{"id":292125,"date":"2023-09-25T22:37:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T22:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=292125"},"modified":"2023-09-25T22:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T22:37:02","slug":"so-hows-heading-for-the-last-eight-the-rugby-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/rugby-union\/so-hows-heading-for-the-last-eight-the-rugby-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"So, how&apos;s heading for the last eight the Rugby World Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Wales have qualified for the quarter-finals, while hosts France, England and Ireland are set to join them&#8230; so, how are the knockout matches shaping up at the Rugby World Cup<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wales should be confident of beating whichever team qualifies behind England<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ireland in pole position in Pool B and set for crunch clash with the All Blacks<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>France&#8217;s World Cup hopes could rest on the fitness of captain Antoine Dupont\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wales became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals by hammering Australia 40-6 in Lyon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hosts France, England and Ireland also look set to reach the last eight as they too have three wins from three matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how the knockout matches look like shaping up\u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Quarter-final 1 Wales v Argentina<\/h2>\n<p>Wales will want to ensure they finish top of Pool C by beating Georgia in their final group game on the 7 October.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/22\/75827769-0-image-a-89_1695678297143.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wales should be confident of beating whichever team qualifies behind England<\/p>\n<p>Doing so would mean they would likely avoid England in the quarters. If Wales do end up finishing top of Pool C, their first knockout opponent would be one of Samoa, Japan or Argentina.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gatland and Wales should be confident of beating whichever of those qualifies behind England. Argentina have disappointed so far, not least against England, but with Chile and Japan to play are most likely to finish second in the Pool.<\/p>\n<h2>Quarter-final 2 Ireland v New Zealand<\/h2>\n<p>Ireland\u2019s impressive defeat of South Africa has put them in pole position to finish top of Pool B although things could still change if they are beaten by Scotland. But with 16 straight wins in the bag, it\u2019s difficult to see Andy Farrell\u2019s side losing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Pool B winners will face the runners-up in Pool A at the Stade de France in Paris. It all points to Ireland against New Zealand. The All Blacks were beaten by France in the tournament opener but should still qualify with ease.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That promises to be a humdinger of a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ireland won\u2019t be scared of New Zealand, having sealed a historic series win over them in the Southern Hemisphere last summer.<\/p>\n<p><span>Winners of QF 1 and QF 2 meet in the semis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Quarter-final 3 England v Fiji<\/h2>\n<p>Steve Borthwick has led England to three straight victories in France, their latest success a 71-0 hammering of Chile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>England\u2019s final Pool D game is against Samoa and they are in pole position to win that one and finish top. That would set up a quarter-final with the runners-up in Wales\u2019 pool \u2014 most likely Fiji. After Wales demolished Australia, Eddie Jones\u2019 Wallabies are close to elimination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Fiji win their remaining games with Georgia and Portugal, they will qualify ahead of Australia. The Pacific Islanders are a hugely dangerous side. If they were to progress to the knock-outs it would be great for the tournament and rugby as a whole but perhaps not so good for England, who were beaten by them at Twickenham last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>England against Fiji would also be a significant clash of styles.<\/p>\n<h2>Quarter-final 4 France v South Africa<\/h2>\n<p>This prospective quarter-final shows just how lopsided the draw is. It would be worthy of a final. France will finish top of Pool A and unless Scotland throw a spanner in the works, South Africa look likely to finish runners-up to Ireland in Pool B.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/22\/75827807-0-image-a-90_1695678340820.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>France captain Antoine Dupont faces a race against time to be fit for first knockout round<\/p>\n<p>That would see the two sides go head to head in Paris in what would be a mouthwatering clash.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The potential outcome of this game could well be decided by the fitness of France captain Antoine Dupont. The scrum-half fractured his cheekbone against Namibia and faces a race against time to be able to play his team\u2019s first knockout round.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>South Africa paid the price for missed kicks against Ireland but don\u2019t write off the defending champions just yet. They will surely be back to have a big say in who wins this tournament.<\/p>\n<p><span><span>Winners of QF 3 and QF 4 meet in the semis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12559799\/Wales-qualified-quarter-finals-hosts-France-England-Ireland-set-join-knockout-matches-shaping-Rugby-World-Cup.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wales have qualified for the quarter-finals, while hosts France, England and Ireland are set to join them&#8230; so, how are the knockout matches shaping up at the Rugby World Cup Wales should be confident of beating whichever team qualifies behind England Ireland&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>So, how&amp;apos;s heading for the last eight the Rugby World Cup? 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