Irish win upsets rugby World Cup odds

Ireland's upset win over Australia at the weekend has confounded predictions at the World Cup and given an entirely new look to the potential quarter-final lineups.The expectations had been that the newly-crowned Tri-Nations champion Wallabies would comfortably top Pool C leaving them in the opposite side of the draw to the tournament favourite All Blacks. But the 15-6 loss to the Irish on Saturday leaves Brian O'Driscoll's men in green in pole position to go through as pool winners, assuming they beat Italy in their final match on October 2.The Welsh win over Samoa on Sunday makes them the likeliest opponents for the Irish in the last eight, although Fiji once again lie in ambush, while England need to beat Romania and Scotland to top Pool B.Martin Johnson's men can then expect to go up against France in the quarter-finals, should Marc Lievremont's side fail to stop the All Blacks' steamroller in the final Pool A game in Auckland next Saturday. The other half of the draw would group the three Tri-Nations sides, the top three teams in the world rankings, with defending champions South Africa facing Australia and New Zealand playing the winner of next Saturday's decider between Argentina and Scotland. The north-south divide brought on by the Irish uprising is a good thing for the tournament as a whole according to Irish coach Declan Kidney. "You guys (Tri-Nations teams) play a lot against one another, so you guys can play it out against one another so you have one half and the Six Nations teams have the other," he said. "It's only a World Cup when a southern hemisphere team plays a northern hemisphere team in the final."That has been the case in five of the six World Cups to date, the exception being the 1995 final when South Africa defeated New Zealand. With all the top sides having played two games, no-one was taking things for granted, however.France coach Marc Lievremont said that despite his side having taken a maximum 10 points from their two games, the hardest tasks lay before them in the shape of the All Blacks and Tonga.And he was scathing of any suggestions that it would be better for his team to lose against New Zealand and finish second in the pool, thus ensuring a place in the half of the draw that did not contain the Tri-Nations sides. "Our objective is to qualify (for the last eight), and to win all our matches," he said. "How can anyone even think we would prepare for a match against New Zealand with the idea that we might throw it in the back of our minds." "Anyway, if we play against the All Blacks, the way we played our first two games, then the matter will be quickly resolved and it will be second place for us." Possible paths to the final Quarter-final 1 - Ireland v Wales, Wellington, October 8 Quarter-final 2 - England v France, Auckland, October 8 Quarter-final 3 - South Africa v Australia, Wellington, October 9 Quarter-final 4 - New Zealand v Argentina, Auckland, October 8 Semifinal 1 - Ireland v England, Auckland, October 15 Semifinal 2 - New Zealand v South Africa, Auckland, October 16