RWC: Who plays through to the semi-finals?

Prop Joe Moody had arrived earlier in the day following a flight from Christchurch and the man who is the tournament replacement for injured veteran Tony Woodcock took a full part. There’s a lot from Lievremont about collective spirit, with not a statistic in sight. “For my generation this will be the biggest match of our lives”.

IRELAND have a formidable record at the Millennium Stadium but it is reported that the Six Nations champions are not exactly overjoyed with their Newport base ahead of their World Cup showdown with France.

“It has not been hard to plan and we expect France to be as hungry and ready as we are”.

“The All Blacks will once again face their World Cup nemesis in a quarter-final in Cardiff, eight years after their nightmare exit at the same stage in the same stadium at the hands of the Tricolours”, he added.

However, head coach Philippe Saint-Andre has urged his players to take advantage of their underdog status.

But he has serious All Black-beating credibility, having played in the great 1999 semifinal at Twickenham when an unstoppable second half scoring burst destroyed the All Blacks.

“Dans Le Noir” (In The Dark) read the headline yesterday, and its online version pressed the point further with “Des Bleus Pas Au Niveau” (Blues Not Good Enough).

“At halftime, I even thought we were on the way to winning this match, that resembled a boxing match”.

“They will be disappointed in the way they played (against Ireland), but they have quality players in their side that can turn the team and that’s the beauty of knock-out rugby”. The final score was enormous.

“We were extremely clumsy”.

“Our players are built for this”, he said.

Under pressure, Sanchez is a more reliable place kicker than the Irishmen, which-in a tight game-could prove the difference.

“Without being geniuses in the game, they found an enthusiasm we couldn’t meet”.

It’s not surprising the Kiwi team captained by Ian Kirkpatrick went on to lose that tour match in Wales 23-11.

Lievremont said the current French side would have to “work on our pride and the ability of the group to rebel”.

England aside, the best eight teams have won through to the quarter-finals to be held in London and Cardiff this weekend. We can’t let this go.

“If we don’t rebel this week, we’ll never rebel”.

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.

There’s validity to Daniel Carter’s assertion that history is not a burden for the majority of the All Black squad.

Originally performed by the indigenous people of New Zealand before going into battle, it is now used to unite the All Blacks team – many of whom are from different ethnic backgrounds.

Another French newspaper headline put it thus: The All Blacks are unbeatable?