New Zealand and narrowly South Africa are the semi-final favourites but the Antipodean coaches of England and Wales have the experience to make both games tantalisingly close
Some Rugby World Cup semi-finals stay longer in the memory than others. For every stunning sporting spectacle – Sydney 1987, Dublin 1991, Cape Town 1995 and Twickenham 1999 – a good number have been unable to match the hype. Often they are not even close: in no fewer than nine of the 16 semi-final contests to date there has been a double-figure margin of victory.
Major surprises, historically, have also been relatively sparse. Of those 16 games, a mere three were won against the head, so to speak. France, both in 1987 and 1999, totally confounded expectations but, otherwise, probably the biggest shock was New Zealand’s decisive 22-10 loss at the hands of Australia in 2003.
Written by Robert Kitson in Tokyo
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/21/england-wales-final-jones-gatland-rugby-world-cup under the title “An England-Wales final? Jones and Gatland have the knowhow to deliver it | Robert Kitson”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
