Rugby World Cup: Who do the Springboks want in quarters?

In all likelihood this weekend’s Rugby World Cup match between the Springboks and Ireland should line-up the quarterfinal match-ups for pools A and B.

If the teams play to their potential, as they should over the coming few weeks, the Boks and Ireland will be the two sides emerging from pool B, while France and the All Blacks will progress from pool A.

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France’s opening win over the All Blacks firmly gave them the upper hand in pool A and they should easily be able to beat Namibia and Italy to top the pool, while the All Blacks should do the same in their final two pool games against Italy and Uruguay to finish second.

In pool B Ireland are currently top with a perfect 10 points thanks to two big bonus point wins over Romania and Tonga, while the Boks sit second on nine thanks to their solid win over Scotland and past weekend’s thrashing of Romania.

This Saturday’s match is thus a battle for top spot and the winning side should go on to top the pool, which would line them up against the second ranked team from pool A.

Who to face?

So who do the Springboks want to face in the quarterfinals? That is the question the team should be asking themselves.

A win over Ireland, followed by what should be a standard win over Tonga would likely see them up against their old foes in the All Blacks, while a loss against Ireland would put them on a collision course with World Cup hosts France.

Although the Boks only just lost to France playing most of the game with 14-men in Marseille last year, playing them in the quarters will be a huge challenge in front of a partisan crowd.

The All Blacks is probably the team they should be aiming for and having beaten them by a record scoreline in their last meeting, they would be confident in facing them again, although they were beaten comfortably in New Zealand earlier this year, so anything can happen.

If Ireland do lose this weekend it would open the door for Scotland to make a play for the quarters, but Ireland have not lost to Scotland since 2017, winning their last eight games straight and their last two games were won by 15 points or more, so they should have no trouble getting past their rivals.