Who will be triumphant in the 95th meeting of all time between the French and the English and more importantly which of these Norhern Hemisphere powerhouses will go through to the all North semi final next week.

So we're down to the last 8 in Rugby World Cup 2011. No more time for Mickey Mouse games, from here on in its win or go home. No one understands this more than the 8 teams left in this phase of the competition. With the teams clearly divided into a Northern Hemisphere section and a Southern Hemisphere one it’s a bit like watching the 6 Nations on Saturday morning and a preview of next year's Tri-Nations (with 4 teams) on Sunday.

The second quarter final pits long-time rivals England and France against each other. With the French smarting off of a defeat to Tonga and a near miss for them with the Japanese almost qualifying ahead of them for the knockout stages, I’m hoping that they can pull together as a side and make a decent game of this quarter final. The English on the other hand have continues to play some of the most dull rugby ever seen under Coach Martin Johnson that being said, it is a very effective style of rugby for this phase of the competition.

Bearing that in mind I think this game could go one of two ways: Scenario 1: England plays boring 10 man rugby with their typical bruising, dry, unimaginative style of rugby and win. Scenario 2: England plays boring 10 man rugby with their typical bruising, dry, unimaginative style of rugby but the French show up and spoils the party with some free flowing flamboyant rugby that sets the tournament alight.

I personally hope that the French come to the party and prove that you can win knockout rugby in an exciting fashion; however my money would be on England to grind out the game by 10 points.

Here are some interesting facts about the encounter:

·        England and France have met on 94 occasions. England leads the series 51-36 with seven draws.

·        England beat France in the semi-finals of both the 2003 and the 2007 Rugby World Cups.

·        England has won four of their last five Tests against France, with the only defeat coming in France's 2010 Grand Slam season.

·        Jonny Wilkinson scored all 24 points against France in the 2003 semi-final - the highest number of points by an England player in a match between these teams.

·        Dimitri Yachvili jointly holds the world record for most penalties scored against England (six in 2005). He also holds the France record for most points in a match against the English (19 in 2004).

·        England has won six Tests in a row - their best streak since the 2003 World Cup.

·        England conceded just one try during the pool phase, equalling the all-time World Cup record set by Australia at the 1999 World Cup.

·        Jonny Wilkinson needs six points to draw level with world record holder Dan Carter on 1250.

·        France have dropped from fourth to eighth in the IRB world rankings, their lowest ever position, during the World Cup.

·        Chris Ashton's six-try haul is an England World Cup record and two short of the tournament best held jointly by Jonah Lomu (1999) and Bryan Habana (South Africa).

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