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Four very different semi finals were played out over the weekend, each with very different subplots. As with much of the World Cup, there was more for the purists than the casual fans but there was certainly plenty of drama and more refereeing controversy.
Wales vs. Ireland:
Did Declan Kidney and his fellow coaching staff out-think themselves? With the selection of Ronan O’Gara over Jonny Sexton it seemed that Ireland would try to take the heat out of the Welsh with a clever kicking game, allowing their tight five to grind down the Welsh.
Bizarre, then, that they turned down three kickable penalties early in the first stanza.
Once Wales took the lead, you felt that it would be too much for the Irish to come back and sadly for warriors like O’Driscoll and O’Connell that they had no more magic left.
Wales, however, must take a lot of credit. They withstood the early Irish pressure to take out victory. They are now surely favourites to progress to the final from their semi.
Sam Warburton again had a fantastic game, making tackle after tackle and causing no end of trouble at the breakdown. Of the other forwards Luke Charteris probably had his best game in a Wales shirt before being prematurely replaced by Bradleigh Davies.
The two best players on the park were also dressed in red: Mike Phillips and Jamie Roberts. Both seem to have rediscovered their form from the most recent Lions tour.
Phillips is like another flanker, in his physicality, but he is a very clever operator, and his vision for his try epitomised his game. Roberts never seems to take a backward step, continually breaking the gain line, making D’Arcy’s day miserable.
Warren Gatland’s charges are a young and fearless bunch. If they do get to the final, don’t rule them out.
They have game breakers aplenty, a good kicking game, and excellent goal kickers. They will score points and with Shaun Edwards calling the defensive shots they will be aggressive and hard to score on.
France vs. England
It is hard to believe that this England team is the same one that won the Six Nations a few short months ago. Somehow, Martin Johnson and his coaches have presided over a serious regression.
England have not improved at all during the tournament, which is sad considering how poor they were in their opener against Argentina.
On the day, France did what they needed to. Yachvilli directed them around the park impressively, and along with Harinordoquy had their usual strong game against their enemies from across the channel.
In general, their performance was not what would usually be required for winning a game of this magnitude, but they were never going to lose from 16-0 up at half time.
England needed to start quickly; they did nothing of the sort. There was plenty of experience on show for the men in white, but nobody seemed to be able to grab them by the scruff of the neck and drag them up.
Their true leader is their coach; it is hard to believe that they would have been allowed to perform so poorly with Jonno out on the park.
It is sad that the careers of such stalwarts as Moody, Wilkinson, Tindall et al should end this way.
Having said that Martin Johnson’s refusal to put these players out to international pasture suggests that they may still have more international caps ahead of them. I truly hope that is not the case.
England must move on and develop the young nucleus of players they have, in the likes of Lawes, Youngs, Hartley, Ashton and Tuilagi.
Australia vs. South Africa
Looking at the statistics alone you would perhaps find it hard to believe that Australia won. But win they did.
Their defence was very solid, and until South Africa started to pound them with box kicks and bombs it didn’t look overly troubled.
The referee, Bryce Lawrence, much maligned in the press beforehand for his perceived penchant for penalising the Australians at scrum time, on this occasion was fair at scrum time, but must also take credit for his part in South Africa’s loss.
His ruling over the breakdown all afternoon, was baffling, and seemed to contradict the IRB’s guidelines that have been much discussed during the tournament.
To his credit David Pocock, reacted to Mr Lawrence’s interpretations and proceeded to put in a massive display in the tackle and in spoiling Springbok ball.
His job was made that much easier when Heinrich Brussow, his opposite, left the field with injury. Despite a swashbuckling performance from Schalk Burger, he could not match Pocock.
One element that was missing from the game was any sighting of Quade Cooper. In fact he has not put in any form of performance this world cup. Fortunately for the Wallabies this has not cost the team too dearly. Against the All Blacks the story may altogether very different.
New Zealand vs. Argentina
Not exactly the walk in the park that I and many others expected. The All Blacks seemed shaky to start. Was it nerves? Perhaps.
Colin Slade certainly seemed to be feeling the pressure and was indecisive in most things he did until he added to the mounting pile of injured players strewn across New Zealand.
One man who didn’t seem to be fazed was Piri Weepu. He was fantastic all game, and not just in his goal kicking. He bossed his forwards around and directed the backline well.
This was all the more important when the young Aaron Cruden cam on for Slade. Cruden himself must have relaxed a few nervous kiwi’s, stressing over their fly-half injury list.
Of the forwards Kieran Read was again excellent. Everything he does, he does well, and with very little fuss. He reminds me a lot of Richard Hill, the former England standout.
Credit has to be given to the Pumas. They made life tough for the All Blacks, who certainly knew they had been in a battle. Their passion was evident from the outset and by the end they had won over more than a few neutrals.
Their inclusion in the Tri-Nations as it was formerly known will only help them kick on from here and improve before the next world cup in the UK in 2015.
Roll on next weekend. Two very interesting games, the results of which are hard to predict. Having wrongly selected England and South Africa to progress from the Quarters, along with New Zealand and Wales, these predictions may not count for much; but I am going to New Zealand and Wales.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.