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The rugby world has been turned on its head with two of the top teams from the southern hemisphere being knocked out by sides from the north.
So does this weekend herald the beginning of a sea change in world rugby? The world's media seems to think so.
The British Timesonline is calling the weekend a triumph not for France or England, but the northern hemisphere.
Under the headline: "Northern heroes give World Cup its greatest day", the site proclaims: "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The flat track bullies are on their way home, after playing like a rabble and being ejected. They will have their feet up back in Auckland as soon as you can say Goodbye Graham," opens the article.
The article goes on to celebrate the guarantee that a northern hemisphere team will make the final while making no mention of South Africa.
"Europe has a team in the final and if the seismic shocks of yesterday are anything to go by, the European team can go and win it."
The BBC highlights the All Blacks' and Wallabies' "broken dreams" at the hands of France and England.
"The southern hemisphere teams were expected to dominate the tournament. Instead the northern hemisphere has hit back and the south is in shock, with tears on both sides of the Tasman Sea. For rugby-obsessed New Zealand, this is nothing short of a national disaster, as the All Blacks went into the tournament as overwhelming favourites," reports the BBC.
Bloomberg.com said the game had shades of 1999.
"The surprise results marked a resurgence by European sides at the tournament, after Ireland and Wales were eliminated at the group stage and France and sixth-ranked England sustained defeats on their way to the last eight."
The Canadian Press said despite the Northern Hemisphere being thought of as "adrift" of their southern counterparts, the All Blacks and Australia are on their way home.
"France and England were the ones supposed to be packing their bags. Instead, the two rank outsiders will meet in next week's semifinals, and tournament favourite New Zealand and two-time winner Australia will be sharing a flight back after being dumped from the Rugby World Cup."
Even the Israeli press is putting the boot in.
Sportingo farewells the All Blacks and proclaims that the World Cup is "coming north".
"Who would have believed it? The whole World Cup turned upside down in 160 minutes of the most sensational rugby in the competitions history."
"One final thought for the vanquished giants from south of the Equator. There WILL be at least one Northern Hemisphere finalist - and who on earth would have predicted that a couple of days ago?"
- NZ HERALD STAFF
