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Crunch time for rugby's major players

It must be getting down to crunch time at the Rugby World Cup.

The usually mild-mannered Irish coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, was upset yesterday with Cup organizers over a training schedule mixup. England captain Martin Johnson said he was wary of playing a team -- Wales -- with nothing to lose, and flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson talked of his "fear of defeat."

Australian captain George Gregan spoke of his team's "nervous energy" a day out from the defending champion's quarterfinal against Scotland in Brisbane today.

South Africa went to ground in the 72 hours before today's match against the All Blacks in Melbourne, concerned of outside disruptions. And New Zealand fans, wary of how poorly their All Blacks played against Wales last week, hoped they would recover in time to beat the Springboks in what should be the closest match of the weekend.

That would leave the French, Ireland's opponents in Melbourne tomorrow. They proved to be the exception to the rule, strolling into Melbourne airport yesterday afternoon from their weeklong training base in Sydney looking refreshed and confident of continuing their status as the class team of the tournament.

Above, French center Tony Marsh, left, practices with flanker Olivier Magne yesterday. Right, Australian winger Lote Tuqiri plays with a ball during the Captain's Run practice in Brisbane yesterday. Australia will meet Scotland in their quarterfinal match of the Rugby World Cup tomorrow. PHOTOS: AFP

That could pose problems for Ireland and O'Sullivan, who criticized tournament organizers yesterday for giving the All Blacks his team's training session at Telstra Dome in Melbourne.

"It's a bit frustrating, [given] that it's probably the most important game in Irish rugby history if we win it," he said of the mixup which meant that Ireland had to cut its final training session by 30 minutes and vacate the stadium to make way for the All Blacks.

"We were stunned when we asked for our team run this morning and we were told the All Blacks had it," said O'Sullivan. "We had to reschedule our whole program. That's not an ideal preparation for a quarterfinal."

England skipper Johnson spoke of the Welsh danger, although England is heavily favored in the Suncorp Stadium match tomorrow in Brisbane.

"They're dangerous in my eyes," Johnson said. "They've got nothing to lose and we can lose the game, we know that. We're realistic."

Wilkinson said there was always a "fear of defeat" and that loomed with the improving Welsh.

"We've played enough against them to know they're a huge, huge threat and I wasn't surprised to see how they played against New Zealand," said England's leading point scorer who will play his 50th test tomorrow.

"We know jolly well if we don't start fantastically from the first whistle and carry it through that there's an enormous possibility that the whole year is going to be over for us."

Gregan said the "business end" of the World Cup had arrived.

"There's a mix of enthusiasm and nervous energy knowing that you're going into the knockout stage," Gregan said. "But that just makes it more important to really focus on putting a good preparation and good performance on the field, because there's no second chance."

New Zealand captain Reuben Thorne acknowledged that as a child an All Blacks vs. Springboks match held special significance for him.

"The history is one of the longest around," he said. "It's a very fierce rivalry and that's fantastic."

Thorne said the Wales match helped prepare his side for the quarterfinals.

Wales scored four tries against New Zealand and led after halftime before losing 53-37 in one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament.

"It was an ideal test," Thorne said of the Welsh wake-up call. "It was good to have that and showed us areas we need to pick up on. [Our defense] was a lapse against Wales. We've looked at that and hopefully we'll get it right again tomorrow."

In the only team news yesterday, Wales coach Steve Hansen made four changes to his starting lineup for the match against England, including the recall of Iestyn Harris, Mark Jones and Gareth Thomas to the backline.

Bolstering the Welsh lineup for the knockout match against No. 1-ranked England was the return of former rugby league international Harris in the center, with Thomas regaining his spot at fullback and Jones on the wing.
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