New Zealand's players huddle prior to the France 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final match between Argentina and New Zealand. Photo: AFP / Franck Fife
Analysis - After last weekend's pulsating quarter-finals, the feeling after the latest round of knockouts is admittedly a little different.
It's not bad, you can't complain much about the All Blacks making a World Cup final, but the walk in the park against the Pumas was over as a result by half time.
Then on Sunday, to get to a thrilling finish that saw the Springboks pip England, we had to sit through over an hour of the most turgid rugby ever played.
Was it worth it? That's a good question as we now close in on what - at least for New Zealanders and South Africans - is a dream final.
A rematch 28 years in the making will be honoured this week, but for now it's time to reflect on what we've just seen:
Eben Etzebeth. Photo: AFP / Jean Catuffe
There's putting the brakes on, then there's playing with 14 men
The Pumas can now claim to be the recipients of two moments of All Black generosity in the closing stages of heavy defeats.
Way back in 1997 at Athletic Park, they were staring down the barrel of conceding 100 points, before Sean Fitzpatrick informed the ref to call the game off about eight minutes early so the All Blacks wouldn't have to commit such humiliation.
Then, on Saturday morning, Scott Barrett never returned from the sin bin as the All Blacks gave the Pumas a slight leg up. OK, so it was probably more to eliminate any chance of Barrett getting a second card, but still.
A record's in sight for Will Jordan
The Crusaders flier is now one try away from breaking the record jointly held by the great Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea.
Given Jordan's strike rate is currently better than a try a game, he's a good bet to break that record - a pretty positive outcome considering he missed over half of Super Rugby Pacific earlier this year with migraine-related issues.
Will Jordan scores the first try in the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final match between Argentina and New Zealand at the Stade de France. Photo: AFP / Anne-Christine Poujoulat
Fast starts
The All Blacks' last two wins have had different endings, but similar starts. Both featured an awful lot of possession and scoring early, which put enough room between them and their opponents on the scoreboard to be able to dictate terms for the rest of the match.
In the semi-final, it didn't really matter, because the Pumas had pretty much given up, but it was crucial in the quarter-final as the All Blacks could establish a four-point lead.
It's worth remembering that the All Blacks got off to their best start ever in a World Cup game in the first match against France, but that didn't actually help.
Boring England
All right, so who turned the second semi-final off after watching 20 minutes of box kicking?
To say the Springboks' 16-15 victory over England was one for the purists is about the nicest way you could describe what happened up until the Boks finally got an attacking lineout they didn't mess up - which took almost 70 minutes.
Hats off to Alex Mitchell and Owen Farrell for kicking very well, the English halves pairing did exactly what they'd set out to do, but the cold comfort out of this one is that at least the team that scored more tries actually won the game (there was one try).
Steve Borthwick had reverted England back to a style that would be right at home in 1993, with Manu Tuilagi having to wait half an hour to even receive a pass.
Can we criticise, though?
It's all well and good to sit here in New Zealand and pontificate about the way rugby should be getting played, but the fact is the average English fan would have loved every minute of that game until the deciding penalty was blown and Handre Pollard called for the kicking tee.
Rugby would have to be the leading sport in the world where the 'right way' to play it is held in such diametrically opposite and righteously vociferous views depending on where you're from.
Lay off the refs
Spare a thought for Ben O'Keeffe, whose name was trending on Twitter before the game had even finished, then had his performance amplified to a massively unreasonable level by former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio blaming him for the result only moments after the full-time whistle blew.
Dallaglio really should have known better but this is what happens when some of the refs have become more famous than the players themselves.
New Zealand rugby referee Ben O'Keeffe Photo: PHOTOSPORT
