Sports

Champions of 2007.
by Barbie Kunkelova

Since the first match in 1987, every four years the world's biggest sporting events takes place & the Rugby World Cup. This is the sixth year of its existence. Quadrennially, a total of twenty nations compete against each other in four different pools (according to the results during the previous cup), each pool consisting of five nations. Then, in the final, the winner and runner-up (first and second place) play against each other in a knock-out stage. This stage consists of quarter-finals, semi-finals and then, finally, finals. The first one ever was held in Australia and was won by England. Since then, England's rugby team had been the favorite. South Africa's Springboks team took part in the cup for the first time in year 1995. That year it was also this country that was hosting the whole cup. The trophy is named after William Webb Ellis, the founder of rugby himself. This year the tournament is hosted by France and there are 94 nations participating. Eight of them were qualified automatically, they won the quarter-finals in 2003 (England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). Then there are 86 regional qualifiers (from Arica, Europe, Asia, America and Oceania). This year, the world is hoping for the South Africa to beat England and overtake its champion position. The final match will take place on September 20, and the players are feeling pretty confidential after they had beaten Argentineans on October 14. Another issue that keeps them smiling is the recent drop-out of Josh Lewsey due to an injury. Change is good, it might do Africa well, to win the golden cup in the end.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071015/twl-uk-rugby-world-bd5ae06_1.html

by Barbie Kunkelova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 2:41 PM