Ireland beat France 24-9 in a brutal Cardiff encounter to earn a quarter-final meeting with Argentina, leaving the well-beaten French the daunting prospect of facing New Zealand as the Rugby World Cup’s pool phase came to a close on Sunday. I guess it kind of just happened.
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We spoke to fans outside the stadium. “And we will be there at the weekend”.
The famous Maori tradition is unrecognisable now to the unstable hokey pokey it first resembled when New Zealand rugby teams toured the world for the majority of the 20th century.
But Carter, who played in the ill-fated game eight years ago, and assistant coach Ian Foster both claimed 2007 was not something the team was talking about.
“I think obviously there is a concentration of club wealth in the northern hemisphere, there’s no question that the salaries are very high in France and in England and it’s very tempting for players to ply their trade in the northern hemisphere”, Gosper said.
“Quite frankly, we can’t wait, this is what finals rugby is all about isn’t it?” We’ve got guys who experienced 2011 and a few other younger guys who are on their first one, so the change up in ante now we have put a real full stop on group play with Tonga – you can sense a clear focus now.
France believe they were very unlucky in the final four years ago when they started as underdogs, faced a flood of second-half penalties, yet only lost 8-7.
“They made a good Ireland team work very hard to break them down and they certainly deserve to be there too. We’re focusing and getting ready for a great, great, great fight”. “That’s what we are excited about”. We must prepare like a commando unit.
Clearly, the defeat to Ireland has rocked confidence, with the bad news that France faces New Zealand in the quarterfinals, rather than Argentina’s try-hungry Pumas, a so-called luxury afforded to the Irish for topping Pool D. “We must not think, we must just play rugby”, Saint-Andre said.
After the 2007 boilover, in which Thierry Dusautoir made an astonishing 38 tackles, France backed up the next time they met with a 27-22 victory two years later in New Zealand.
“No matter what anyone says, it is all about Sunday and it’s going to be an awesome, entertaining game”.
“It’s not really something we’ve talked about or even personally, I haven’t really thought much about”, he told a news conference in Swansea. “I’m incredibly proud of the performance”, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said.
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Foster expects French supporters to out-number those from New Zealand and the All Blacks will discuss closer to kick-off how to handle what is expected to be a deafening atmosphere.
