Much is being made about the fact that if results pan out the Rugby World Cup could see four Southern hemisphere teams contesting the semi finals for the first time ever.
Another possibility is that all four teams in the semi finals could be coached by New Zealanders. However for this to happen, Scotland would have to beat Australia, Ireland beat Argentina and Wales defeat South Africa. With six of the 20 teams coached by New Zealanders one would have to say the odds were always going to be in favour of a few of their teams making it to this stage.
Incredibly of all the quarter finalists only Argentina has a squad made up of players all born in the country that the represent. You have to go back to the days before rugby turned professional to find a team lifting the world cup where every player was born in that country, South Africa in 1995.
Equally amazing is that since re-admission to the international sporting arena South Africa has been involved in every single final in some way. They won the World Cup in 1995 and 2007, and in 1999 and 2003 the referee in the final was Andre Watson, while Craig Joubert had the whistle in 2011. The question is will it be a referee or the team contesting the final in 2015.
So does this mean New Zealand has the best coaches and South Africa the best referees? Of course referees whose teams are in the final cannot referee their own side, so New Zealand referees tend to be at a disadvantage.
A Northern hemisphere side has never lifted the World Cup when they have hosted the tournament. Australia has won the tournament every time it has been hosted in the Northern hemisphere. Will this statistic change in the next fortnight?
They say records are there to be broken and it will be interesting to see how many of the above will happen. One thing is for sure the team with players all born in the country they represent will stand for another four years.
