Intrigue as north and south prepare to do battle

Much like at a corporate dinner party, where one has to pass through the hors d’oeuvres filled with all the small talk, awkward laughter and general niceties while doing their best to pretend their eyes aren’t on the main course, the World Cup has served up the first dish.

Now it’s time for the second and main one to begin.

And yet no matter how surprisingly nice the first course was with the minnows managing not to be chewed up and spat out for the first time in tournament history, who goes to a dinner party for the hors d’oeuvres?

It’s time for the serious business to begin, it’s knock-out time, and come Sunday night only four teams will be left at the table.

And for only the second time in the tournament’s history (after 1999) we will see a quarter-final line-up featuring all trans-hemispheric clashes. This adds further to the intrigue surrounding the weekend’s action as make no mistake, the northern hemisphere, and by that I mean the Six Nations sides, will all be desperately seeking to see some form of representation in the last four.

As much as they would hate to admit it, pride is on the line and those north of the equator, if their own team goes out, would much rather one of their close neighbours win the tournament than one of the southern hemisphere ‘super powers’.

So what chance do they have?

Well, without trying to take up too much column space, let’s rule out Scotland straight away. Sorry to the Scots but making the quarter-finals is as good as they are going to get this time around.

You can’t discount Wales entirely, especially after their heroic effort against England and impressive effort against Australia, but you just sense that they are a battered team. Getting past the Springboks and another two big games after that could be a stretch too far.

That leaves Ireland and France.

Let’s start with Ireland, who on the basis of Sunday’s game you would have to say, and we already knew this, are genuine title contenders. They are a side that play with the renowned Irish passion mixed in with real game intelligence. They are also a side filled with a large number of high-class players, including several world-class players, an ingredient that every champion side needs.

Ireland will need to navigate a quarter-final against Argentina first and that is one mired in risks. This Pumas side is the real deal and finally we are seeing Rugby Championship inclusion bearing fruit. The Pumas, for the first time, certainly in my lifetime, are showing the true ability to play a 15-man game. They are a dangerous proposition and that quarter-final is wide open.

And that leaves us with France. It sounds a little like a regurgitated cliché these days to say it but the French are the French and it really does depend on which side turns up on the day. As we all know they have been a side that has been relatively poor for the past four years and certainly in the game against Ireland they didn’t look like a side capable of winning the tournament.

That is where they stand, they are not good enough to win the tournament but they are certainly capable enough to make the final again, like they did in 1999 and 2011. Again, as we all know, their past form is a complete irrelevance, and as the All Blacks will know the French rise to the occasion when they play New Zealand in a World Cup game – it is the absolute ultimate for a French player.

They will be hurting after their loss to Ireland, and led by the great Thierry Dusautoir they will not fear the All Blacks. Isn’t it incredible that eight years on, in the same location at the same stage of the tournament, the two teams will be led out by the two great warriors Richie McCaw and Dusautoir?

We have touched on the Pumas but where does that leave the rest of the southern hemisphere sides? After the shocking and rather humiliating loss to Japan the Boks have bounced back strongly and look like a side playing with that South African intent, hunger and passion that South African opponents are all too familiar with and wary of. It’s a scary prospect indeed.

The Boks are made for this type of rugby and if they get it right on the day they are a side that are more than capable of winning their third title in three weeks’ time.

A lot of noise is coming out of Australia about this being their time and to be fair a lot of it is warranted. They look like a team on the rise and with their scrum now being a genuine weapon they have almost been transformed into the team to beat in the space of the past month.

With David Pocock and Michael Hooper dominating the battle on the ground, they are going to be immensely hard to stop, however that doesn’t mean they can’t be. This following statement will be controversial, as he has been one of the revelations of the tournament, but I believe Bernard Foley can be a weak link for Australia.

Don’t get me wrong, he is a great player but under immense pressure and with a gameplan worked perfectly to target him I believe there is the potential to upset him and therefore upset the Australian game. However with Matt Giteau now playing outside him and offering a second voice, that is not going to be an easy thing for any side to execute.

And that leaves us with the All Blacks. The team that has dominated the past four years yet now doesn’t quite look as dominant as it has, in fact doesn’t look nearly as dominant.

It all comes down to winning three games now, and the All Blacks certainly have the ability to do that. That does not mean they will though, and firstly they have to get past what will be a fired up bogey team of theirs at the scene of their most horrific of memories. With the great McCaw leading the way, they will have every chance but no more than a number of the other teams.

Finally, I sense that a side’s strength and impact from the bench, as well as their overall ability to raise the game in the final 20 minutes, will be what sets the winning team apart. That and a bit of luck of course.

Time for the main meal, buon appetito.