South Africa, current world champion, qualified for the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup after defeating France by a tight 29-28 at the Stade de Franceending the host’s dream of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time.
The ‘Springboks’ will fight to get into the final against England, next Saturday on the same Parisian stage, after the XV de la Rosa beat Fiji 30-24 this Sunday in Marseille.
As happened in 1995 in Durban, in the only World Cup precedent between both powers, then in the semi-finals, the ‘Springboks’ beat a rival whom they had the measure of.
In 46 matches, the South Africans have won 28, with only 12 French victories and six draws.
The defeat is a hard blow for the ‘Bleus’ who dreamed of winning the tournament for the first time in their history.
With this match, which put an end to a thrilling Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the semi-finalists are now known: The Pumas will challenge New Zealand on Friday in Paris and a day later the ‘Springboks’ will seek a place against the English.
England, the only survivor of the North
England beat Fiji 30-24 and reached the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cupin a match that was held at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille and that opened the Sunday day of the event.
England, who finished first in Group D, achieved a hard-fought victory that almost escaped them at the end of the match and reached the stage in which the four best teams of the World Cup event will face each other.
The English team started on the right foot with their opening Owen Farrell and took an important advantage with two tries from Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant.
Minutes later, Fiji reacted and scored with a try from Viliame Matawhich with Frank Lomani’s conversion brought the score to 21 to 10.
Already in the second part, Fiji managed to equalize the result 24-24 to the confusion of England with tries from Peni Ravai and Vilimoni Botitu.
However, the English team took the lead again thanks to Owen Farrell and sealed the match, so now they will have to wait for the winner of the duel between France and South Africa to meet their rival in the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
