Australia wins, the French find form again, and the English look like their days are numbered ...

Lots has happened at the RWC since ChicRugby's last post. Apologies to readers but CR's been busy at work.

The Australians defeated the Welsh in a spirited game. Alas, I only caught the highlights (I fell asleep ... damn this time difference), but from what I saw the Australians played well with scope for further improvement. Stephen Larkham thinks he'll be fit to play in the semis, so let's hope the quarters are kind to the Wallabies so we can enjoy him back on the pitch. Berrick Barnes, the baby of the Australians, played a fantastic game, with a lightening fast pass to Matt Giteau to score under the goal-posts. He also nicely emulated Jonny Wilkinson by kicking a field-goal. I'd love it if we met them in the quarters and he did the same thing to win. Karma can be sweet!

Australia 32 - Wales 20

The English met the Springboks and quivered in their presence. By some accounts, even though JW looks set to return for their match against Samoa, the English are all over the place. It will be a tough game for the English as the Samoans are very physical players. Expect to see more Poms taken off on stretchers.

Other results in games are:

Fiji 29 - Can 16 in Cardiff
Samoa 15 - Tonga 19 in Montpellier
France 87 - Namibia 10 in Toulouse (thanks for coming Namibia - ouch!)
Scotland 42 - Romania 0 in Edinburgh (another poor little minnow)

The French seem to have found form again, this time against Namibia. Easy beats but very physical. The French next play Ireland in what will be a fantastic game. The Irish played very well in the 6 Nations - however, they have been known to bottle when they play away from Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Nevertheless, I'm barracking for the men in green.

So much rugby! So little time to read and watch and report on it all.

Gotta do some work now.