The Wallabies had been eliminated from this year’s Rugby World Cup, despite Portugal’s 24-23 victory over Fiji early this morning Australian time. The bonus point Fiji gained (for losing by seven points or less) put them level with the Wallabies on 11 points, but Fiji advanced because of their 22-15 win over the Wallabies in an earlier group match.
It’s the first time in RWC history that Australia have failed to progress through the group stage.
The finals bracket is as follows
I’m not sure that i believe Eddie, but I liked his press conference yesterday where he admitted to telling journalists to"give themselves an uppercut" before the World Cup was the wrong thing to say. He sounded a bit more humble then than he has in the past.
New Zealand will face South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final in Saint Denis next Saturday after they won their respective semi finals this weekend.
While All Blacks dominated their clash against Argentina, scoring seven tries to nil in the 44-6 win, defending champions South Africa had to come from behind to defeat England 16-15 in a hard fought match. England led 15-6 midway through the second half thanks to Owen Farrell’s boot, before Springbok Rudolph Snyman scored a try in the 69th minute, and Handre Pollard kicked a penalty in the 78th minute to put his side in front for the first time.
Both All Blacks and Springboks will be looking for their fourth RWC title. Last time they met in a RWC final was in Johannesburg in 1995 when Springboks won 15-12. That match was depicted in the 2009 movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
World Rugby have also confirmed that the Rugby World Cup will be expanded from 20 teams to 24 for the 2027 tournament in Australia. It will start on October 1 and finish on November 13, 2027, meaning that year’s NRL Grand Final will have to move forward.
South Africa have won back-to-back Rugby World Cups (and their fourth overall), holding off a strong New Zealand challenge in the final at Saint Denis 12-11. Handre Pollard scored all of his side’s 12 points with four penalties, with the only try coming from All Blacks’ Beauden Barrett in the 58th minute.
The All Blacks played most of the match without captain Sam Cane, who received a red card in the 27th minute. The All Blacks counted the cost of two late missed goals, with Richie Mo’unga unable to convert Barrett’s try from the sideline, and Jordie Barrett missing a shot at penalty from just over halfway in the 73rd minute.
Player of the match Pieter-Steph Du Toit made 28 tackles, equalling the record for most tackles in a RWC match.
On Friday, England beat Argentina 26-23 to secure third place.
Not a great 24 hours for NZ sport, losing the cricket, Men’s league Test and now this, the big one for them. A small consolation in winning the Women’s league Test over Australia.
Reports just coming out that Eddie Jones has resigned as Wallabies coach.
Tyla Nathan-Wong played in Kiwi Ferns’ upset win over Jillaroos in the Pacific Rugby League Championships in Melbourne on Saturday, before dashing to Paris just in time to accept her award.
The Dream Team of the Year was also announced at the ceremony.
And no surprises, not a single Wallaby in that ‘Dream Team’.
re Tyla Nathan-Wong, looks like she has only recently switched from union to league too.
Would have had to to be the player of the year. Then again with the un-professional nature of the two sports it’s likely she plays two or three of the formats (15s, League and/or 7s).
Tyla played in all three formats. She won World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year for her performance for the Black Ferns in the 2022-23 World Sevens Series. Then in May this year she joined St George Illawarra in the NRLW and also switched to the Kiwi Ferns in rugby league. She also made her XV debut for Black Ferns against Australia in August last year.
In women’s rugby, England defeated New Zealand 33-12 in Auckland yesterday to claim the inaugural WXV1 title. Australia’s Wallaroos finished third in the group.
Harvey Norman is the second sponsor this month to opt against renewing its sponorship agreement, after global trading platform eToro announced the end of its three-year deal opting to ink a new three-year sponsorship deal with the A-League.
Paywall-free summary
UPDATE 14/12
UPDATE 3/4
Under the proposal, the Rebels will move from Melbourne’s AAMI Park to Tarneit in Melbourne’s outer west, and matches would be played at the precinct owned by Western Melbourne Group, parent company of A-League side Western United.
Rebels general manager Nick Stiles said a decision still hadn’t been made on the Super Rugby women’s side.
UPDATE: Marvel Stadium announced this afternoon that the Rebels would not be able to play against British and Irish Lions at Marvel Stadium on July 22 next year. However, the match would still go ahead, with RA negotiating with the Lions and the Victorian Government.
Meanwhile in New Zealand…
