We’re almost at the end of the ‘Pool’ stages and I will, no-doubt, update when they are complete, but I though I’d just have a quick summary before some of the ‘crunch ‘ matches in the next two days! So far, four of my eight predicted quarter finalists are correct, with the other four still to be decided. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are through as winners of their groups as predicted, and England are through as runners up to South Africa. Tomorrow (Saturday) will see if Wales can beat Fiji to go through and Scotland can beat Italy to go through. From the Scotland point of view, their performances have been better against the other teams than Italy’s have been, even including the drubbing by New Zealand where Scotland effectively fielded their ‘B’ team to rest key players. Sunday’s games include then main protagonists from group D, Argentina, France and Ireland, with any two of the three being able to qualify depending on the results. One major downside for France (the host nation) if they end up as the runners up in their group, they will not only face New Zealand in the quarter finals, but with a quirk of the scheduling the match will be played in Cardiff! Anyway, fingers crossed for a Scotland victory tomorrow.
