Record breaking attendances, surprising results and excellent rugby.  We hope you’ve had the chance to take a game in at one of the many host cities or visited one of the fan parks or maybe just watched it on TV with mates.

So what’s the story so far….?  Here’s a round-up in one digestible chunk

The Hosts

England have certainly put on a show in terms of organisation and set up.  Just a shame their team decided to leave the party early. The group of death certainly lived up to its name for them, but even with England not involved in the knock out stages the party will kick on and with the Fan zone about to open in Trafalgar Square for the semi final games, the party might just get even bigger!

Surprises

No bigger surprise in Rugby World Cup history (maybe even sporting history) than Japan beating South Africa.  An unbelievable result orchestrated by maverick Aussie coach Eddie Jones getting his players to believe in their ability and berating one of the pre tournament favourites.  An additional surprise for Japan was going on to win three pool games and still going out of the tournament.

Record Breaking

This tournament has broken all records for attendance, TV audience, points scoring, closeness of games – pretty much all records have been set at this tournament. 

More than 1.8 million people have attended the 40 group games (an average of 47,000 per match) and seen over 2000 points scored (average 50 per game). Also, Bryan Habana drew level with Jonah Lomu to become joint leading World Cup try scorer with 15 tries.

Rugby

The rugby has been excellent. Some superb tries scored and some superb defensive play  (Australia’s seven magical minutes playing with 13 men against Wales was something to behold). The game has done itself some huge favours and I expect won itself a whole new army of fans.

The Final eight

So the final eight are confirmed and there are four teams from the northern hemisphere and four from the southern with all the quarter finals being north versus south.

South Africa v Wales at Twickenham on Saturday 17 October 4pm

New Zealand v France at The Millennium Stadium Cardiff on Saturday 17 October 8pm

Ireland v Argentina at The Millennium Stadium Cardiff on Sunday 18 October 1pm

Australia v Scotland at Twickenham on Sunday 18 October 4pm

What money for an all Southern hemisphere semi final line up?