>>>>>>> HUNGARY 540 : 290* NEW
CALEDONIA <<<<<<<

Duration: 5h 49mins

Venue: South Downs,
Sussex, England

  The
Vizsla were flying high coming into the Quarter-finals after brushing aside
Curaçao in the last round without too much bother. New Caledonia were expecting
another tough fight and, frankly, praying for another intervention from the now
self-professed “demi-god” Cyril Goussé.

  From the off it looked as though
Hungary were going to breeze through again as expected but the New Caledonians
still had some fight left in them. The first half hour was all Hungary, who’s
strong Beater pairing controlled the opposition Chasers like puppets. Goussé
took a Bludger for a team-mate and this inspired his team. The islanders
regathered and from 100 points down, reached the 100 point mark whilst shipping
just three goals.

  The Hungarians decided enough was
enough and turned up the aggression and by the end of the third hours play,
they had succeeded in removing two of New Caledonia’s players from the game
through injury. The floodgates opened and Hungary rushed to an unassailable
lead.

  All that was left was for Goussé to
have the last say, spiralling 60 foot straight down to take the consolation
Snitch. He was promptly sworn in as New Caledonia’s new Minister for Magic
pitchside whilst the Hungarians left the stadium quietly, presumably to prepare
for their upcoming Semi-Final.

>>>>>>> ENGLAND 170* : 0 MADAGASCAR <<<<<<<

Duration: 9mins

Venue: North York
Moors, Yorkshire, England

  England
returned to Yorkshire for their Semi-Final match-up with the youngsters of Madagascar.
To the great disappointment of the crowd and players alike the match only
lasted nine minutes. England were able to grab two goals in quick succession
before the Snitch was spotted by the English Seeker Anton Rivers. Rivers
decided that he wanted an early bath and proceeded to snatch the Snitch whilst
many spectators were still finding their seats. Everyone in attendance was
given their entrance fee back as it was duly decided by Minister for Magic,
Nobby Leach, that it just “wasn’t cricket” to allow such a travesty to occur.
Using a phrase from his muggle-born background didn’t go down too well with the
crowd until he explained they would all be getting their money back.

>>>>>>> AUSTRALIA 410* : 200
PORTUGAL <<<<<<<

Duration: 4h 0mins

Venue: Brecon
Beacons, Powys, Wales

  This
was, without doubt the hardest of the Quarter-Finals to pick a winner from.
Both teams played with a flare and extravagance which made this the tie of the
round for any neutral. The match began with the two sides scoring freely blow
for blow, the crowd “oohing” and “aahing” more than cheering. The teams looked
to be treating this as a chance to try out moves and the pace soon slowed to
that of an exhibition match. Whilst ridiculous skill was being shown in the
moves produced, the spectators soon began to lose interest as the match
appeared to lose all competitiveness.

  A
quick jinx from an unknown onlooker in a Woollongong Warriors jersey aimed at
Australia’s unfortunate captain Royston Idlewind quickly changed things.
Idlewind shook his team into action, jumping ahead on points. Idlewind then
berated his Seeker, telling him to “try bloody lookin’ for tha thing ya drongo!”

  Echunga
promptly set about catching the Snitch before she received another clip round
the ear to settle the result in Australia’s favour, and did so five minutes
later. By the end, Idlewind’s antics had stirred the crowd who were sad to see
the game end.

>>>>>>> BRAZIL 130 : 280* TANZANIA
<<<<<<<

Duration: 1h 55mins

Venue: Dartmoor,
Devon, England

  As in the previous round,
the pull of the Brazilians was huge, with this matches attendance being the
biggest of the Quarter-Finals bar the home team’s match. The South Americans
were undeniably favourites but the African nation had never been beaten in its
two years of existence.

  The game
began at a break-neck pace, with the Brazilians pulling out tricks the like of
which had never been seen before with their Keeper Humberto leading the scoring
after an hour. Every time one team scored, the other regrouped and came back
and neither team was ever 20 points ahead. It was the former Zanzibar Seeker
Grace Luwanga who stole the show however. Whilst the Brazilian Lourenço looked
like he couldn’t catch a cold, his opposite number Luwanga took a brilliant
catch after a 100 foot dive to separate the sides.

  The
Tanzanian unbeaten run continued and Luwanga was the toast of the Quidditch
community for all of five minutes, until all thoughts turned to the impending
Semi-Finals.