Well, news just come in during the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan as 14 man Ireland advance to the quarterfinals after their immense win against Samoa before the match between Canada & Namibia had to be eventually cancelled due to typhoon Hagibis (That's the 3rd time that the tournament organisers had to call the match off along with England/France & New Zealand/Italy) then Wales top Pool D with a resounding victory against Uruguay while Japan topple Scotland (Dubbed as the best match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup) in the 3rd biggest boil over of the 2019 tournament to qualify for their 1st ever Rugby World Cup quarterfinal appearance.
And here is the confirmed list for quarterfinal matches being played (Well, not only these high octane quarterfinal matches are going to be epic indeed, so yeah definitely):
England Vs Australia (The last time both of these sides had met at a Rugby World Cup was during the pool stages in 2015 in which the Wallabies knocked previous hosts England (Who didn't get out of their pool (Well, that was their worst result ever at a Rugby World Cup) after losing to Wales & Australia as I mentioned before) out of the Rugby World Cup (Well I thought Wallaby first five Bernard Foley was the top performer of that game but it went to English lock/second rower Joe Launchbury)
New Zealand Vs Ireland (Their most recent meeting at a Rugby World Cup was a long time ago in 1995 during the pool stages in which the late All Black star winger Jonah Lomu (Who was just a young 20 year old (And what is his occupation? Well he was working as a bank officer at ASB Bank) way back then a year after making his test debut at 19 (He was the youngest AB ever) against France at the old Lancaster Park in Christchurch) who got a double by scoring his 1st 2 test tries)
Wales Vs France (Their only clash at a Rugby World Cup was at a semifinal in 2011 (The winner would face the All Blacks in the final in which we finally claimed victory against our trans Tasman rivals the Wallabies in the other semifinal) in which Welsh captain Sam Warburton who had been shown the red card by Irish referee Alain Rolland for that famous spear/tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc which will always be remembered therefore handing France the victory against a 14 man Wales by a single point (The final score was 9 - 8) & hadn't even scored a single try in the match (Mike Phillips scored a late try but the conversion had been missed by Welsh reserve first five Stephen Jones who had just come onto the field for James Hook who had a wretched night as a goal kicker)
And Japan Vs South Africa (And also their only meeting between the 2 sides at a Rugby World Cup was in 2015 during the pool stages in which New Zealand born Japanese player Karne Hesketh who went in for the kill & scored the match winning try (Well to start with after the full 80 minutes had been up (And the Springboks had their prop forward Coenie Oosthuizen in the sin bin & were down to 14 men), they opted for the scrum (After French referee Jerome Garces had given Japan a scrum penalty) to win the game rather than a penalty goal for the draw which was actually a good idea, & they liked it of course) to seal the deal & claim the biggest boil over in Rugby World Cup history (Well, I remember that game (And Pops told me that the Japanese men were getting emotional about the victory) because it was known as the miracle on Brighton)
So that is my 321st blog of the year 2019 (MMXIX) & my 61st of this year.
P.S. And here are my top 5 Rugby World Cup moments:
5: Sam Warburton's red card against France during the semifinal in 2011
4: The late Jonah Lomu running over the top of Mike Catt also during the semifinal in 1995
3: Japan's glorious upset win against the Springboks in 2015
2: The All Blacks winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup against France in the final (Including Stephen 'Beaver' Donald's match winning penalty to win our 2nd Rugby World Cup title & our 1st in 24 years) on home soil
& 1: The AB's winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup against the Wallabies in the final (Including Beauden 'Beaudy' Barrett's try that sealed the deal to clinch our 2nd Rugby World Cup title in a row & our 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) on foreign soil
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