Ils Sont Tous Hors-jeu!

Best at the Pub, not on the box

This looks set to be a very challenging afternoon. It would appear that my only option for coverage of Biarritz v Saracens match in the Coupe Heineken will be a single web radio station en français.

I normally don't mind a bit of practice for my somewhat suspect language skills, but I've got a suspicion that a live commentary may prove more than a little challenging; after all it's hard enough to understand half of the BBC rugby commentary team when the action hots up.

Normally I like to have some other sporting action on the TV in the background, unfortunately this is not an option with ITV showing the pub game of darts, while that last bastion of taxpayer funded quality television, the BBC, is showing, erm...darts. Unfucking believable, obviously neither has rights to Heineken cup coverage, but have Sky and Setana really cornered the market to such an extent that both our main terrestrial networks are reduced a double helping of darts.

Perhaps, to be fair to the BBC, they felt that their sports audience needed something to calm them down after the excitement of last week's bowls coverage. To be fair to both, at least it's not the triple helping of horse racing that you can sometimes be subjected to on a Saturday.

I'd even settle for soccer at times like this.

Update H/T: The head is hurting a little bit, but there was quite a tribute to "ce monstre de la troisième ligne, Richard Hill" and more to the point, two essais see the score line at Saracens 14-9 Biarritz, so I'm not complaining! Allez les noirs.

Update F/T: Merde.

Just not Cricket!

Barnstaple's Super-Sub

There is a long and relatively honorable tradition of 'ringers' in the lower divisions of Rugby Union in this country.

Quite often an first team player coming back from injury will get back match fitness down in the thirds, even quite small teams will often have a peripatetic antipodean who are often found paying work by some stalwart of the club or another, and there is a bit of a tradition of giving people who are just passing through a game if they want one.

I do have some sympathy though for the Newton Abbey second XV in their game against Barnstaple last weekend. According to scrum.com they got a bit of a surprise at the sight of the visitors' stand in flanker, none other than All Black Jerry Collins freshly returned from Rugby World Cup chokingduties.

The last week has brought mixed Rugby Union news. It was fantastic to hear that Steve Thompson, formerly of Northampton and England is to return to playing the game, while Stuart Abbott who was starting to show a lot of promise in an England shirt has had to call time on his career prematurely through injury. It's far from certain what level Thompson may be able to compete at, returning to the playing side of the game after retiring with serious neck problems, but nonetheless I'm sure most Rugby enthusiasts will be delighted to see someone who was so pivotal in England's development leading up to RWC victory in 2003 being able to play again. To come back from such kind of health issues, having to return a large insurance payout as well, says volumes for the character and the passion the sport engenders, much as Jonah Lomu's valiant effort to get back into an All Black shirt did.

The repercussions of England's against all odds appearance in another World Cup final have also brought mixed blessings. The general feeling remains good, and it's certain that their performance has inspired, but some of the back stabbing over the coaching role has been deeply unedifying. It sounds like there is genuine need for a debate if the jist of the stories is even half true, but it should be a debate conducted behind closed doors, and not in assorted newspaper columns and books by the players and hangers on. Probably the biggest culprit has been Dayglo. Dallaglio is who I've always been pretty much behind, despite his mixed reception in much of the rugby community, but I really think it's time for him to retire from the international game with his head held high.

The best story of the week though for me has been this from the International Herald Tribune, on Rugby in the Arab World.

Rugby, [Syrian player, Mohammed Jarkou] said, perfectly fit his desire for a bruising fight and an exhausting workout.

Their friend Hani Al Hafez, a sometime college student and coach of the nascent Syrian youth rugby league, said he became addicted to the sport almost immediately when he first tried it in 2005.

"Rugby appeals to Syrian youth because while the game is played, it changes into a kind of battle, with hitting and holding. Then a few moments after the game, enemies become friends again," Jarkou said.

Source: International Herald Tribune

It's a great portrait of how a sport adapts itself and weaves itself into local cultures as it spreads in the world.

Who knows, perhaps if they could manage to apply some of the attitudes expressed by Al Hafez to a game against an Israeli team perhaps we might actually start to get somewhere.

Welcome Home

It's finally all over. The England team returned from Paris today to a chorus of approval from all quarters, without anyone going over the top.

My England shirt is sitting in a kitchen sink full of dilute bleach, in the vain hope of getting some of the Guinness and red wine stains to fade. I normally never wear it on match days, preferring for reasons of practically and tradition to stick to one of the shirts I actually played in, but this was a World Cup final so it had to be the white on Saturday. I can give good news to anyone in the same position in that it appears that the intentionally red bits seem sufficiently resistant to bleach to resort to these measures.

The only thing that spoilt Sunday was a lack of Internet, hence this post coming today, and the revolting Roy Hattersley, who always strikes me as some kind of Brown Mark I, on Andrew Marr's show on Sunday morning, with his ridiculous comment on the supposedly excessive media coverage of a 'minority' sport. He didn't actually say anything about class, but you knew what he meant. I would suggest that Spluttersley takes a tour to the rugby clubs of South Wales, the South West or some of the Rugby Union pockets in the north. He might receive a painful lesson about just how ridiculous his views are, and after all, even if you accept the very dubious premise of that the type of hard class distinctions that aging socialists cling on to try to divide the country whenever it might come together, does it really matter?

As for 'minority' sports - frankly Roy, that doesn't matter either. I've seen people crowd round the pub TV for finals of rowing, hockey, even curling and a dozen other 'minority' sports of much smaller reach than the Rugby Union, and its World Cup which draws TV audiences behind only the soccer equivalent and the summer Olympics. These events draw people of every background together and break down barriers, and I suspect that's why, unless it is soccer, they are so distrusted by these relics of socialism. Old style socialism is driven by creating artificial barriers between us all and the engendering an envy and hatred between those they place in different camps that they claim to be the only ones capable of putting right.

But enough of that. For the last time this time around, once again, well done to the Bokke on a well earned victory and great respect to the England boys for a job done better than many of us dared to hope.

Oh, and for the record...I must dissent from the views of Jackart and Donal Blaney on the try that might have been, though I have a lot of doubts about the final penalty that the Springboks scored from. Even Planet Rugby in their 'stats from the final' story refused to classify it as the 'crossing' offense that Rolland awarded it for, and merely put it down as 'unknown'. I'm also in agreement with Jackart's other rugby themed post.

Grace Under Fire

It wasn't what I wanted, but it was brave and it was close. Congratulations the Bokke, but no shame on England. There are ifs and buts, there always are in sport, but the big but is that England can move into a new era with a lot of pride.

For more reaction, especially on the evil one, see the microblog.

I'm off to get into double figures.

Bataille des Bokke III

Stade de France, 8PM

It's time to head into the the Village to issue local Aussie Doktor Doob with an England Shirt (albeit the old blue change strip - to make the Doktor wear the white would be a cruel and unusual punishment for him).

It's been an amazing few weeks but one way or another it will be over by around 10PM tonight. The Springboks have been the only team to live up to their billing this year, and will present an incredible challenge to an England side that have manged to both fall short of and then far excede expectations of them. Their team have shown a calm confidence and have largely avoided the indiscipline that has marred some other of their great sides, though Burger still always seems to be have something of the Danny Grewcock about him. In Jake white they have a truely great coach who has displayed imense dignity while some of his peers, and some of his more politicised compatriots have let themselves down. The scenes from Paris of the supposedly overbearingly arrogant Springbok fans getting paralytic with supposedly overbearingly arrogant England fans, and exchanging nothing more than noisy banter have bourne testimony to the great ethos of the game.

To the several South Africans I know, I wish you as well as I can for one who natural hopes to see you finish second.

England though...what the hell are you doing to me! A roller-coaster ride doesn't even come close to describing the emotional highs and lows. The acheivments have been such in the last couple of weeks that there's no way that things can ultimately end up feeling any other than a high, but if the odds are beaten and the Springboks turned over I can't imagine just how it will feel.

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition

This is not the Paris of the pool game last month, this is not the Paris of Jannie de Beer and his drop goals, this is a Paris that hasn't been as close to being an English possession since not long after the days of Henry V. Stade de France is Twickenham for a day - even the French unions are cooperating by making Saint-Denis as easy to reach as TW1 is on a typical match day. It's a home game.

Here was the battle plan from last week:



Just one more time, one more time.

Good luck.

Advertising Success

Since the dawn of the professional era, Rugby has always punched above its weight with advertisers. Not only does the the TV audience for any big game overlap with a sought after demographic, but it's a sport brimming over with positive images of strength, speed, teamwork and passion.

2003 produced probably the best series of ads ever with the Nike's 'Keep the Ball Alive' campaign. Sadly they were never screened in the UK, allegedly because some chinless wonder in the Advertising Standards Authority felt they were a bit too rough.

This is what we missed out on:



Don't try this at home.

Many adverts play on Rugby stereotypes, though now and again an attempt is made to break with tradition. This example is a case in point, though the stereotype being broken is about our Gallic cousins, not the sport itself:



With kevball's greater numbers, any attempt to make comparisons between sports is usually avoided, or attempts to put the round ball game on a par with god's own sport, such as the Lewsey v Crouch Powerade commercial:

I prefer Land Rover's approach, again featuring Lewsey:



Anyone unfamiliar with the game may wonder why Land Rover would choose one of the girlie backs as a figure of intimidation. Matt Rogers, of Wallabies fame would be able to explain why Lewsey is a player the Springboks will be glad not to be facing this evening.

Here Lewsey perfectly legally takes his revenge on the none-too-bright Rogers' pathetic bitch-slap on him a few minutes earlier:



Apparently, Rogers, a keen surfer, has had to use a specially adapted board ever since this incident as the mangled state of his ribcage makes it too uncomfortable to lie on to paddle out on a normal one.

Recruitment Drive

Spirit of '95

It's out and about in the Village tonight, trying to make sure that in the battle for the hearts and minds of Rugby's neutrals that England comes out on top in support at the weekend. Against any other team than South Africa it would be a hopeless task; however circumstances have conspired to bring together the two teams in world rugby most hated outside their home nation.

Antipathy to England is a time honoured tradition. Despite occasional attempts at more modern justifications about the style of play or allegations of arrogance, still lie largely rooted in ancient grievances, real or imaginary, except perhaps in the case of New Zealand and Australia who seem to believe they should be allowed a duopoly on wild and sometimes over the top celebration of their teams' successes.

The case against the Springboks is one that I actually believe is one that is becoming increasingly unfair, though the South African government and the sport's administrators there must bear no small part of the blame for this unfairness. For all the wonderful scenes of 1995, with a beaming, Springbok shirt clad Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, the question of race continues to dog the national team.

There is no doubt whatsoever that in the early post-apartheid era that the sports administrators deserved most, if not all, of the blame, lagging far behind the average Springbok fan in a whole hearted acceptance of the new multi-racial society. While Afrikaner and English South African supporters learned to sing the new multi-national national anthem with pride, South Africa's rugby administrators did little more than half-heartedly cease to discriminate.

Over time though things changed, as a new generation of coaches, free from much of the political baggage of the past drove home the message that the highest levels of South African rugby would indeed be the very best the country had to offer, regardless of creed or colour. This is how sport should be, but there is a massive problem. For all of the SARU's best efforts, Rugby Union is disproportionately popular, at least in terms of participation, in the white and especially Afrikaans speaking community. The inevitable outcome is that while Springbok starting XVs will, in terms of racial makeup, possibly representative of participation levels at the grassroots, it is unlikely that it will represent the makeup of the country as a whole for some time to come.

In time things will change for rugby in South Africa, but politics is increasingly a sport of the here and now, and element of the South African government and its agencies have tried playing hardball, attempting to impose unrealistic quotas and launching quite personal attacks on senior figures in the game there.

It's all been horribly counter productive. Jake White, who has a better than evens chance of taking home the trophy at the weekend already knows that his reward for any success will be to be forced to reapply for his job, something as a matter of pride he is unlikely to do instantly tainting any victory.

Sure, there are a few die-hards in the South African rugby establishment, there are enough closer to home, but they will pass on and a new generation will assert itself. Is though a young talented coloured player likely to feel more or less likely to aim for the top of the sport, as a result of his government's continuous witch hunt?

To such a player I would say, do not listen to the same government whose attitudes on so many other, even more important issues, defy all common sense. Look instead not only at the team at the weekend, but the crowd, and your countrymen enjoying autumnal Paris. No, the numbers are not equal, yet, but nor is there segregation. The travelling support is that of one nation.

Get away from the politics, both national and supporting, and at least from the pictures I see, the spirit of '95 is alive and well. I just hope it's a spirit that bonds in commiseration, not celebration in a few days time!

A Beginner's Guide

This weekend will doubtlessly see an even larger number of temporary converts to Rugby than the one just gone, and perhaps even more than in 2003 thanks to the kick-off time.

As a public service I felt that I should do my part in explaining the rules of the game. No, for those adept in the art already I do not mean the laws of Rugby Union, but the rules for supporting your team, be it England, or, in the case of the other home nations, the Springboks.

Frankly there has been too much lightweight, socceresque behaviour around the Village. Hopefully the following short film, albeit from a Kiwi perspective, may help teach some amateurs the error of their ways. I would put a 'strong language' warning on it, but hey, I don't do it in the blogroll here, so why start now:



Those that do not drag themselves out of their pit at obscene hours to watch Tri Nations rugby, and indeed many that do so, may be unfamiliar with the voice of the film, Jed Thian. As well as contributing to the Rugby Roundtable blog which, even though All Black focused, is always an entertaining read, he is also the voice of The Alternative Rugby Commentary, which provides a much better audio channel for games involving the ABs than any mainstream broadcaster can muster, especially the rather anodyne NZ output.

How badly we need something like that here. To be able to switch of the ramblings of twat-of-all-trades Jim Rosenthal, and the fairly average Barnes and Harrison that ITV in desperation had to borrow from Sky, would truly be a blessing.

That said, Jed doesn't quite get everything right:



Though it should be said that he is no carping Kiwi, coming out with a much more balanced assessment of the ABs' exit than much of the mainstream New Zealand media could manage.

Drained

England v France
Saturday, 8:00PM...
Next Week Too

To paraphrase, nay pretty much quote the words of one of my favourite tunes, 'These days turned out like nothing like I had planned'.

I'm still almost more surprised by the way the game panned out than the result. There's always a question about France, the traditional line being being 'it depends on which French side turns up on the day' but even having watched most of the game a second time already Laporte's game plan still eludes me. That's it for neutrality though, let me say the only two words that really matter.

We won.

Tomorrow every English rugby supporter can watch Argentina battle South Africa battle for the privilege to play the defending champions in the final from the best seat in the house.

It's been a huge top flight day of sport for me. I'm not that bothered about the Sri Lanka result, and the fact that some overpaid chav got off his fat arse and finally did something vaguely useful has thankfully been relegated to the 'other sport news' section of most TV news bulletins pleases me immensely.

By 19:50PM though, as a Leeds boy, lucky enough, despite a Union background, to appreciate the stunning intensity of both codes I'd seen the only hometown team I support, mercilessly destroy the overwhelming favourites, St Helens, in the Rugby League Grand Final. I thought that that would be as good as it would get...

The Rhinos go home with the title in the bag. On the Union front there is still work to be done; I still need a result at the club level to make the weekend complete, but I have faith on that front, and England know the challenge that face them be it from the Boks or Argentina. It's going to be another great week, whatever happens.

One more step England, a big one, but one that you've proved you are more than capable of taking.

Hostilities Resumed

England v France
Saturday, 8:00PM

It's less than 24 hours now before England face another huge test, in their World Cup semi-final against France. The tournament has produced too many amazing results to make any predictions with too much confidence, but I think Jackart's instincts are not too far off the mark.

Up front I'd expect England to still have the edge, though honours will be likely to be shared in the loose unlike the exhibition of the art of the turnover that the England forwards gave the Wallabies last week. The France side though has much more creativity in their back line, and the flair to score points against anyone, and they will. I doubt that twelve points will be anywhere near enough for England this time. Whether it's Wilkinson back to his metronomic best with the boot, or finding chinks in the French line for seven pointers, England needs to keep the scoreboard ticking over; I would expect France to score over 20 points even with England's defence performing well.

For most of the last year I have been saying that reaching the semi-finals would be a very respectable defence of England's 2003 title in view of their wretched build up to the event, so in one sense I'm already happy. The opportunity to play on the biggest stage of all and make the attempt to become the first team to successfully defend their crown is just one game away though, so defeat would still hurt for team and supporters alike.

In the build up to 2003 England fed off the memories of the pain of humiliating defeats on their previous visit to Australia, and the media gibes that accompanied the opening to their title bid. It's been noticeable how the tone of the French media has differed to that of the Australian press a couple of weeks ago. They have realised, as has Bernard Laporte, that England rugby teams don't get upset about mindless insults in the press, they feed off them. They bond, grow stronger and fight back.

One little battle that might be won off the pitch might be that of the crowd. I will always remember the chorus of 'Swing Low' that filled the stadium for the Australia v New Zealand semi-final in 2003, so ingenious had the vast travelling England support been in securing huge numbers of tickets to the game. Initial reports suggest that there could be a similar phenomenon tomorrow, and at the very least the advantage of the home crowd behind France should be very substantially neutralised.

It's been a pretty good week in the Village with the local Gallic contingent celebrating their own remarkable fight back alongside the English, much to the chagrin of some of the antipodean bar staff, who, at least in the case of the Australians have become universally life-long Rugby League or Aussie Rules fans. Traditional hostilities will be resumed from 8PM tomorrow.

The other semi-final is a tricky affair support-wise for me. Contrary to the famous Spitting Image song I actually do know quite a lot of nice South Africans, and their current squad seem to lack the supercilious arrogance of some of their forebears and also have the discipline to play the game within the bounds of acceptable aggression.

For all that, though the achievements of Argentina in raising their game to a new level, and raising the game's profile in a new continent cannot be overlooked. I think I will have to do it the proper English way and support the underdog.

We know you won't take a step back England, but one more painful, exhausting, but exhilarating step forward could see another remarkable chapter written into the story of this World Cup.

Competition Corner

It's time to liven things up with a little competition, and the name of the game is 'spot the odd one out'.

I have, completely at random, selected three team captains who have recently choked badly on the public stage. While two of them can hold their heads high, having proved to the world, time and time again, that they are amongst the all-time greatest at what they do, and are held in universally high regard amongst their peers, friend and foe alike, the other is slimy piece of sh** who cannot escape the reality that it is not simply the case that their team underperformed on the night, but that their captaincy is now a major issue.

So, from the pictures above, who is the lying little toe-rag? Who is the self-important toad who has had the worst week of all? Who is the weakest link?

(Hint: Stirling Morlock and Richie McCaw have not had a good night, but they are bloody good rugby players who have not, to my knowledge, destroyed their country's pension systems, or demonstrated cowardice beyond the call of duty in the face of the enemy. Nor have they themselves spent the last two weeks playing silly playground games.)

(Apologies for another post on the same theme...but there's been precious little to enjoy on this front since 2003!)

Oh Me of Little Faith

Inaccurate I know...Even in death,
this wallaby has secured possession.

England 12 - 10 Australia

I'm not eating humble pie on this particular outcome as even having looked at the prospect of England being on the plane home from the Rugby World Cup tonight, I know the game well enough never to completely write off an England team with its back against the wall. England had few options but played every one they had to the absolute best of their ability. It wasn't pretty, but it was exciting in its own brutal, tense, terrifying way.

Out in the Village I've never seen so much gold disappear so quickly since Brown's knock-down bullion sale, though much to his credit Doktor Doob has taken it on his chin even if his Australia shirt has too disappeared.

A fantastic effort by everyone from 1-15 but especially those in the single digits. I'm sure the outcome will have given a big boost to France in tonight's other game, given that a similar Aussie scrum gave the All Blacks a lot of trouble this year. It's still unlikely, but it's a timely reminder that anything is possible if you can do the basics right and give it 110%.

Even the what I have read so far of the Australian Press seems to admit the better team won after some of the mud slinging of the last week, galling though it must be to see England eject the Wallabies from the World cup for the third time in six World Cups and take, if my memory serves me rightly, a 3-1 lead in World Cup encounters.

For months I've been saying that getting to the semis would be a fantastic, if unlikely, defence of the world title for England, so obviously I'm pretty happy (not as in p***ed - it was too tense to drink!) right now.

Gone but not Forgotten

Twelve down, eight to go

It's less than 24 hours before England's immediate fate at the Rugby World Cup is decided, with Scotland facing the axe on Sunday and in between these games the other remaining northern hemisphere team, France facing the unenviable task of facing the All Blacks in between on Saturday evening. Even if the form book is only half right it seems likely that all of the northern hemisphere teams will be eliminated by the time Fiji face their fate in the final quarter-final against South Africa on Sunday evening.

If this comes to pass, Scotland, along with Fiji, can feel very pleased with their efforts once the pain of defeat has subsided. For France and England, as well as already eliminated Wales, Ireland and Italy among the Six Nations 'elite' there is much to ponder about a game that once again seems to have moved forward and left them behind.

To an extent Ireland were a bit unlucky. A magic formula that had brought year on year improvements suddenly stopped working at just the wrong time. It was a disappointing end nonetheless for an always popular team, and their supporters who bring so much to any tournament. Nothing though can be taken away from the brilliance of Argentina who beat them to face Scotland at the weekend.

Wales possibly have to take more of a close look at themselves, with continuing political undercurrents and ill-will seeming to surround the team. For reasons I've touched on before, due to a tiny minority of Welsh supporters I shall miss them less than the Irish.

England, if they go out, will face the inevitable questions of how a country with so many financial resources, and the largest playing base in the world can produce such a mediocre team. 2003 should not be an exception, not as some god given right before I get Celtic complaints, but because we have so many things that should allow us to be challenging for the top spot every time.

France probably have the best chance of bucking the trend, and if they were playing in Paris or better still Marseilles you might even put a few quid on them causing an upset. How badly their bribe to the Welsh and Scottish unions to secure the hosting rights seems to have backfired, facing the might of the Kiwis at an away venue during their own World Cup.

Enough of the pessimism though!

For the so called 'minnows' the tournament has been a resounding success. Playing in front of decent crowds each and every one of them had something to crow about, right up to the final group stage game, where the USA scored a candidate for try of the tournament against the mighty Springboks. Only Canada and Japan may feel slightly disappointed, but these are teams trying to set their sights higher than some of the others.

I remember seeing the delight of a Georgia team who won the plate competition in the IRB Sevens series at Twickenham a couple of years ago. The way they paraded their trophy, and celebrated in front of an appreciative crowd was a portent of their reaction to their first ever cup win, and the story of how close they came to beating Ireland will echo round the clubhouses after games on the country's eight rugby pitches for many years.

For some there was no win, but there were tries scored against the games elite teams, and even without those they would still epitomise the spirit of it not being winning or loosing, but taking part that matters.

Anyone in the IRB still toying with the idea of reducing the tournament to 16 teams next time on the grounds of 'irrelevant' matches should now be taken out and shot, but with the nature of Rugby's administrators I really can't be too hopeful.

Public Service Announcement

On the run

It has been very remiss of me not to mention that for any newcomer to the sport of Rugby Union, that this weekend has seen a fine Saturday of domestic action in the Guinness Premiership, with more great action to watch on Sunday too.

No ticket for any world cup games? Go and see occasionally higher level games at your local club, for the price of a burger at your local soccer club - you are even trusted to behave like a grown-up and drink beer in the stands.

I should though warn people in the Reading area who fancy watching London Irish take on the Newcastle Falcons to set off early, as apparently long queues are anticipated.

It's something to do with the Falcons' shirt sponsor I understand.

A Game of Two Hemispheres

Still down,
but still not out

OK, it was a bit of an improvement, but at the same time England's performance against Samoa was hardly sparkling. The forwards, who I didn't think performed too appallingly against the Boks last week again stood up to the task, the backline fired a little bit better but probably would not have frightened any of the better teams, and the tactical kicking remained truly abysmal. Still, a win is a win, and it sets up a winner takes all (or at least the second qualifying place) group finale against Tonga.

Overall though it remains a poor tournament for the northern hemisphere, with only France looking vaguely competitive, though not all that threatening, and of the home nations only Scotland over-delivering albeit from a relatively weak base. The gulf of a decade ago to southern hemisphere standards seems to have reopened. The only really praiseworthy effort by a European side would probably be Georgia's effort against an Ireland side who sadly look to be in danger of a premature exit from the tournament.

Nobody could actually say it was undeserved were the the semi-finals to consist of the southern hemisphere big three plus Argentina.

It's probably not a time to panic or make rash decisions though. At the top levels of the domestic game the academy systems at least in the English clubs have improved immeasurably in recent years, so despite some of the ridiculous politicking between club and country there is at least some cause for hope, though it may take some time before some of their already promising output to reach the highest levels.

One contribution of English rugby to the Rugby World Cup is worthy of some praise though. The refereeing performances of both Wayne Barnes and Chris White have been of the highest order, especially Barnes at his first World Cup.

Irish Coach Eddie O'Sullivan may not have been to happy with White's performance:

"Also we got blown off the park by the referee discipline-wise.

"I do not know what the penalty count was but it really killed us off and we lost field position in critical parts of the game."

Source: BBC News

It is noticeable though that he found it hard to point to any particular examples where he was actually in error. Despite the Irish invective thrown at him during the game, most more neutral commentators seemed to feel he had a good game. The key is the phrase "discipline-wise". White was calm and disciplined, the Irish, sad loss though they may be to any competion were not.

Compared to the inept performances of the likes of Honiss and today's effort the ever inconsistent Lewis, where the kindest thing you can say is that his errors balance themselves out over 80 minutes, they really got the balance right. In the likely event that very few northern hemisphere teams progress to the semifinal stage they should really be in the frame for the big games.

Yes, it's a small straw, but I shall clutch at it.

Moving On

It's been a frustrating few weeks to support England Rugby, watching a side with injury worries before the tournament even began struggle with inconsistent form.

At least I can put that behind me today, when the to flight of domestic rugby, in the form of the Guinness Premiership which returns today, with the now traditional highlight of the London double header at a sunny Twickenham. Not for today the white of England, but the Black of Saracens, who, erm, have suffered some frustrating injuries in pre-season action and even more frustratingly have for several years alternated between the fringes of Heineken Cup qualification and an all too regular 10th place in the league.

It's hard work sometimes being a supporter of both club and country, but nonetheless I'll still keep the faith - I really believe this can be the season we build on the promise of last season and forge ahead and not slump down the table.

Allez les Noirs!

Taking Chances

Andy Farrell, England
flanker centre fly-half

Argh...just realised that I'd passed comment on the delightful EU yet again, after my promise to myself to lay of the wretched institution, so I'd better do something as a penance!

Commenting on an England rugby team more than twenty-four hours in advance of a big game certainly ranks as taking a big chance. There's still plenty of time for further illness or injury to intervene.

The local Springbok supporting contingent are in good voice, those that have not headed to Paris in anticipation of a good stuffing of England. They have every right to be confident. They were stretched a little in their opening game, but still looked like the kind of force that England failed to demonstrate that they could be in their opener against the USA. Throw in England's problems with injury, illness and the suspension of their captain too and things do not look good for the defending champions.

I can't help feeling though, that England will dig deep and will deliver something tomorrow. Perhaps not a victory, but a performance that may settle jangling nerves about the games against Samoa and Tonga. England have fed well of adversity in the past, and under Ashton, much as some may argue with some of his tactics and selections, some measure of esprit de corps, so absent under Robinson does seem to have returned. The other thing that we can be confident of is that they will give it 110%.

Nobody will give more effort than improvised fly-half Andy Farrell. It seems like an almost impossible ask, to start your first ever game in rugby union's most technical position against one of the world's leading teams, in difficult circumstances. That said he has all the skills that are needed. During his rugby league career, he will have taken more ball at first receiver than many specialist union fly halves, some of his kicking from hand has drawn occasional praise from even his most severe critics, and in the other code he had a successful place kicking record as good as Wilkinson at times.

I'm sure at times there will be a lot of chopping and changing between Farrell and Catt during the game, but I'm sure Farrell knows that this is an immense opportunity to silence his critics, and he is certainly someone with the drive to seize the opportunity.

Many of the fan's on the various message boards seem to have realised that the team selected is the only option, and have swung behind it, which is good to see. I hope the likes of Guscott are wondering if there is an outside chance that they might just have to face the equivalent David Campese's famous walk of shame after England's 2003 victory.

Come on England, give it everything; expected defeats linger little in the memory, unexpected victories last a lifetime.

Update 7:00PM: Yes, yes, I know, the chopping and changing between Farrell and Catt has begun already well before kick off. Looks like Farrell at fly-half at set pieces, and Catt in the loose.

Let Battle Commence

Argentina v France KO 20:00BST

In just over half an hour, the 2007 Rugby World Cup begins. I shall shortly be heading out into the Village, where I shall be favouring Base Camp with my first World Cup drinking of the tournament.

This will be in no small part down to the establishment's fine Zimbabwean assistant manager, who has managed for England's opening game against the USA tomorrow, to relegate the England Association Football World Cup qualifier versus Israel to the poky little TV in the back near the kitchen.

It is the way he did it that deserves particular praise. He alleged that the technically feasible way to show both games was to show the Sky TV coverage on the big screens, with the terrestrial BBC soccer coverage on the small TV. The kevballers have reluctantly accepted this. It says something for their collective wit that they seem completely unaware that the Rugby World Cup coverage tonight is on, erm, ITV3, another terrestrial channel, not Sky at all.

The tournament opens with the hosts, France, facing the ever improving Argentinians. I shall, despite my French friends, be supporting France. This is not a classic case of the British supporting the underdog. It's simply a feeling of solidarity that many rugby supporters feel for the Pumas. The reluctance by the countries of the Six Nations and Tri-Nations tournaments to find some way to accommodate a team like Argentina that is as good as, if not better than some of these self-appointed elites is a scandal.

Argentina is currently ranked sixth in the world and deserves regular top flight competition to allow it to grow further, for the greater good of the sport.

Rugby Returns II - Seasonal Chaos

Cohen in full flight at the 2003 World Cup

Today's rugby news feeds brought brought the news that Ben Cohen, one of the England's 2003 World Cup winners looks to have parted company, though perhaps not in the strict legal sense, with the club with whom he has spent his entire professional career, last year's relegation victims, Northampton Saints.

It's another blow to the Saints following on from last year's relegation and other events such as the loss of former England hooker, Steve Thompson to a neck injury which made playing on to dangerous option to consider.

It appears to be over a bit of a tiff about the Saint's captaincy, which is a bit of a shame as Cohen looked set to be one of the many over the years who have had a career long relationship with the club. At his best, even beyond what he did in an England shirt, he was once of the players you really liked seeing play, even in an opposition shirt, much as another Northampton great, Tim Rodber, was for me in an earlier generation.

Cohen was also the subject of one of my favourite Rugby stories. It may be apocryphal but it was told to me by a lifelong Saints fan, so it may also have a little more truth to it.

Allegedly one season his agent suggested a promotional calendar be published for Cohen's fans. This was duly produced featuring Cohen in all manner of action shots, breaking tackles and taking glory dives over the try line. Sales were actually rather disappointing, so on the advice of his agent he tried a different tack and went for the female market, appearing largely shirtless and oiled, much like the promotional pictures of the French team at the last world cup. Sales shot up the following season much to everyone's delight. The only down side was that he had to take a lot of ribbing from team mates when it was revealed that the proportion purchasers who were male had actually increased, and a surprisingly large proportion seemed to have little known affiliation with the Northampton or the club.

It will be a shame not to have the Saints in the Premiership this season. Franklin's Gardens has always been one of my favourite away venues to visit, even before the investment that gave them a modern purpose built rugby stadium. It's likely only to be a very temporary stint in National 1 though, with the bookies offering odds 1-4 on a return to the Premiership next season, versus 13-2 for nearest rivals Exeter Chiefs.

If this comes to pass then it will be yet an extension of a pattern seen in every season bar one since 2000 where the relegated team bounces straight back. Since the introduction of the current 12 team format only one other team has joined Rotherham in being unable to secure a premiership return.

This perpetual swapping of the same teams between the bottom of the premiership and the top of National 1 is incredibly wasteful. There are parachute payments for the relegated club, which will go some way to compensate for the financial damage of what will be, in all probability, just a single season out of the premiership, but in the end it all seems pretty pointless.

I don't agree with ring-fencing the Premiership, and ending promotion and relegation but I'm sure there must be a more efficient way to manage things. Unaware of, and therefore ignoring some of the political issues my proposal would be as follows.

Firstly, expand the Premiership back to its original professional size of 14 teams. There are clearly a core set of 13 teams which are capable of playing some sort of a relatively permanent part of the Premiership setup as things currently stand.

So why 14? Well I could see two scenarios emerging. Ideally I would love to see a team from the far South West, one of rugby union's strongholds, but still without Premiership representation, join the the current 13 Premiership regulars. Exeter are getting pretty consistent, but they are not quite there yet, but if they or another team from the region did make it and took the place for a season or so I'm sure the lift in support would make them able keep them up to the standard of the Premiership, and rugby union's geographical coverage would be much improved. If this did not happen, the worst that would happen is that a series of teams would probably vie for the chance for a glory season in the Premiership; a far more positive way of seeing it than the reverse perspective of the temporarily relegated Premiership team.

I could also envisage the type of 'Bottom of Premiership v Top of National 1' two-legged play-off to see if promotion and relegation takes place, that existed during certain seasons, reintroduced, to stabilise the Premiership without the complete barrier of ring fencing.

This proposal would add four games per season to each teams schedule, which is not ideal, in view of the accepted wisdom that players are playing too many games, but I also suggest a compensating element to the plan.

Basically, I would scrap the Anglo-Welsh cup. I've never met anyone, English or Welsh, who really cares about it, it's got a bizarre format, and in all honestly I can't even remember who won it last year. Anglo-welsh competition would still exist in the two European cups, just as it does between English and Scottish clubs, and English and Irish clubs. I know the revenue is important, especially to the Welsh Rugby Union, and I think, considering the financial power of the English game and the long term interests of the game, it is sensible for such financial support to continue. I would just prefer it was in the form of generous deals on European Cup or Six Nations TV money.

Scrapping the Anglo-Welsh cup would mean a loss of at least three fixtures for each English club almost making up for the additional Premiership fixtures, as well as offering the chance to simply the structure of the season into clear domestic, European and international phases.

Naturally though the chance of any such simple solution which would offer the clubs a chance to grow in security, with a simplified season of no significantly greater length, has a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere in the politicised world of today's Rugby Union.

Rugby's Return I - Guscott

Facebook Premiership - A Shameless Plug

With the Rugby World Cup not too far away, and the Guinness Premiership and Celtic Leagues also about to start their new seasons I thought it was time to make a first foray into my thoughts about the only sport that I will move me further than the local pub to watch. This of course is not in any way, shape or form a plug for my new Facebook application.

Premiership Rugby Predictor focuses on the upcoming Guinness Premiership season. It's basically based on match predictions (result and margin) for each round of the season, with points for predictions on the shape of the end of season league table too. You can see how your forecasts stack up against your friends, people who support the same club as you, and the whole user base, both on a weekly and season to date basis. If you are interested in English rugby beyond the national team give it a go, whether you have any club affiliation or not! The world cup and Celtic league versions will follow at the weekend. But as I said, I'm not here to plug my application by putting links to it all over the place.

There's quite a lot to look at as ever when a new season starts, especially in a world cup year. It's a bit early to be naming any heroes but an early zero has emerged in the form of Jeremy Guscott. ITV's coverage of the last world cup had its defects, but for all that I'm glad that we will be largely spared the opinions of Guscott as ITV holds the rights once again.

Guscott was one of the great centres of his era. He had speed, he had vision and he could finish. In terms of his performance relative to game as it was when he played it, he certainly deserves to be ranked amongst England's greats. That said, he had his flaws; he was never the most solid of players in defence, and at time could be accused of being selfish in possession. More significantly though, the game has moved on even in the relatively short time since he retired. Most great players acknowledge this fully; I have heard true international greats such as Colin Meads and Gareth Edwards openly wonder, with no false modesty, how they would fare in the physical game of today.

This is a concept that seems to go entirely over Guscott's head when he appears all too frequently as a pundit on BBC rugby coverage, and in the dead tree press his former England midfield partner Carling seems to fare little better. In both cases it is typified by their vilification of Andy Farrell, with Guscott in particular crossing that line between fair criticism and knee jerk contempt all too often.

It is typified by Guscott's comments on Faz's inclusion in the England world cup squad, on the BBC during halftime in the recent Scotland v Ireland warm up game:

"Well everyone knows what I think about him" (sneering tone pretty obvious)

First of all, the tone of his comment showed immense disrespect to a fellow sportsman whose record, albeit in a different version of the sport, is of the very highest order. Almost a permanent fixture in the GB rugby league side since the 1993 he became its youngest ever captain at just 21, while winning a cabinet full of silverware with his club side Wigan. Only three years ago he achieved a rare feat of winning both the Golden Boot, awarded to world’s leading player, and the Man of Steel, which goes to the best player in the Super League.

Has his entry to Ruby Union fallen short of some expectations? Certainly it has, with injury playing a significant part. That said, I'm glad to see him in the squad to be honest. World cup rugby is attritional fare, keep the ball, stop them playing it when they have it, kick your penalties.

I suspect Faz will start in a lot of the big games with this in mind. Not to make the great line breaks RL style and I think he knows that it won't happen with 15 defenders on the park. He's there to tackle, bring a bit a maturity to the back line and give the odd offload to stir things up a little bit. First and foremost we can't have people charging through the fringes of the breakdown and Faz's workrate and organisation is good. I expect him to play no more than 50-60 mins in the big games while the big boys in the opposition get frustrated.

I can kind of see the strategy we're going with, with limited resources and it might not be exciting, but it is the right one. Stuff this crap about blooding youngsters, being on the receiving end of a thrashing teaches you very little and can be damaging to them. Remember 2003? bring on centres with stand-off skills and it changes the shape of the game, and takes the pressure of Wilkinson. It all reminds me of the 'why are they taking Catt?' questions in 2003 before the France game cropped up. The same goes for Robinson 2003, the same talking faces like Carling and Guscott had similar contempt for a relatively inexperienced rugby league convert before the tournament began.

Its interesting to compare Guscott and bum-face's knee-jerk anti-Farell lines with the more constructive comments of the likes of Will Greenwood, who played centre closer to the modern era, and it perhaps a bit less blinded by the money issues.

If I was to be critical of Faz, he does need to hit lower in the tackle. Just because you've smothered the other in the tackle and stopped his progress is not job done in RU, you need the man on the floor otherwise you'll just end up trapped in a maul - though his attept to push that French backrower's head a foot below the turf on Saturday shows that I think he knows this.

Farrell leads out Wigan v Bath, 1996

I think it should be noted in view of the regular criticisms by Guscott of rugby league converts, that he mysteriously absented himself from the Bath squad when they played in Wigan in the first ever cross-code fixtures. This included a final at Twickenham, against a Wigan side led by one, erm, Andy Farrell. Nor should it be forgotten that in 1991, an England side featuring Guscott and Carling had an incredibly good chance to pick up their first World Cup victory. A dull but effective game plan saw them safely through to a Twickenham final against the Wallabies, whereupon an inexplicable switch to the time of more expansive rugby that Guscott always seems to be advocating under all conditions led to a 12-6 defeat, with most pundits to this day still being of the opinion that if they had stuck to their original style that England would probably have won.

Scanning the BBC message boards it appears that there is really only criticism of two or three of the thirty choices in the England squad, which is pretty good going in my opinion. It's going to be a tough tournament.

It's time for us all to get behind which ever team we support and to stop some of the whining tone. It's time for Guscott to shut up.