Who's hot…and who's not!
It's time for our weekly wrap up of who has been setting the benchmarks and who needs to be dropped to bench!
As we head towards the semi-finals of the World Cup, it's time for our weekly wrap up of who has been setting the benchmarks and who needs to be dropped to bench!
Can't touch this…
Wales: Heading in to the World Cup, Wales were not even rated as certainties for getting out of their Pool (of death). Bunched with South Africa, Samoa and Fiji (who sent them packing in 2007), Wales were up against it from the word go; few would have imagined they would have responded so well.
Warren Gatland's men have proved to be one of the most well rounded teams in the competition. Mixing rock-solid defence with razor-sharp attack and, crucially, a menacing – yet disciplined – presence at the breakdown to out-gun more fancied opponents.
Against Ireland on Saturday, Wales rose to the occasion effortlessly, stamping their authority on the game with an early try and ramming home their advantage in the later stages when it really mattered.
Rank outsiders initially, Wales are now most definitely deserved title contenders.
David Pocock: Say what you like about how Bryce Lawrence officiated Sunday's quarter-final, but players – and flankers in particular – are always going to push the boundaries as far as they are allowed and Pocock did that magnificently.
South Africa turned the ball over on 24 occasions and you can bet that a fair whack of those turnovers were as a result of the menacing presence of Pocock.
Such was Pocock's understanding of how Lawrence was marshalling the breakdown that he only conceded one penalty on a night when he was everywhere.
It was clear that Australia suffered without Pocock during their loss to Ireland. Sunday's victory showed just how much he was missed.
Vincent Clerc: Level at the top of the try-scoring charts with six tries from five games, Clerc has developed a knack of crossing over when it really counts.
No more so than on Saturday against England when the right winger sliced down the touchline to dive over for France's first try.
With Ashton now out of contention, the Toulouse man will be looking to secure the try-scoring honours for himself. There may be a few All Blacks with other ideas, however…
When you're just not cool, you're ice cold
England: Where do we start? After reaching the last two World Cup finals and winning in 2003, England's campaign was picked apart for being dull on the field and contrastingly disturbing off it.
In their quarter-final match over the weekend against France, England hoped to encounter a dysfunctional team which crashed and burned against Tonga. Instead, the familiar flash-and-dash France came out and stunned the Six Nations champions 19-12.
Off the pitch, the trip couldn't help but turn into a PR disaster. Mike Tindall was caught with an old flame on a boozy night out, three senior players were accused of bullying a hotel employee, England were accused of cheating when they were caught switching balls, Manu Tuilagi was fined £5,000 for wearing a branded mouthguard and another £3,000 after jumping from a ferry into Auckland harbour.
How was the water Manu?
Bryce Lawrence: New Zealand-born referee Bryce Lawrence may think twice about setting foot in South Africa ever again following his performance in Sunday's quarter-final match between the Springboks and Australia.
Bok fans regard him as the man who stole the World Cup from right under their noses after an inept display of whistle-blowing that is right up there with the worst of them.
A Facebook petition to stop Lawrence from refereeing – Petition To Stop Bryce Lawrence Ever Reffing A Rugby Game Again – attracted 40 899 fans and counting!
Danie Rossouw: Poor Danie. After such an impressive RWC campaign for the Boks, he went from hero to zero in one moment of madness after playing Wallaby number eight Radike Samo in the air at a line-out nine minutes from full-time which allowed James O'Connor to put Australia back in the lead. It's one thing to give away the match-winning penalty, but to vehemently deny that he did it is just not cricket. Er, I mean rugby.
Empty seats: It was billed as a blockbuster weekend of quarter-finals, but the clash between England and France turned out to be the flop of the play-offs due to sluggish ticket sales. More than 20 per cent of seats at the 60,000-capacity stadium were empty.
Most locals opted to fork out for a seat at the next do-or-die match at the same venue between New Zealand and Argentina the next day, instead of watching two of the tournament's least-loved teams go head to head.
Compiled by Julia Harris and Dave Morris