South Africa ruin France World Cup dream and set up England semi-final

Quarter-final weekend, as it had always threatened to, saved its best for last. An extraordinary match of fluctuating fortunes ended with French players scattered across the turf, part despair, part exhaustion, denied the chance to prevail at their own World Cup.

Another in the eye for the global north. South Africa it is, brimming with all that World Cup knowhow, who progress to a semi-final against England, the only team left in the tournament from the north. Not even the most ardent fan in white would claim their team represented the best of the north.

This weekend has showcased, as any set of quarter-finals should, the four best teams in the world. Alas, they were playing each other. Ireland-New Zealand on Saturday would have graced any World Cup final – and, boy, this match would have, too.

What a game we witnessed, the brilliant French, so free-running throughout, dashed against Springbok granite. From the start it was played at a pace and intensity beyond any of the others. And it was France who set that pace.

But time and again the Springboks, having picked a side to run, denied their hosts with more familiar virtues. Eben Etzebeth was a monstrous presence in the darkened recesses and around the fringes, terrorising Antoine Dupont, whose scrum cap might just as easily have been worn to block out the glowering Etzebeth’s presence as it was to protect his cheekbone.

But there were rock-hard Springboks throughout, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel unnerving the French midfield as much as their heavier brethren in the pack.

France won all the points for artistic merit, if only they had been on offer, but, as with the All Blacks the night before, it was the Springboks who knew the shortest route to victory. By the