Rugby World Cup Schedule 2015: Final Standings, Knockout Fixtures and More
The group stages of the Rugby World Cup 2015 came to a conclusion with four more matches on Sunday, and the schedule for the knockout fixtures has now been confirmed. Ireland managed to avoid a quarter-final clash with defending champions New Zealand thanks to a win over France, who will meet the All Blacks at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Saturday's other match will be between South Africa and Wales, while Sunday's fixtures will see Ireland take on Argentina, and Australia face off against Scotland at Twickenham Stadium.
Here's a look at the full schedule:
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| 17 October | South Africa | vs. | Wales | Twickenham |
| 17 October | New Zealand | vs. | France | Millennium Stadium |
| 18 October | Ireland | vs. | Argentina | Millennium Stadium |
| 18 October | Australia | vs. | Scotland | Twickenham |
The final group standings:
| 1 | Australia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 35 | 1 | 17 |
| 2 | Wales | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 111 | 62 | 1 | 13 |
| 3 | England | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 133 | 75 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 | Fiji | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 84 | 101 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Uruguay | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 30 | 226 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 176 | 56 | 4 | 16 |
| 2 | Scotland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 136 | 93 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 | Japan | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 98 | 100 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 | Samoa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 69 | 124 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | USA | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 50 | 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 174 | 49 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 | Argentina | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 179 | 70 | 3 | 15 |
| 3 | Georgia | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 123 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | Tonga | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 70 | 130 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Namibia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 70 | 174 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | Ireland | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 35 | 2 | 18 |
| 2 | France | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 120 | 63 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 88 | 1 | 9 |
| 4 | Romania | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 50 | 129 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Canada | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 58 | 131 | 2 | 2 |
Preview
France's poor showing in their 24-9 loss against Ireland drew plenty of commentary on social media on Sunday, with the likes of Rugbydump.com jokingly pretending Les Bleus meant to set up a clash with the All Blacks rather than Argentina in the next round:
The French allowed two tries—by Rob Kearney and Conor Murray—and failed to trouble the Irish defence for long stretches of the match. They also missed two penalties, although neither would have mattered much in the grand scheme of things.
It was Les Bleus' first loss of the tournament, but Philippe Saint-Andre's men haven't looked their best in any of the group-stage matches, save perhaps their 32-10 win over Italy.
Former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry believes France won't mind going up against New Zealand in the quarter-finals, however, as he told the New Zealand Herald:
"There's a French psyche that doesn't like playing Argentina so I just wonder if they might be a bit indifferent going into tomorrow morning's game about the result (against Ireland). (Whereas) I don't think they mind playing the All Blacks. You look back to 1999. I think something happened in 2007 as well. So the French have got a bit of history in World Cups played in the northern hemisphere and I think they will feel more comfortable playing the All Blacks than they would playing Argentina.
"
The clash brings back memories of the 2007 World Cup, when a much-fancied All Blacks team lost to Les Bleus in the quarter-finals. That France team looked a lot stronger than the one that lost to Ireland on Sunday, but they failed to top their group due to a shock loss against Argentina, of all teams.
On paper, a meeting with Los Pumas should favour the Six Nations champions, although plenty of pundits, including former rugby star Will Greenwood, warned Joe Schmidt's men not to underestimate the South Americans:
Argentina gave New Zealand a serious challenge in the group stages, and Ireland will limp into their quarter-final after Sunday's win over France came at the cost of yet another host of injuries. As reported by Chris Hewett of the Independent, Jonathan Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and Paul O’Connell all left the pitch with what appeared to be serious knocks against Les Bleus.
Jamie Heaslip acknowledged Sunday's win came at a heavy cost:
Elsewhere, in-form Australia will attempt to continue their strong run against Scotland, who have played some solid rugby so far in this World Cup but may lack the depth to make much noise in the knockout stages.
Finn Russell, Mark Bennett and John Hardie returned from injury in time for the clash with Samoa, but the Scottish side looked visibly tired in that match and came pretty close to losing a match against a team that shares a lot of similarities with the Wallabies as far as raw athleticism out wide goes.
Wales are battle-tested after surviving a tough challenge in Pool A, and with South Africa showing signs of weakness at times during the group stages, most notably in a loss against Japan, Warren Gatland's men will believe in their ability to pull off the upset.
The Springboks are among the healthiest teams left in the tournament and will be the favourites in their clash, but at this stage of the tournament, anything could happen. Wales managed to hold Australia to just 15 points in their meeting―there's no reason why their defence can't repeat that performance against South Africa.
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