we all remember playing with heart and passion and were rewarded with a single try against the French side. It was disappointing to see two of their players sin-binned during the match, their discipline letting them down and weakening them against a formidable French side.

For Georgia they leave this World Cup today but I thank you for your contribution to this tournament, you've been a breath of fresh air for world rugby. You should hold your heads up high because you've done your country proud and you've shown us they your rugby is growing stronger and that you belonged at this World Cup, congratulations.

USA-South Africa was another game whose outcome was pretty much predetermined, the score ending up 64-15. USA had played earlier in the week and had to turn around for a second game within four days which is a tough ask of a team especially up against a side like South Africa. With only four of the US players being professional the team did well in this tournament and had some notable games such as the game against England. They showed great spirit and fought till the end with some moments of brilliant play.

None more brilliant than the USA's try in the first-half. The captain Hercus floated the best pass of the match, a long pass to his right, perfectly timed for speedster Takudzwa Ngwenya, on the right wing allowing him to run at speed onto the ball leaving speedster Bryan Habana for dead as he raced 52 metres to score at the posts. For me as a winger when you out pace your opposite it's a great feeling but when you do it against one of the best in the World it shows pure class and you could see from Ngwenya's reaction what it meant to him, it will be a memory he cherishes. Moments like this gave USA the much needed boost they needed and it was a beautiful sight to see. Going into the half-time at 24-10 it was not game lost but the South Africans dominated in the second-half and piled on the points for another convincing win.

Going into the quarters South Africa meet Fiji who came through with an outstanding win over the Welsh to leave them out of the Cup. The South Africans would have to be the favourites going into this game but you can't count Fiji out based on their strong performance against Ireland. It will be tough for them without Nicky Little who is a real playmaker.

New Zealand meet France in Cardiff which will be a repeat of the 2003 3rd and 4th play-off and hopefully for the All Blacks not a repeat of 1999. It will be the first real game for the All Blacks which is not an easy ask and with the French playing away, a lot of the pressure is taken away from them and they have a better record outside of Paris against the All Blacks. This one will be a nail biter!

The third quarter-final is England v Australia and it could result in England's earliest exit from a World Cup and a definitive loss of their World Cup crown. A repeat of the 2003 final I am sure there will be many memories for both sides and the game will be intense with the possibility of fireworks!

Good luck to all the teams who made it through to the quarter-finals; it's the business end of the tournament, one-off games that decide the future of the team. Reaching the quarter-finals each team will put the pool stages behind them, forget the games they have played and look at their quarter-final with fresh eyes. It's irrelevant what happened in the pool game and they must be putting on their best performances. At this stage in the tournament the smallest mistake could cost you a semi-final spot and as I said at the beginning we've seen a lot of mistakes made by even some of the best sides. I'm looking forward to this weekend and will be in Cardiff to watch the All Blacks and will return to Paris to see Argentina take on Scotland, it's going to be a great weekend! Jonah

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