England Blast their way into the World Cup Semi-Finals
8th October, 2007
In a weekend of shock results in the Rugby Union World Cup, England defeated Australia to reach the Semi-finals, who will meet France, the equally unlikely victors over pre-tournament favourites New Zealand. South Africa were given a scare by the hard-working Fiji, and Argentina looked strong in their win over Scotland.
England produced their best performance since winning the title four years ago in a 12-10 win over Australia in Marseille. Australia scored the only try of the game with rare possession in England’s 22. England’s forwards dominated the game and simply looked stronger throughout the game. Jonny Wilkinson again proved key to the victory, kicking four penalties to score all 12 points. In the process he became the highest points-scorer of all time in the Rugby World Cup, moving ahead of Scotland’s Gavin Hastings. The penalties all came through the immense pressure the England forwards put on the lacklustre Australian side. The win will provide a much-needed boost to the side who have officially been crowned the worst world champions ever. England will now believe that they can beat any side left in the competition, can they do it again?
France dumped the favourites New Zealand out in a gripping 20-18 encounter in Cardiff later on Saturday, to set up a much unexpected all northern-hemisphere semi-final. A missed conversion from Carter made the difference, with both teams making two tries and two penalties. The home nation will also feel boosted by such a memorable win, setting up a tantalising encounter this Saturday. France are 1/3 favourites against England at Totesport.
New tournament favourites South Africa produced an unconvincing performance against Fiji to become the third team to reach the semis. From 20-6 up after 51 minutes, the Fijians mounted a comeback and made it 20-20 just seven minutes later. Fiji then has three good chances to score, but failed to capitalise on any of them, with the Springboks going on to punish them and finish the match off at 37-20.
Argentina powered their way into the semi-finals with a gritty 19-13 win over Scotland. It is the first time in history the Argentines have made it to the semi-final stage. Scotland went ahead with a huge penalty from Dan Parks, but were then overpowered and never really recovered to threaten.
The fixtures are therefore:
Saturday, 13 October 2007 England v France, 20:00
Sunday, 14 October 2007 South Africa v Argentina, 20:00
At the time of writing, Betfair are offering the following odds on the outright winner:
- South Africa 1.36
- France 1.62
- England 8.4
- Argentina 9.5
Get the most up-to-date odds by using our free odds comparison service.
