Borthwick must plot his own course

FOR the first time in a long time all four quarter-final games were outstanding in their own way

The gladiatorial contests in the New Zealand v Ireland and France v South Africa matches in particular were epic because of the great skills and intensity on display, and they will be remembered for a very long time.

I can empathise with the French players after being part of the England team that lost the 1991 World Cup final at Twickenham. I didn’t really understand the enormity of the occasion at the time. I guess that as a young player you soon put disappointments behind you and start to look forward to the next game.

However, by the time it got to the 1995 World Cup I saw first-hand just how big an impact becoming world champions can have, because of the immediate euphoria of a whole nation when South Africa won the final.

For the France squad and their supporters it will be very hard not being involved in the last fortnight of the 2023 tournament, and especially difficult when you look at the fine margins involved in their defeat. I expect the French players will be back with their clubs very soon – but probably not quite as quickly as England after the 1991 final. Most of us were back at work on Monday because it was still the amateur era!

I feel for the losers in the last eight, whether France, Ireland, Wales or Fiji, because they gave it everything, and although the French and Irish were last-gasp losses, all of them were close finishes.