South Africa into the Semis

[Jess]

South Africa just beat Fiji 37 - 20.

Gutsy performance by the Fijians who came back from 20 - 6 to tie it all up at 20 all in the 65th minute.

The Saffas were just too strong in the end.

Dang!

[felixnelson]

how much do you love fiji?

[Jehna]

Springboks follow the form book

From Julian Linden in Marseille
October 08, 2007

SOUTH Africa progressed to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals with a hard-fought 37-20 victory against Fiji in a brutal but enthralling quarter-final in Marseille overnight.

The Springboks briefly looked to be in danger of joining Tri-Nations partners New Zealand and Australia as shock early casualties when Fiji launched a second-half fightback, but they maintaied their composure to secure victory.

Fiji, which made the quarter-finals for the first time in 20 years with a stunning win over Wales in the pool stage, threatened to produce another boilover when it scored two tries in three minutes to draw level midway through the second half only to run out of steam in the final 17 minutes.

South Africa regained the lead through a penalty from full back Percy Montgomery then sealed their victory with late tries from openside flanker Juan Smith and fly half Butch James.

Springboks coach Jake White said the pressure had told on his young players, but he praised his more experienced leaders for standing up in the testing final 20 minutes.

"Some players are 20 (years old) and they looked like it," White said. "But the senior players in the last 20 put their hands up. "We can't forget it was the quarter-final of the World Cup and we scored five tries to two. At the end of day we're going into the next round, we're in the top four, and we've got no injuries."

Fiji captain Mosese Rauluni was ecstatic with his players. "All I asked of the boys was to give it their all and I am so proud of the way they played," he said. "We came here with nothing to lose and they had all the pressure on them and we forced them to make mistakes. "We had two upset results yesterday and we were hoping for another one today, but it wasn't to be."

The Springboks seemed to be in control of the match when they led 20-6 after an hour, and the Fijians were reduced to 14 men after the sin-binning of inside centre Seru Rabeni before the game burst into life.

Fiji wing Vilimoni Delasau scored in the left corner after kicking over the defence line and winning the race to the ball, then his counterpart on the opposite flank, Sireli Bobo, followed up a break from scrum half Rauluni to score three minutes later.

The Pacific islanders almost had a third try when Ifereimi Rawaqa crashed over in the left corner only to put his foot into touch after a smothering tackle from J.P. Pietersen.

Pietersen had scored a try earlier in the second half to stretch South Africa's lead to 14 points after it had gone to the break with a 13-3 advantage following tries from outside centre Jaque Fourie and Smit.

Inside centre Francois Steyn landed a booming penalty goal from just inside his own half to open the scoring after just eight minutes, while Seremaia Bai, who moved from centre to fly half to replace the injured Nicky Little, kicked two penalties and two conversions for Fiji.

Reuters

[Jess]

how much do you love fiji?

Lots.

It wasn't shown live on TV (again... I cannot stand channel ten) so I watched the live tracker on the RWC website for score and play updates. Nifty little contraption it was. Every minute it gets updated with the score, who did what, who tried to do what and didn't... It was very good.

And so when the score was 20 all my heart was racing and I was so excited about each score update. Sadly only one teams score kept going up after that point... the bad guys.

Then when channel ten finally decided to play the game... after an hours prematch discussion even though the game was delayed... I fell asleep.

Hopefully fox replay it today.

[jazza93]

that was the best game so far in the world cup.

i thought fiji were gonna win when they scored those trys with 14 players.

[The InnFORCEr]

It was a great game and worth waiting for the delayed telecast, I really thought the Fijians had them at 20 all........fantastic effort by Fiji, close to the "over achievers" award for RWC 2007 for mine.

[brokendown gunfighter]

imagine if the world cup was played using ARC rules
Fiji would be unstoppable
interesting to see what rules WILL be in place at the next world cup

[jargan83]

i had fallen asleep/passed out by time the game was on last nite, but the game was on again when i woke up on channel 10 this morning

[jono]

bugger.
now i really have no idea who to go for. was hoping fiji would take it all the way.

[shasta]

imagine if the world cup was played using ARC rules
Fiji would be unstoppable
interesting to see what rules WILL be in place at the next world cup

I have been thinking about that too. After the way the RWC has panned out I can't see the ELV's being accepted by the NH or the Argies and probably not the Saffers.

[RuckNMaul]

damned fijians, every team with fiji born fellas on the feild lost at the weekend

Coincidence?

probly

[GIGS20]

I have been thinking about that too. After the way the RWC has panned out I can't see the ELV's being accepted by the NH or the Argies and probably not the Saffers.

I agree totally Shasta What needs to become obvious is that the ELV way of playing is actually better than the 'technical' (For want of a better term) way of playing. I'm not even sure that NZ would embrace the ELVs as strongly as Aus and the rest of the world. That's where my concern lies with trialling the ELVs in the S14, we (Aus specifically) would be taking a step AWAY from the direction England has shown that we need to go.

[Skiza]

I was like bummer, imagine if the Saffas were out too... a good effort by the Fijians.

[Sagerian]

In all honestly, compared to Aus and NZ, I don't think the rugby world would have been in anywhere near as much shock if the saffas went out.

[Shaun]

BOKKE BOKKE BOKKE!!!