KingslandBarge That was an epic game. Four really good quarter finals, all still in the balance in the final minutes. 3 of them going down to the last play after time was up. NZ and South Africa winning could never be considered an "upset," but according to the rankings and bookies odds technically 3 of the results were upsets. Thought France were finally going to win the thing being at home. Semi finals look likely to both be very one sided but hopefully they can be at least some sort of contest.
Really happy to have defied expectations to make the semi final. We've been a shambles this year, woeful in the warmup games and lost to Fiji at home a week before the tournament. The talk was we may not even make it out of the group so to make the semi final is beyond any realistic dreams. I appreciate the draw has been kind to us this time, but we've also previously been on the wrong side of world Rugby's ridiculous decision to make the draw 3 years in advance (in 2015 at home we were drawn in the same group with the number 2 and 3 ranked teams at the time the tournament came around) so it is what it is. We have still beaten 2 teams who were ranked higher than us at the start of the tournament along the way, one of which while playing a man down for virtually the whole game with a 3rd minute red card.
We'll likely be thrashed by South Africa and have always lost to them in knockout but I guess you never know in a one off knockout game. They might have emptied some of the tank yesterday. There's only a very small chance but it's not zero.
