Poland retook the lead with 239 VPs, relegating France, 234, to send place. Both are looking very good for a place in the semifinals. Though there are still five matches to go, offering a total of 125 Victory Points, the other two semi-finalists are likely to come from four teams, USA1 on 216.8, Australia 207, Canada 206 and Israel 202.7.There is a big gap to the rest of the field and someone would have to put together an impressive string of results to reach the top four. Leading the pack is Japan on 182, ahead of Norway 181, then China Hong Kong and Hungary 180.

Poland scored 65 VPs on the day, as did USA1, while hosts Australia managed 61. Of the teams not in contention, Egypt had an excellent day, scoring 49 VPs from matches against three top-six teams, Canada, Poland and Israel. The Canadians had a bad day and dropped from third to fifth, collecting just 34 VPs out of 75. There are just two matches today, and USA1 have a much easier day than the two leaders, so have a big opportunity to close right up at the top. By the end of today we may have a good idea who three of the four semi-finalists will be. Of course, what looks easy on paper is not always so in real life.