The Rugby World Cup in France has reached the start of its business end with the quarter-finals being played and by Sunday only four teams will remain in the tournament.

Sadly, the way the quarter-finals panned out because of the premature draw by the World Cup, of the world’s top-four teams, only two will advance to the semi-finals.

That means that of the Springboks, All Blacks, Ireland and France, only two of these teams will remain in contention to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy.

The Springboks will face the host nation France on Sunday in the last quarter-final on Sunday, while on Saturday the top-ranked Ireland will be in action against the All Blacks

In the other two quarter-finals, Wales will be in action against Argentina, while England will be up against Fiji.

The Boks are guaranteed of a tough battle upfront against the French in Paris, and the scrum battle will be arguably the biggest at the World Cup to date.

The Boks do have the added advantage that they had last week off, and out of their eight teams in the knockout round they will be the freshest.

Vincent Koch - Getty

The Springbok tighthead prop, Vincent Koch, said they will be tuned in.

“We zoomed into our game this past week and the coaches came up with plans on where we can improve so that we are at the level we need to be for the quarterfinal and to be in a position to play our best rugby, and the players bought into it, so it was a good training week.”

The Irish in turn will be looking to break their Rugby World Cup hoodoo previously never being able to advance past the quarter-finals.

It will be the first time they face the All Blacks since their historic 2-1 series win against the three-time world champions in New Zealand last year.

The All Blacks have hit their straps in recent weeks and they will be motivated by that famous series defeat last year.

Ireland vs. Scotland - RWC/ Getty

The Irish coach, Andy Farrell, said that the All Blacks will throw the kitchen sink at them.

“I think New Zealand are a fantastic side and for little old Ireland to be talked about in the same bracket shows how far we have come as a playing nation.

“But the respect we have for New Zealand is through the roof. The form they have right now is top drawer and, as Johnny said before, I'm sure they will be relishing this fixture to try and put a few things right. It's as tough as it gets, two weeks ago it was a tough game against South Africa and this one was knock-out rugby.

“It gets a whole lot tougher next week against the All Blacks and hopefully they will have to be at their best to beat us as well.”

The winner between Ireland and New Zealand will take on the winner between Wales and the Pumas, while the winner between the Springboks and French will tackle either England or Fiji in the semi-finals.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport