Rugby Union

This meant so much to South Africa at the time. Since then, rugby has been the great uniter for the country

Epic lolz at the butthurt Gerry Thornley here

This is it then. Our final picks. Two hard calls as well, good luck to all! (perhaps a bit less luck to @[email protected] though ;)

I do wonder if we'll see Mbonambi out of thw final

Three uncapped players have been included. Utah flanker Bailey Wilson and his clubmate Joe Mano, a winger, along with SaberCats flyhalf or fullback Line Latu. Wilson and Latu each toured Europe in August but did not appear in the test series.

Nice to see a good cohort of MLR players making their way into the squad here alongside some capped MLR players. It's good validation of the league's goal of improving domestic talent in the USA for the national team.

Can los pumas take on the mighty all blacks up front? Will king boff kick them to a half time squeeky bum time for the kiwis? Will Dmac light up the field and shut down all his detractors? Will we see a different haka tonight?

Find out later!

Head, heart and arse requested before the match please.

Your head being your rational prediction. Your heart your longed for. And your arse your 6 pints deep wild take.

As someone who's been a wasps fan for decades, this is finally some positive news after what has felt like a very long silence!

Now I wonder where the ground they mention is going to be

If true, then its no surprise that its Rassie coming up with the scheme.

8 points clear for Fridge. Looking unlikely to be caught now! Going to confirm your lemmy handle for us?

Get those picks in!

After the treat that was Saturday's matches, here's two more to keep the couch full!

Can Fiji, everyone's 2nd team it seems, perform the miracle vs an England team that are building and learning to do what it takes and win ugly? England did the drop goal game already in the Velodrome, will we see some more here?

Will the hosts be able to overcome the mighty Springbok defense and keep alive the northern hemisphere hopes? Will SA have brought their kicking boots and can french flair find room to maneuver?

All too close to call imo, the bookies always inflate England: these are going to the 80'!

Both too close to call, both simarly ranked teams, only one team has never made it to a semi final from the bunch though...

Can an ascendant Wales squeek past a well firing Argentina who have perhaps failed to spark this tournament

Can a 17 match unbeaten run Ireland get the monkey off their backs and make it through versus a 3 time world cup winning union?

Don't miss either!

I know, the Premiership is on. But it's just not the same

Go Fiji! Can't wait for the weekend, every match so tasty

A new leader!

Get your quarter final picks in! Coin flips, so we could see things go weird here

I suspect even England fans are rooting for Fiji this wrekend!

Interesting selections for the match officials for the quarters.

Fra v SA has an all NZ quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-4-winner-pool-a-runner-up-pool-b#match_details

Ire v NZ has an all English quartet https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-2-winner-pool-b-runner-up-pool-a#match_details

But the two lower ranked quarters (in terms of sides of the draw, and rankings coming into the tournament) both have mixed appointments.

Jaco Peyper heads up Wales v Arg https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-1-winner-pool-c-runner-up-pool-d#match_details

And Mathieu Raynal has Eng v Fiji https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/match/quarter-final-3-winner-pool-d-runner-up-pool-c#match_details

Its an interesting move, you could see the all English all NZ teams as looking to get a consistent view from the team, which sorta sounds like a good idea. Though depending on results either could be used exactly the same in the next matches, or be impossible depending on which teams go through.

The good news is there's no experimenting with giving the whistle to inexperienced ref's, probably the one the NH has seen the least is Ben O'Keefe, but he's taken the whistle in a bunch of finals footy down here and has a pretty good temperament for it.

He's also been pretty adaptable at refereeing to they style requested by the organisers too, say where Super Rugby is really clear on jackals supporting body weight and entry to rucks, but international rugby giving much more lee way - he seems to get the balance on point for whatever series he's in.

Lemmy lacks polls, strawpoll to the rescue. And these are just some of the games of course, but vote and let us all decide!

Quarter finals preview tomorrow I think

Can Japan get another tier 1 scalp or will they wither away?

Will Romania give Tonga a game at all and prove they do deserve to be at the world cup?

And can Fiji blow Portugal away and get that quarter spot?

Will Georgia get it together against a misfiring Wales who are getting better each game?

Will England's sleeping giants awake or wither under the Samoan Siva Tau?

And can Scotland pull off the miracle against the imperious Irish?

Find out today! Lots of quarters being settled

9pm local time. Normally a keenly faught fixture from the Azzuri in the 6 nations, but after a humiliation from the All Blacks, will Les Blues be also looking for some fun?

8pm UK time. Will Uruguay out shine Italy?