Not so super Saturday

So, the long Saturday is finally over.

Argentina kicked into gear and racked up 60+ against Namibia. Even more than yesterday it's a case of "Goodbye Ireland" and a quarter-final line up that says France v All Blacks, Argentina v (probably Scotland).

England sort of clicked into gear. Johnny was back and had a pretty good game, made easier because Gomersall kicked the English forwards into gear in a way Perry just never managed. But, Samoa, who have rather flattered to deceive this time around, pushed them close. Tonga, who beat Samoa, can still win and kick the English out, and probably will to be honest. There is still an impression that England are blustering rather than genuinely confident whilst Tonga will be full of fire and self belief. An early score by Tonga and England will fall apart. An early score the other way, and Tonga will fight. If it's close near the end, Tonga will have the belief to win.

Why are Tonga so positive? Well, they faced the South African second stringers and were winning. White sent on all 7 of the senior squad to bolster things, which they did, but Tonga still fought back, and but for a bounce of the rugby ball going right instead of left could have won at the end. It made for a great game, a real classic, and if it didn't boost Tonga's self-belief nothing will.

It's cemented for me an All-Black win I think. I know that matches in the knock-out stages can swing on silly things and there's no second chances, so it's not a certainty, but when you look at the side against Portugal for example, supposedly New Zealand's second stringers, they were smooth, efficient and shone from 1-15. Some of the SA second stringers did, Skinstad had a great game for example, and deserved his try, even if it denied Tonga the win, but by and large they looked appreciably less good than their big team counterparts. Still probably a top 10 in the world team, but not #2, whereas the AB's "second team" still looks like #1 in the world.