Life (and the Tournament) Goes On

There is a lot of rugby left still, and I want to watch it now. After the weekend I thought I would just pass on the remaining games, but why should I? Doesn’t logic dictate that I should now follow France, the team that dared to beat us? Surely it would stroke our egos just that little bit to have the team that beat us go all the way to lift the trophy? Clearly Fi and I would liked to have gone to Paris this weekend, and in fact we have Eurostar tickets and hotels booked ... but without the All Blacks playing it seemed pointless. We’ll take the ticket refund, stick the telly on here in London come Saturday night and probably see a good game. France v England ... who in the world could be more pumped up than these two teams now?

And who deserves it most? Do the poll to the right - if nothing else it’ll be interesting to see if anyone besides our Mum & Dads are reading.

Will the French be content to cat and mouse it again, waiting for cracks? Will the resurgent Men of St George come a cropper against a pack that can actually scrum? Sheridan has been canonised again this week by the UK media; will it last? Surely some interesting head to heads though: Elissalde v Gormasall, Sea Bass v Simon Shaw, Jonny v Beauxis, Betsen & Dusautoir v Moody, Regan v Ibanez. It could be a great game, though I think England have already won their World Cup. Sigh.

Poor Doug Howlett! Looks like expensive French pop might have got to him and the others here in London into a bit of trouble. Either that or he freaked out at the bill for his room. Trust me, even though the Hilton Heathrow does not sound flash, that place (like all UK hotels) is not cheap, but £12,500 on the bar! Picture Sione Luaki asking the barman repeatedly for a “Quick F*ck”. These guys get so much free Steinlager they have no idea what a drink actually costs. Who signed for that tab? Red Card yourself, lads. There must be some cracking CCTV footage floating round though. At least Dougie could have attacked a French car? I feel a new ad campaign and Peugot endorsement package for Doug coming on ...

I think with what I have read in the last few days that we are all calming down about the early exit. There has been humour, reflection ... and even strategic planning, like this from The Dropkicks via Some Foreign Field. I love the idea. We need the Pumas NOW, and with all the excitement being generated in Argentina over the rugby, I am sure Argentinians would love to see their team play at home - not in Spain like UK media keep banging on about. Even Syd Millar says there is no room in the 6N for them. Will someone at SANZAR or Thorndon Quay get planning this straight away, so we are ready in 2010 when the current TV BS deal ends. Does anyone know if Murdoch has a presence in Argentina? That may affect News Corp’s enthusiasm for letting the Pumas in.

Can’t remember where I read it, but someone, somewhere suggested making all end of year tour games into qualifiers, or somehow integral to establishing seedings for future World Cups, so that the resulting pools are more balanced (noticed how all semi-finalist came from just two pools i.e. not ours or Australia’s?). The logic is that countries would not send weak squads away because it could affect their World Cup seeding. It has merit.

And while we are on the subject of revolutionising rugby, how about a revolutionary who played it: Che Guevara

But in the big picture, what does it all mean? It took me a few days to pick up a paper again here, and then a couple more before I returned to reading the front pages first ... and then I started reconnecting with the real world. Puts it in perspective, huh?

Other news:

• As well as being arrogant and sore losers, Kiwis can’t sit still for 80 minutes
• Zinny is not happy
• The Football Ferns are now world class
  

Maybe we’ll find time to talk about the Springboks v Las Pumas tomorrow - personally I’d back the Argetinians - they showed a lot o’ spunk, and their football skills at time outshine their rugby skills in the loose. They can toe ahead a ball so well, they don’t need forward passes from hands ... let it go.

Allez Les Bleus (harrumph)
Lu