Save this weekend’s metaphorical explosions for Yokohama and Tokyo. The serious Rugby World Cup stuff started when the world’s traditional superpowers, New Zealand and South Africa, collided in Yokohama, the same venue where the tournament will reach its crescendo on November 2. And it may be that the same sides will run out onto the same field.
It wouldn’t be the first time. The last Springbok triumph was in France, 2007. In the pool stage they thrashed what appeared to be a hapless England 36 -0 in Stade de France, where they would later lift the Webb Ellis trophy. As for England, they recovered to such an extent that the world champions only beat them 15 – 6 in the final. In 2011 New Zealand beat France twice…
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