Saturday 15th October – Wales v France
France booked a semi-final clash with Wales with their thoroughly deserved victory over England. The French bounced back from their pool defeat to Tonga and raced into a 16-0 lead with first-half tries from Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard and England’s second half revival was not enough.
Wales swept into the World Cup semi-finals after a clear-cut victory against Six Nations rivals Ireland. Wales played an attacking game and their bold approach was rewarded through tries for wing Shane Williams, scrum-half Mike Phillips and centre Jonathan Davies.
Ireland, attempting to reach the semi-final for the first time in their history, tested the Welsh defence again and again but some mighty tackling kept them at bay and put Wales within reach of the World Cup final.
Sunday 16th October – Australia v New Zealand
Pre-tournament favourites New Zealand advanced to a Rugby World Cup semi-final with Australia after overcoming Argentina at Eden Park. The All-Blacks seemed to miss their inspirational fly-half Dan Carter, who is out of the tournament with a groin injury, and were grateful for Piri Weepu’s accurate kicking.
Australia clung on grimly to edge out South Africa by 11-9 in Wellington. Despite having an early 8-0 lead, the Wallabies were under pressure for long periods and needed some dogged defence to hold out against the defending champions. James Horwill scored the only try of the match for Australia, with James O’Connor adding two penalties.
SportsBet is the place to go for your Rugby World cup betting with 30 markets on the semi-final fixtures. Wales are rated $1.73 on the head to head with France at $2.09 (+2 Line). They are also betting on the winning margin and if you fancy this one to be close you can have $2.50 Wales to win by 1-12 points or $2.75 in favour of the French.
New Zealand are hot favourites to see off the Australian challenge, paying just $1.30 on the head to head with Australia paying $3.45 (+7.5 points on the Line). Other markets include winning margin, first tryscorer and last tryscorer.
