Rugby World Cup: All Blacks fighting to stay sharp as the business end kicks off this weekend in Japan
- While Tokyo and Oita will host two intriguing quarter-finals, New Zealand versus Ireland will be the premier heavyweight battle
The champs are getting restless and who can blame them. Two-time Rugby World Cup defending champion New Zealand All Blacks have not officially played a match in 11 days since destroying Namibia 71-9.
Combined with the cancellation of their final pool match against Italy last Saturday because of Typhoon Hagibis, as well as their dismantling of Canada 63-0 before that, it has been almost a month since they played a competitive match when they beat South Africa 23-13.
After kicking off one month ago with host Japan taking on Russia, the business end of the World Cup is finally here. Rivals England and Australia will get things started tomorrow down in Oita followed by the All Blacks and Ireland in Tokyo in the evening.
Wales and France meet on Sunday also in Oita with the highly anticipated match between hosts Japan and South Africa later that night at Tokyo Stadium.
As they prepare for the quarter-finals, All Blacks captain Kieran Read admitted that despite a number of productive training sessions recently, there is no way to create the intensity needed to win at this level.
