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Rugby World Cup Schedule
by FOXSports.com
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Schedule & Results
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The 2007 Rugby World Cup is being held in France from September 7 through October 20.
The Pool stage of the tournament consists of four pools of five teams. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals. The USA is drawn in Pool A with heavyweights South Africa and England, while Canada faces Wales and Australia in Pool B.
Pool Stage
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D | |
| Date | England (ENG) South Africa (RSA) Samoa (SAM) United States (USA) Tonga (TGA) |
Australia (AUS) Wales (WAL) Fiji (FIJ) Canada (CAN) Japan (JPN) |
New Zealand (NZL) Scotland (SCO) Italy (ITA) Romania (ROM) Portugal (POR) |
France (FRA) Ireland (IRE) Argentina (ARG) Georgia (GEO) Namibia (NAM) |
| Fri., Sep. 7 |
FRA
12-17
ARG
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| Sat., Sep. 8 |
ENG
28-10
USA
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AUS
91-3
JPN
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NZL
74-14
ITA
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| Sun., Sep. 9 |
RSA
59-7
SAM
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WAL
42-17
CAN
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SCO
56-10
POR
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IRE
32-17
NAM
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| Tue., Sep. 11 |
ARG
33-3
GEO
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| Wed., Sep. 12 |
USA
15-25
TGA
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JPN
31-35
FIJ
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ITA
24-18
ROM
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| Fri., Sep. 14 |
ENG
0-36
RSA
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| Sat., Sep. 15 |
WAL
20-32
AUS
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NZL
108-13
POR
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IRE
14-10
GEO
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| Sun., Sep. 16 |
SAM
15-19
TGA
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FIJ
29-16
CAN
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FRA
87-10
NAM
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| Tue., Sep. 18 |
SCO
42-0
ROM
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| Wed., Sep. 19 |
ITA
31-5
POR
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| Thu., Sep. 20 |
WAL
72-18
JPN
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| Fri., Sep. 21 |
FRA
25-3
IRE
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| Sat., Sep. 22 |
RSA
30-25
TGA
ENG 44-22 SAM |
ARG
63-3
NAM
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| Sun., Sep. 23 |
AUS
55-12
FIJ
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SCO
0-40
NZL
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| Tue., Sep. 25 |
CAN
12-12
JPN
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ROM
14-10
POR
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| Wed., Sep. 26 |
SAM
25-21
USA
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GEO
30-0
NAM
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| Fri., Sep. 28 |
ENG
36-20
TGA
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| Sat., Sep. 29 |
AUS
37-6
CAN
WAL 34-38 FIJ |
NZL
85-8
ROM
SCO 18-16 ITA |
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| Sun., Sep. 30 |
RSA
64-15
USA
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FRA
64-7
GEO
IRE 15-30 ARG |
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| St. Denis is a suburb of Paris. The stadium there was built for the 1998 Soccer World Cup. | ||||
Knockout Rounds
| Quarterfinals | |||||
| Sat., Oct. 6 |
Australia 10-12 England
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New Zealand 18-20 France
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| Sun., Oct. 7 |
South Africa 37-20 Fiji
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Argentina 19-13 Scotland
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| Semifinals | |||||
| Sat., Oct. 13 |
England 14-9 France
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| Sun., Oct. 14 |
South Africa 37-13 Argentina
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| Third-place | |||||
| Fri., Oct. 19 |
France 10-34 Argentina
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| Final | |||||
| Sat., Oct. 20 |
England 6-15 South Africa
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Predictions
History suggests the World Cup semifinalists will be four of these five teams: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England and France.
England and South Africa are drawn in Pool A. Barring a huge upset, the loser of that matchup will face Australia in the quarterfinals, with New Zealand ahead in the semifinals. The winner of the England-South Africa duel will likely face Wales in the quarterfinal and France in the semifinal.
The Welsh in Pool B with Australia, and the Irish in Pool D with France will rate their chances of upsetting the established order. New Zealand has the easiest Pool with neither Scotland nor Italy realistic challengers, while England and South Africa should survive Pool A, albeit with a few bruises courtesy of Samoa.
The Irish, who came within a meters-wide drop goal of beating Australia in pool play in 2003, have the best chance of throwing pre-tournament predictions astray. Were they to beat France, that would stack the top half of the knockout draw, forcing New Zealand to play the unpredictable French in a quarterfinal in Cardiff.
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