All hail the mighty Wales.

I'd just like to congratulate the Welsh team on their win today. Great performance. I'll leave the analysis of everything they did well to the Welsh fans. And I'll leave the Irish postmortem of a disappointing performance to the Irish fans who actually want to talk about rugby right now. I think Declan Kidney has said he has no complaints about the result. He knows the best team won and he wishes Wales all the best in the semi finals. I reiterate those sentiments.

A big warm congratulations from an Irish fan. The team and fans deserve it.

Yeah congrats,now go and win the bloody thing.

Thank you

Diolch yn fawr iawn thank you very much.

It was a cracking win for Wales and to be honest, i saw it coming. Wales have been one of the standout teams this tournement and are fully deserved of their semi final spot.

Even though France won today as well, they have still not managed to convince me that they are a better team right now than Wales.

Wales SA final???

billy - the Hound of Harrow called that a few weeks ago, and I've got to say, that would be amazing. I'm not looking past France though. They beat us in the 6N's and beat us pretty comprehensively. It's going to be such a tough match.

Yeah true dreamer but Wales have been getting better and better and lets face it, they are playing some excellent rugby right now. Full credit to them.

RD everybody beats us in the 6N and world cups when we play like headless chickens but thankfully now we seem to have a game plan that works.

I'm pretty amazed at how we're playing, but I for one am never going to write off the French. We've had some incredible matches against them in the past, and all too often come out on the wrong side. We will have to improve again if we are to beat them.

commiserations to the irish lads, itl be sad to see some top notch and great servants to the sport bowing out after this competition, looking forward to seeing the irish youth come through and take the sport in the country to the next level!

The graciousness in defeat is fantastic today. Thanks Feckless. I hope out fans on here will be similarly gracious if and when we are knocked out. I've heard nothing about refs, cheating, etc. So refreshing. Wales fans, this is the way to behave!

See you in the 6N, you'll be out to avenge this defeat and will be very hard to beat as always.

The Irish fans have been extremely gracious and I would also like to think that the Welsh have been considerate winners.
There have been no complaints about the officials in either match today simply because they did a excellent jobs.

Yup - no real controversies. All the tries were clearly tries, SOB was clearly held up. Mike Phillips even scored his try with the correct ball.

Very well done to Wales , now just go and beat the bloody frogs

As an England Fan all I can say is congratulations Wales, and hope to see you in the Final, playing the same way you did today, With players running straight and putting in really big hits.

I hope France don't revert to type and give you an easy game, because if you want to win the cup you need to win a tight game in the Semi.

I am sorry for the Irish, would have loved to see O'Connel, O'Callaghan and O'Driscoll get the result they deserve for their contribution to Northern Hemispher Rugby. But on todays performance the better team won

samuraidragon wrote: Mike Phillips even scored his try with the correct ball.

Thanks guys To be honest, I think I was in shock this morning, I really thought Ireland would win. I'm gutted that we had to play each other in the QFs because it meant one of us had to go. I know the Irish will bounce back from this, and will probably dominate the Heineken Cup and Rabo now...

Our return to domination begins with Munster V Ospreys tonight.....

France V Wales will be great, also I'm going to say I predicted France to win today.

Me too Thom. I predicted France by 3.

Not sure about the O's tonight....they could be feeling pretty confident

Did anyone notice the post match pundits after the England V France game, you could have sworn it was the end of the world and the four horse men were coming. They did not congratulate France, they just went on about how disapionted they were.

Not sure we've done enough to justify the 'mighty' tag just yet.

Warburton, Halfpenny, Roberts, Phillips and the front row, yep, awesome, but there are a few (Lydiate, Faletau, Shane, Priestland) who need to take it up a level if we're to get through the semi.

casar this is probably not the correct thread to get into this debate for, but lydiate...really the man was our top tackler today! and had not damaged his ligaments two weeks ago!

I think it really showed today how much we missed Lydiate at the break down, he gives Warburton the space to work

LordDowlais wrote:Did anyone notice the post match pundits after the England V France game, you could have sworn it was the end of the world and the four horse men were coming.

It is the end of the effing world, and I just saw the four horsemen boarding a BA flight for Auckland.

Seriously, real congtrats to France and Wales. ooops, I mean Wales and France. Now, you boys in red - beat France and win the thing. Great.

definitely Mike, he showed his worth today. I think this was highlighted by the fact that you didn't notice him really, doing all the unseen dirty work allowing others to shine. Superb performance from him today, as it was by every single player in the team.

Shane was pretty good. OK, he gave away a 3-pointer, but saved 7 by holding-up SOB. Also that try was by no means a gimme. Lydiate was good too. Faletau - mmm, missed a few in the first half, but slotted into the defense quite well. He is light and can get boshed back, but still the best for the job atm.Priestland's passing was very good, but his tactical kicking was iffy, missed a few touches and got charged down. Hope Lievremont doesn't start Trinh-Duc next week. He oozed class when he came on.

GOing into this match, Faletau hadn't missed a tackle according to the stats. And he was everywhere today, or seemed to be, he was brilliant even if he wasn't allowed much room to make some big ball carries.

Well done Wales, you was the better team today know doubt about it.

Have not see the Englang v France game yet, to try and pre dict what the score wiil be.

I posted this on facebook but I may as well do it here too;

"Blydi well done to Wales and all the Welsh regs, been reflecting on the match. It's been amazing to see the progress the likes of Priestland, Davies, Warburton and Faletau have made in such a short space of time. Fairly astonishing how well Gatland has brought these young players through. It wasn't to be for us but the World of rugby will get to see a well-drilled passionate team full of youth, flair and ambition. I'm sure that Wales will win a lot of admirers from that.

We will have won some fans as well, we played our hearts out in the group stages but I just feel we blew ourselves out getting past Italy and couldn't hit top gear again twice in six days; any team that can't do that won't be in the mix right at the death. I'm very proud of my team and what they've done in this World Cup though.

There's no shame in losing to such a polished side- we didn't play badly this morning- maybe the result would have been different if we had been more clinical in your 22, but the more dangerous attack won the day and deservedly so."

Well done Notch

A wee word for Halfpenny. I thought he might be a possible weak link in defence and was glad he was selected ahead of Byrne.

Needless to say I'm not now. He was faultless in defence and had a great game.

Shane Williams got his try just as I though he would. Don't get so fixated on the young guns that you forget the wee man . What a legend .

I don't really want to single players out though as Wales were superb to a man, with the pack, defence and the carrying of the irrepressible Jamie Roberts laying the foundation for a well deserved victory.

only disappointment about Shane is that he got turned over 4 times in contact. He needs to avoid getting isolated in future, or just not go into contact so much!

Very fair comments, Notch. You guys put in awesome performances against Oz and Italy. Maybe keeping that level of intensity for 3 in a row was too big an ask

Well done Wales. Really deserved the win.

Really gutted for our lads though.

Hi ya cymro.
You've gotta be happy with your team at the moment. Both in the short term and long term Wales have a team displaying all the attributes of one that looks like it'll get stronger and be around for some time.

Potential through its youth. Resolve through its ability to stand up in tough situations- the warmups, Samoa, SA and now this. Versatility rthrough its willingness to knuckle down on the tight and control the game through the boot of priestland and a brilliant rush defence and the like, while at the same time having an ability to expand the game through hard running backs.
The main thing is that win didnt come as a result of a good one off, it came through a steady but sure development of a good side since the 6N/ AIs.
Having France after their usual freak one off might be a good thing as they rarely back it up but then this time France didnt have its wind knocked out so much. So expect a tough one next week. I still think the welsh completeness will beat the french inconsistency.
With luck we'll be meeting you in the final.
Looking forward to it. Just small matter of a stubborn argie side and the better of our usual suspects.
Well done Wales. Well deserved.

Taylorman thank you and yes I'm very happy with our display I just hope it continues.

I will tell you another thing that I have been impressed with and I also mentioned this on another thread.
The playing surface in all your stadiums has been superb even when it's been pouring with rain the ground staff have done a brilliant job.

Cymroglan wrote:Taylorman thank you and yes I'm very happy with our display I just hope it continues.

I will tell you another thing that I have been impressed with and I also mentioned this on another thread.
The playing surface in all your stadiums has been superb even when it's been pouring with rain the ground staff have done a brilliant job.

The groud seems excellent, it has made a difference for this Welsh side to run the ball in poor conditions, 9 tries against Fiji in the wet and 3 against Ireland in the damp.

As an Englishman, it's hard to say , but Wales were fantastic today. Gutted we lost but really pleased for you. Good luck v France.

I have just finished watching the game,very good end to end stuff.
Very good win by Wales took there chances well,excellent defence
Craig Joubert was very good,and consistent to both sides,Auxilary Referees
were pretty lax with the off side lines.
Breakdown area pretty messy,players lying on the wrong side and a lot of lazy running around it.
Ireland would maybe have been better advised to try to convert there early penalties.they were in handy positions.
Kicking goals not easy at the cake tin,but another 6 or 9 points would have
meant .That a different option like drop goals would have been viable second half.
Also most of there running game seemed to narrow,but it easy to be objective in the stands.
Both sides played the game in the right spirit hard but fair,none of the cheap shots sen in some matches.
Had Wales played like that versus the Boks they may have beaten them,and may well have a second chance.

Feckless

Lovely to read such magnanimous support and congratulations from the Irish lads, had the game swung the other way the sentiments would have been reciprocated most definitely.

A wonderful opposition, so sad to see them not go further.

Thank you for your kind words...!

I can't express how much this great run of results has done to people in Wales, everyone I saw today had smile on their face, truly is wonderful..

Let's hope we can do it against the French.

Before the tournament when asked on a thread most of us said we would be happy to make the quarters, ecstatic with a semi final. To go any further would be incredible.

Very proud to be welsh today

Thank you very much for all the kind words fellas. It was a marvelous game of rugby and a real advert for the sport.

I'll be over for the 6N, so I'll drink with some Irish then