Rugby

PARIS (AP) — After Ireland flew south and ransacked New Zealand last year for a monumental series win, the All Blacks pored over video to find out what went wrong.

PARIS (AP) — This was the Ireland team that was finally going to go all the way at the Rugby World Cup.

PARIS (AP) — New Zealand was thought to have showed too much razzle-dazzle and met not enough resistance to seriously trouble top-ranked Ireland going into their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.

PARIS (AP) — Wave after wave of Ireland's green jerseys threw themselves at the New Zealand line with the clock ticking down and a Rugby World Cup semifinal at stake. Ireland probed left, right, tried pushing through the middle.

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Argentina's rugby team doesn't have a totemic figure like Lionel Messi to bind it like the national soccer team did when it was winning the soccer World Cup less than a year ago.

PARIS (AP) — France lost seven straight tests to South Africa from 2010 to 2018, which might have been the reason current coach Fabien Galthie traveled to the home of the Springboks after taking over in 2019.

PARIS (AP) — The most talked about man in the impending Rugby World Cup quarterfinal between Ireland and New Zealand in Paris on Saturday has also said the least.

The Rugby World Cup has reached the quarterfinals. On Saturday, it's Wales vs. Argentina and top-ranked Ireland vs. three-time champion New Zealand. On Sunday, it's England vs. underdog Fiji and host France vs. defending champion South Africa.

PARIS — A broken cheekbone won't keep France captain Antoine Dupont out of a definitive game for his country at the Rugby World Cup.

MARSEILLE, France — In the small hours of Monday morning, the rugby-mad people of Fiji will head into the city or take a boat to the local village and gather around a television set showing one of the biggest sporting occasions in the republic’s hist