Buggeur!

A nod to Griff’s message that, and it sums it up really. Now 24 hours has passed, I have calmed down since wanting to put a foot through one of Millenium Stadium’s plethora of urinals, and I think I can shrug the shoulders and move on. Hell, aren’t we getting used to this?

It started to become obvious with 25 mins left - that nagging, sinking feeling that the pendulum had swung, and the game was slipping from the All Blacks. France showed a lot of heart, they were backed by incredibly vocal support all night.

Where did they get all the tickets? Who thought 70,000 people would turn up to watch a game of force back?

Again we had great seats - we could see Rodney’s dreads strain as the French forwards were pulling them on the deck. And we were close enough that we all saw Michalak’s forward pass (even Francois Pelous’ Mere, Pere & Wife who were next to us) right in front of us, but no one with a whistle or a flag did. That was the nail in the coffin, or Henry’s wrong rub of the green. Fact is, we came up short (no Plan B ... again?), and it could have just as easily happened in the semi or the final had we got through. I think we got strangled more than us choking.

Add to that, the disappearing act of the advantage the ref gave us when it looked to me the French had slapped down the ball in front of the posts in the dying seconds and ... well, here I go again. C’est la vie.

We had an awesome time at the games we got to; the game against in Portugal in Lyon was a great day out (please keep it at 20 teams and respect the minnows), and Toulouse was also a joy. I actually wish that all our games were in France as Edinburgh and Cardiff just felt less carnivallike, or maybe just a little too familiar. Probably all the wasted New Zealanders - it went from carnival to just plain Carnage.

I just feel sorry for all the people coming over from NZ on tours now (my Mum included) who won’t be watching their own team now .... scalp the tickets! If there is a silver lining, its a cash one for us, as our package guarantees us a refund of the semi final we did not make. So, voila ... Xmas in Morocco is paid for.

Hope the Argies go through now against Scotland. And I hope that France have enough in the tank to fight off a revitalised England ... i.e. I want someone to win it for their first time.

Thanks France. Thanks Ted, Steve & Wayne ... thanks ABs. And good luck the outbound ABs: Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger, Luke McAlister, Anton Oliver, Carl Hayman, Byron Kelleher ... did I forget anyone? There’s so many. Oh, Dougie Howlett ... why were you not on the field?

By next August we’ll be No. 1 again, so why is this thing such a ‘Holy Grail’? We do bette rwhen we are underdogs.

Doesn’t it suck there was not a World Cup in 2005?

Fi ... time to step up and post, lass.