Poland powered away from France at the top of the standings by defeating their rivals 25-5 in yesterday's afternoon match. France in turn had destroyed Israel in the morning, by a remarkable 89 IMPs, 25-0 VPs, and pretty much ending Israeli hopes of qualification. Poland also defeated Japan by 22-8, giving them 47 VPs on the day, the best of any team, and now head the standings with 286 VPs. France lies second on 264, just ahead of USA1 who, as predicted, closed right up with 45 VPs on the day, to give them a total of 261.8. Canada had a good day and lies fourth on 247, giving a cushion of 14 VPs to fifthplaced Australia on 233.

Australia had a poor day, taking only 26 VPs from matches against two bottom-half teams but are still the only team likely to challenge Canada for that crucial fourth place. While Norway (222), Hungary (221) and Israel (220.7) will all think that they still have hopes of snatching fourth place, any of these teams will need a big day tomorrow plus a slip from Canada if they are to make it into the semifinals.

France was not the only team to score a 25-0, USA1 also achieving that mark against Pakistan, while Chinese Taipei had a good day to move above average, including a 25-2 win against USA2.