The draw said today’s Pool B clash between Wales and Fiji in Nantes was just another pool game, but it was effectively sudden death to decide which team would qualify as the runner up in Pool B. In perhaps best game of the World Cup so far, Fiji stunned the more fancied Welsh 38-34 to move through to the quarterfinals where they will face South Africa.

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If you’ve noticed the lack of updates recently and thought this was yet another abandoned blog on the internet, you’d be wrong. The reason for the lack of updates of late is that I am currently in France for the World Cup. I recently won a contest through Sportingo.com and got the chance to go to the World Cup as a member of the press. Internet access has been a bit hard to come by in France at times and my first priority has been to get my articles submitted to Sportingo as they are paying the bills for this trip. I’m back in New Zealand on Saturday and regular updates will follow. In the mean time here is a link to my author page on Sportingo in case you are interested in what I have been up to.

The clash of these two rugby powerhouses will not only determine the winner of Pool A, but with the prospect of facing either Scotland or Italy it also provides the winner with an easier road to the semi final. The loser of this game will find their road to the semi final goes through the Wallabies.

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The opening weekend of the 2007 Rugby World Cup has shown that referees have been given a mandate to deal with foul play harshly, and as the world is focussed on France, showing non rugby fans that foul play is not part of rugby can only raise the profile of the sport.

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All of the major teams at Rugby World Cup 2007 have now played one game and, while the quality of opposition varied, some teams have put in very good performances and others will have alarm bells ringing after poor showings. The divide between Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams has been obvious as the Southern Hemisphere teams have all played well, while the performances from their Northern rivals ranged from average to dreadful.

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The World Cup got under way in front of a vocal sell-out crowd at Stad de France in Saint Denis where the host nation France took on Argentina. In a shocking upset Los Pumas dominated a flat and idealess French side and won 17-12.

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The rugby world’s attention has already been on France for the past few weeks as the teams have all arrived and been training in local conditions. There have been meetings, press events and sponsor’s functions for players and coaches to attend but now that is almost over - and the time for rugby has come.

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