No surprises in the fourth round of the World Cup. Although for us it was particularly surprising that Italy lost by a large margin to New Zealand. After Namibia’s initial lead, Uruguay scored a victory at the very end. In Group B, Scotland and South Africa were safe before the last round of the decider. A lot of excitement was seen in the C group. Fiji barely beat Georgia, where in the last attack anything could have happened if Luka Matkava was one meter closer to the ball. Pale Australia beat Portugal and theoretically left themselves in the race for the ¼ finals. It is enough for Fiji not to get a single point against the excellent Portuguese. In Group D, Argentina did not shine again, but they defeated Chile in the first Latin American derby at the World Cup. Japan were extremely patient against Samoa, but the islanders had chances at the very end to win.
The last round will be decisive because it will give us the answers who will be the remaining 6 quarter-finalists. Which just tells me how uncertain everything is and how far rugby has progressed around the world. Don’t forget that there are certainly 6-7 other teams that can participate in the World Cup without any problems, we mean Spain and Russia from Europe, Zimbabwe from Africa, Hong Kong from Asia, Canada and the United States of America from North America and to Brazil from South America.
Uruguay left Namibia winless
Namibia ended the World Cup competition without a win. In the back-to-back derby, Uruguay was deservedly better with a score of 36-26. However, before the start of the match, it seemed that the Uruguayans were big favorites, but the beginning of the match did not show that way. Already after 11th minutes the result was 14-0 for the Africans. Uruguay woke up in the first half of the match, but Namibia went into halftime with a 20-12 lead. This was Namibia’s fourth match in 18 days, fatigue and lack of fitness began to affect discipline. Johan Koetzee received a yellow card first, where the Uruguayans scored no less than 14 points and reversed the result to 26-23. As if that was not enough, the Namibians received two more yellow cards in two minutes, one of which was upgraded to red. That’s where Uruguay managed to break away and in the end deservedly celebrate with a bonus point. Uruguay is definitely fourth in its group, while Namibia is fifth.
New Zealand blew Italy away
The match was announced in some media as a clash between the never worse New Zealand and the never better Italy. The Italians even announced that they were going to win the match, and that they were going to knock the Kiwis out of the competition. The best teams play their best when they need it most. Everyone knows that, but so do the bookmakers who keep New Zealand as the main favorite to win the title all the time. From the very beginning of the match until the end, there was only one team, and that was the All Blacks. When you get a team that plays the 6 Nations 96-17, then you really play at a high level. The Italians seemed as if they were under a lot of anxiety, nothing was going their way, they were losing cars, losing scrums, they had a huge number of missed tackles…..one big nightmare. The Italians still have a chance to reach the quarter-finals, but it will be interesting to see how they recover from this huge shock. New Zealand can breathe a sigh of relief, because now everything is in place.
Group A standings:
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | П(W) | И(L) | Н(D) | ПФ(PF) | ПА(PA) | ПД(PD) | БП(BP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Француска | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 210 | 32 | 178 | 8 | 18 |
| 2 |  Нови Зеланд | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 253 | 47 | 206 | 3 | 15 |
| 3 |  Италија | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 114 | 181 | -67 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 |  Уругвај | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 65 | 164 | -99 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 |  Намибија | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 255 | -218 | 0 | 0 |
Next fixures:
New Zealand – Uruguay, Thursday 5th of october, kickoff 21h.
France – Italy, Friday 6th of october, kickoff 21h.
Namibia bye.
Scotland convincingly against Romania
Our neighbors were not very lucky in the draw because they found themselves in a very strong group where even three of the top five teams in the world ranking are. Against the Scots, they didn’t have a chance, the only question was whether they would score a point and by what margin they would lose. The Scots fielded the second team, where Darcy Graham was in a particularly good mood, scoring as many as four tries. The Scots seem very potent and it will be a real hit to watch their duel against the Irish in the last round where they will directly decide their fate. The Romanians will look for their chances in the match against Tonga where they can play a match where they will be more competitive.
South Africa safe against very good Tonga
Before the start of the match, South Africa was the big favorite, who came out with a mixed team on the day of Tonga. Most of the game holders got a free and much needed rest. The rest of the team was up to the task where they scored and converted all seven tries. Handre Pollard, who was subsequently invited to the team, was excellent in tactical kicking and stabilized the goal kicking. Tonga is a team that is definitely 20-30 points away from the best teams in the world. Opener Havili didn’t have his day, he was quite distracted in tactical shots and shots on goal. This is definitely Tonga’s maximum at the moment and they will turn to their last round match against Romania, where they will be favorites to win.
Group B standings:
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | П(W) | И(L) | Н(D) | ПФ(PF) | ПА(PA) | ПД(PD) | БП(BP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ирска | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 190 | 46 | 144 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 |  Јужна Африка | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 151 | 34 | 117 | 3 | 15 |
| 3 |  Шкотска | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 146 | 71 | 75 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 |  Тонга | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 96 | 177 | -81 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 |  Румунија | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 287 | -255 | 0 | 0 |
Next fixures:
Ireland v Scotland, Saturday 7th of october, kickoff at 21h.
Tonga – Romania, Sundar 8th of october, kickoff at 17:45h.
South Africa is bye.
Fiji barely a win that leaves them in the game for the 1/4 finals
Even before the start of the World Cup, we couldn’t wait for the match between Georgia and Fiji, because it actually decides a lot of things. Maybe they didn’t have the opportunity to see a very effective match with nice moves, but we certainly saw a very interesting match, with two different halves. In the first part of the match, the Georgians were very patient, especially in defense, while the indisposed Fijians were defocused in attack. Georgia patiently built the lead to lead 9-0 at the end of the first half of the match. In the second part of the match, Georgia had the advantage until about 15 minutes before the end of the match, when the Fijians first successfully converted a penalty and then in the 68th minute scored an essay through Habosi for a 17-9 lead. And then there was a thriller ending, where first the Georgians scored a penalty for 17-12. And in the next attack they had a chance to score a try when Droasese was one meter faster than Matkawa in front of Fiji’s try, where he kicked the ball out of bounds and the referee blew the whistle.
Australia remain in the game until the last round
The Auzzies have a theoretical chance to make it to the ¼ final, and that is if Fiji does not win a single point against Portugal, which is quite a small chance. The Aussies got the job done against the Portuguese, but they didn’t shine. In the first part of the match, they were on level terms and led 24-7. If we look only at the second part of the match where they were better than the Portuguese 10-7, then they definitely cannot be satisfied. In the second part of the match, Portugal was, in our opinion, the better opponent, but as if they lacked a more efficient finish in order to score more points. It is a little hard to accept that Australia’s Super Rugby players played an even half with the Portuguese where the Europeans were better. When we look at a game like that, Australia doesn’t even deserve to be in the top eight. Portugal still has a match against Wales, while Australia finished the league part of the World Cup with two wins and two losses, we will see in the next round whether they have finished their appearance at the World Cup.
Group C standings:
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | П(W) | И(L) | Н(D) | ПФ(PF) | ПА(PA) | ПД(PD) | БП(BP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Велс | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 143 | 59 | 84 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 |  Фиџи | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 88 | 83 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 |  Аустралија | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 90 | 91 | -1 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 |  Португалија | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 64 | 103 | -39 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 |  Грузија | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 64 | 113 | -49 | 1 | 3 |
Next fixures:
Wales – Georgia, Saturday 7th of october, kickoff az 15h.
Fiji v Portugal, sunday 8th of october, kickoff at 21h.
Australia bye.
Japan, however, withstood Samoa's onslaught in the finish
Toulouse saw a very interesting and dynamic match between Samoa and Japan, where the victory gave both teams a better chance of reaching the finals of the competition. Japan opened the game much better. They were extremely focused and disciplined, they followed their game plan very well, where they forced the game in the air with shots, which was quite a challenge for the Samoan players, who did not do very well. The idea was to put pressure on the back line of defense with shooting, so that the Samoans would increase their presence in the shooting zones. Which would give more space to attack with fast play through the field. The Japanese took advantage of that and with two essays they went to rest with a score of 17-5. Until about 15 minutes before the end of the match, the Japanese led by a comfortable 25-8 and controlled the match, when the Samoans stepped on the gas. First, they reduced the score to 25-15, before the Japanese went to 28-15 with a penalty. So that a few minutes after the end of the new essay, they would come into possession of the backlog. In the last attack, Samoa failed to win their out and the game was decided with a score of 28-22 for Japan. The Japanese controlled the game quite well until the 65th minute, when they completely killed themselves and allowed the game to become uncertain. Jamie Joseph didn’t like this kind of drop at the end of the game, and he will definitely work on it before the decisive match with Argentina.
Argentinians too strong for Chile
If anyone enjoyed every match in this tournament, it was definitely Chile. They were excellent, they never got tired. Although they experienced all four defeats, they can return home with their heads held high and enjoy their participation in the World Cup. Argentina’s second team did the job, and now they have a decisive match against Japan where the winner of the prize will continue to compete in the ¼ finals. We sincerely hope that the Argentinians have saved their best for the last match in the group, because they would like to play a good game more than anything. So far, they have been the most disappointing, along with the Italians.
Group D standings:
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | П(W) | И(L) | Н(D) | ПФ(PF) | ПА(PA) | ПД(PD) | БП(BP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Енглеска | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 150 | 39 | 111 | 2 | 18 |
| 2 |  Аргентина | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 127 | 69 | 58 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 |  Јапан | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 109 | 107 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 4 |  Самоа | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 92 | 75 | 17 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 |  Чиле | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 27 | 215 | -188 | 0 | 0 |
Next fixures:
England – Samoa, Saturday 7th of october, kickoff at 17:45h.
Argentina – Japan, Sunday 8th of october, kickoff at 13h.
Chile bye.
