AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – The preliminary stage of the Rugby World Cup ended on 2 October and it is already certain that the semi-finals and the final, to be held 23 October at 10:00 Swiss time, will be contests between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. England secured top place in Pool B and sent Scotland home early with a narrow and stodgy 16-12 win over their northern neighbours. France looked out of form as they were beaten 14-19 by Tonga but still qualified as second behind New Zealand in Pool A. England will now face France for the third sussessive World Cup: the English won the last two. Argentina came second in the group and will face the mighty All Blacks next. South Africa won all their games to win Pool D and will now meet Australia. Wales came second in the Pool after losing by a single point to South Africa but were in awesome form as they swept past Fiji 60-0. They next play Ireland, which beat Australia on the way to the top of Pool C.
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International sports, rugby
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Syd Nomis, 69, who played 25 successive Tests for the Springboks from 1966-71, becoming a legend in South African rugby, has had a leg amputated during a visit to his son Gary and family in Zurich.
The former sports star came down with pneumonia, then developed blod clots during his visit, according to South Africa’s Sports24, and he is recovering after surgery above the knee Sunday 26 September.
Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland (GenevaLunch) - The Irish rugby team put on a brave display to beat the South African Springboks, the current world champions, in a tight game which was played in a Dublin fog in front of almost 75,000 fans. The win meant that the Irish have now gone 11 games without defeat. The points were scored by Jonathan Sexton but the victory owed as much to the ferocious tackling of Brian O’Driscoll.
In the other Internationals the New Zealand All Blacks crushed France 12-39 and Australia beat Wales 12-33.
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Wellington, New Zealand (GenevaLunch) – The New Zealand All Blacks crushed the Australian Wallabies 33-6 in the final match of the Tri-Nations season. South Africa’s Springboks had already won the series. The Australian coach Robbie Deans criticized the lack of commitment of his players, especially in the final 10 minutes.
Capetown, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – South African fly-half Morne Steyn scored 24 points as the Springboks won their third successive Tri-Nations match of the season 29-17. The Wallabies were overpowered but contributed to their loss by poor discipline and careless mistakes. At one stage there were only 13 Aussies on the field as Matt Giteau and Richard Brown were given yellow cards.
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – Schalk Burger, the South African flanker, was given an eight-week ban, considered a lenient punishment, for gouging the eye of British and Irish Lions winger Luke Fitzgerald in the first minute of the test match on Saturday.
Pretoria, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The British and Irish Lions dominated the first half but were pinned back in the second and eventually lost to a last minute penalty. South African flanker Schalk Burger was given a yellow card in the first minute for gouging the eye of Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald, a particularly nasty foul that could have seen a red card.
