The reigning champion England played against Australia an all time favorite team in these kinds of tournaments. The game was a low scoring one in which England went through the quarter finals with the final score of 12 to 10. The match was an intense one as the game could have gone either ways. The English total all came out of penalties and Wilkinson was the one who scored all the twelve points through penalty. The match produced just one try and that came out of Australian team. The match was well balanced, had Mortlock converted the penalty in the 78th minute, England would have a hard time overcoming the Australian score with so little time remaining. This penalty miss saw England breathing a sigh of relief and eventually the victory as well. The whole credit doesn’t simply go to Wilkinson who scored all the team’s total but the defense was too good for Australians. The tackle English players made with the forced turnovers were the key factors in England’s victory. Now the thing to see in a few days time is that would England be able to defend their title or not? For more information on the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 France log on to www.rugbyworldcup.com.
I backed up South Africa in the final of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 held in France. The reigning champions did not seem to do well and per expectation in the final. South Africa however were the tournaments favorite and proved it as well. As far as I saw the matches from the knock out stages the final scoreline was not very big and the victory margin was very narrow on most of the occasions too. But in the final the margin of the final score line was a healthy one as compared to the other matches of the knock out stages. All in all the final was a good one and it is good to me because the team which I had backed came out on top and eventually lifted the cup as well. For more information log on to www.rugbyworldcup.com