Last weekend, we saw two of the world's best teams knocked out of the Rugby World Cup. Both Ireland and France fell to agonising, narrow defeats at the hands of New Zealand and South Africa respectively.
The hopes of a northern hemisphere outfit making it to the final all fall on England and despite Steve Borthwick's side remaining undefeated, overcoming The Springboks on Saturday seems like a mammoth task.
Host nation France had captured the hearts of their nation in the hope of winning the Web Ellis Cup on home soil, while Ireland fans dared to dream after an emphatic past 18 months.
READ HERE: New Zealand Pundits Label Irish 'Bad Losers' After World Cup 'Humbling'
Stephen Ferris on the impact of Ireland and France's World Cup departures
With the two old foes, South Africa and New Zealand looking like they'll contest in the final of the Rugby World Cup, Stephen Ferris feels that the buzz around the competition has dropped significantly since Ireland and France's quarterfinal exits.
Speaking to us in association with Ladbrokes, Ferris said:
It feels like a lot of the air has been sucked out of the World Cup with Ireland leaving and France, obviously the host nation. Nobody can disagree that Ireland fans were without a shadow of a doubt, the best fans at the Rugby World Cup. They travelled in their tens of thousands. So for those two teams to bow out and even looking at the English game against Fiji, there was a few empty seats there.
I've actually had text messages saying 'Does anybody need semifinal tickets for England and South Africa because obviously a lot of people had hedged their bets that maybe Ireland or France were going to get into the semifinals and obviously the tickets would have been like absolute gold dust. It just feels like the bubble has slightly burst for us Irish anyway.
Even the interest in the other teams. We see South Africa and New Zealand play so often in the Rugby Championship. If they were to get to the Rugby World Cup final, of course it would be an epic game with what's on the line, but we see that game so often. If it had of been New Zealand v France or Ireland v South Africa again after the unbelievable group game that they had, it would of just made it a little more appealing.
With a long wait for Ireland to try their hand once again at the Rugby World Cup and to try and break that quarterfinal curse, a lot is bound to change by the 2027 World Cup.
With the whole of France likely feeling similar to us Irish fans, the buzz around the country is likely a fraction of what it was this time last week.
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