The West London's RWC blog

Whistle While You Work

Well done Wayne Barnes. Sympathetic refereeing today but unluckily for Italy, he had to 'go to the TV official... who made a decision about their (no) try. Who was the spoilsport TMO I wonder Craig Joubert?!
I also thought that Rodney 'O sole mio' (No8) spent a lot of his time blocking in midfield - which went unnoticed, and there was a lifting of the legs tackle - 'spear' tackle also.
Contrast this with Jonathan Kaplan in the England v United States game. He 'didn't see' Phil Vickery hacking down Emerick er sorry 'tripping'...but he gave Emerick a yellow card for spearing Barkley later in the game.
Note to the referees: Allow the team with 'advantage' no more than say 10 paces to do something, or ten seconds max...not thirty seconds or more - and keep it consistent. Don't let phases of play pass and then blow up for the original offence - it's not advantage, it's pathetic.
Note to the referees: Identify foul play using the TMO. Vickery should have gone... maybe even identify trends, and advise the man on the pitch ie: So'oialo standing in the strangest of places... could be a good thing. After all, the referee gets as much extra information from the touch judges as they can give, why not the all seeing eye. Nothing would slow down in real time but the referee's decision making would be enhanced.
Note to the referees: Keep it consistent. Some things never change!

England, Australia and New Zealand Win.

"Three of the top seeded teams progressed without too much trouble earlier today, as the Rugby World Cup spread it's wings through France..."
Don't worry if you are reading this over your breakfast - it is probably going to turn out like this by the end of today. Could be warm though, especially in Marseille, with the temperature ramping up to 29 degrees. Phew - what a scorcher!
England - "We'll take the positives and build on this..."
Australia - " G'day at the office mate - we're goin' for a sushi and a tinnie now..."
New Zealand - "Yeh. I was reasonably pleased with the way the boys performed out there but Italy are a good side and they put us under a lot of pressure..."
I have been passed a confidential video, detailing secret reaction training techniques used by the Japanese Squad. Bog standard skills with a twist. Interesting equipment too. Take a look.

Beware Men With Partings in their Hair(s)

Apparently, this horse's tail of a bloke is popular with the ladies in England - but not Mrs Masoe.
Last night he hammered on the Argentinian door to no avail. Just to remind you that time travel IS possible, ie: see sombody get knocked into the middle of next week, have a look at 'pretty boy' in action!

Stop Press!

Today, a Tongan was tested for a high tattoo. The test proved positive and he was sentenced to ten minutes in the parlour...

Castagniede a dit "France gagnera de 10 points"
Thomas Castagniede said that France will win by 10 points, following his first foray into commentating for ITV3.
First thoughts: all very wooden from Jim Rosenthal, a lousy intro sequence for the programme, and I am often suspicious of  'motivational speeches to camera - a la Brian Ashton.
Rookie ex- England players Martin Johnson and Will Greenwood have turned orange for TV purposes but, actually, I find Will Greenwood to be quite astute in his comments.
I'm off to the telly again because the teams are taking the field.
Enjoy the game everyone, and the corned beef sandwiches at half time...all washed down with a glass of  vin de pays - or better! I'm sure the guy pictured will be there - the Stade Francais "Rat man"!
May the best team win.

Ready, Stade, GO!

Today's the day.
Charge your glasses and get ready for the action - a great tournament in a beautiful city. France was unlucky not to be given the Olympic honour for 2012...this tournament will represent a microcosm of  just what they can achieve when the eye of the world is upon them.
Check out Le Parisien and L'Equipe for some great photos - and by all means read Eddie Butler and William Fotheringham in the Guardian / Observer - commentators par excellence on all matters rugby!
Above all, enjoy the spirit.
Who do you think is going to win?
South Africa or France - how about that for starters?!

Treasure Chesterman. "In The Beginning"

Phil Chesterman was  on the inaugural  trip to  Paris. In 1955, the team travelled to Paris via Newhaven - Dieppe... In the days of Eurostar, it seems impossible to imagine the abject suffering that these boys went through just to get their lips around a nice French ass. Oh sorry, I misread - a nice French glass!

Anyway, Phil continues with his adventure - read on about a life lived with passion and large odd shaped balls...

                                                                                        "In 1955, we travelled via Newhaven-Dieppe. Lots of bullsh*t has been reported already, but my two best/worst memories are:

 

- Going to Le Moulin Rouge with Daniel Yeuillaz, ordering two drinks, finding out they were 18/- each, standing up, and spilling them both. The "house" replaced them with no qualms (from their barrel of "Scotch") at no charge.

 

- Returning to the UK from Gare St-Lazare with a very thick head, with "romance" not on my mind, and finding myself in a compartment with Frank Johnson, and a very tarty French broad. I knew that Frank would have given his eye teeth to get near to her, but I decided she was "mine". However, on the "sickboat" out of Dieppe, Jeannette Saurel had to go below. I rescued her from one of her compatriotes, who looked like k.d.lang, but worse. The end result is that I took her home to South Kenton for the night. Mother did not approve (she was at least 5 years older than my tender just 20 years of age, and still in the RAF; Bob Buckland signed my pass, calling himself an Air Vice-Marshall. I had forgotten to get one but had a pocketfull of blanks).. Anyway, Jeannette told me later that no one told her where the lav was. I thinked she peed in the bathtub during the night. Dad was impressed, "I heard you in the night you little bugger" (wink-wink) . Truthfully I was still too hungover to perform any acts of love.

 

In 1960 I was married to Connie and she appears in the picture above. We ended up for "lunch" at Du-Batiment's president's place, and we had enough to drink that I am surprised that our very healthy daughter, Anne-Marie, who was in mummy's-tummy at the time, survived. Terry Clare was there as a witness. (so much for the USA's Surgeon-General's warnings on wine labels).

 

The 1956 trip was the most and least memorable. It was supposed to be in February; the whole of Europe was gripped in a freeze so it was postponed to March or April. Lucky me, I was working in Grimsby at the time (as Grim-as-can-be) and couldn't have participated. Bob Buckland couldn't wait so went to Paris anyway for the weekend and came back to remark that "even the ladies-of-the-night" stayed indoors.

 

So, we were supposed to take a bus (in March/April) to Lymne, fly Skyways to Abbeville and bus-it to Paris. But FOG destined us to the Folkestone-Calais ferry and the trouble started. The ferry was slow and the booze was fast-coming. (We did manage to fly back from Abbeville and should have all taken a leaf out of Alan Browne's book and consumed at least a bottle of wine each before boarding. The DC3 rattled and roared...must have been part of the Normandy landings).

 

However, we got to Calais, and Jack Shepherd was barely able to get on the train. The sober-group to which I belonged found a second class compartment with the window seats occupied by two dark-haired girls, obviously French. They didn't speak until the passport-boys wandered by. In the meantime the "sober-group" had turned into animals, found the booze-cart man on the train, told jokes and sang the Old Gaytonians' "National Anthem", the Lobster Song(*), and a few others.

 

When it came time to show passports the "French" girls passed theirs' from hand to hand to the officials. My God! They were British...

 

1) Lady Daphne Cadogan (daughter of the Duke of Bedford?)

2) "The Honourable" (something-or-other) but I believe Lascelles

 

They were a lot of fun after that. Somehow, someone had contacted the Du Batiment club and they were at Le Gare du Nord to await Jack Shepherd and the boyz. Bad mistake! Let Jack RIP. The rest of that weekend is still fog to me."

 

All you need to know about RWC 2007

Lolo Ferrari had her knockers

Alastair McGillivray and Gayt Paree - 1960

By way of a taster, here's a snippet of Alastair's vault of anecdotes - more to follow we hope..
This man was chugging back the wine as quickly as possible er... I mean leading players in France before most of you were born (I was five - bloody hell!)

"Plastered in Paris" was an expression which, I for one have used on occasions to describe our visits there, so I would certainly give it the thumbs up as a title.

"My memory only goes back to 1960, which was my first tour, but I do have some anecdotes from previous tours, when OGs played Neuilly, before M.Allias & pals moved on to build Plessis-R, and formed the RFC Du Batiment thereof.

 

Most of my direct comrades in arms, if not on legs, are still around the globe somewhere, although some of the 1960 team, alas are no longer. Bob Silsby was the latest casualty, and Paul Cook, Ken Sindell, Ted Blundell and the incomparable Nobby Clarke, have all gone to the great plasterboard ceiling in the sky, together with so many other camp followers and walking wounded such as Bob Buckland.

 

As for my French, the Norman twins would always remind me of my response to the Sunday lunch toast ("Vive la Reine") to which I came back with "et Vive la President!" Today, Madame Royale might have fitted in to both offices, but in those days, De Gaulle, like Queen Victoria, would not have been amused.

 

After that, I tried to make amends by offering round the slices of roast pork on the table, including an invitation to a good looking girl, "Voulez vous (aimez) plus de couchon?" I suspect she thought I was offering myself to her, which was not far from the truth.

 

I'm not at all familiar with blogs, so let me know what you would like in the way of any anecdotes, and I will try to circulate them, starting with this mailing."

Cheers for now,

Alastair


Thank you. See - that was easy! Here's the match day programme. For information, Alastair was the 1960s equivalent of Sebastien Chabal  - in case you want to 'draw' in your mind an imaginary picture of him...he looks more or less the same today...

 

A Cast of Thousands...

Hello everyone, whether you are young or old, the memory of a trip to Paris is everlasting. Some of you will have discovered how nice the gendarmes are, and realised that, after several 'petits coups' (OK - fifteen pints then) fluent French was a doddle.
We, as West London are priveleged to be invited to Paris for the bi-annual celebration of all that is good about rugby. The friendship, tolerance and comfortable doorways and park benches on which we have slept...We have been able to reciprocate and build this strange but strong relationship which, for some, has become absolute friendship and long may this special feeling continue. Oh, there's usually an International match going on but hey! don't stop the fun. (Big bums up to the authorities who have been arranging the France v England fixture on a Sunday pm - making our logistics difficult!)
Everyone knows Bobby Blundell - one of the Club stalwarts. It was the drive of his Dad, Ted, that saw the original fixture come about  - in 1955.
I'll mention only one other name out of many that have and do propagate this amity - Jack Herman "Cheers Cock!"
Plessis Meudon have changed shape over the years also, and are currently 'on the up' - under the changing shape of Pierre Cettour-Rose - a veritable man-mountain (when he is lying down!)
I know that our composition has changed over the years - arriving at the present WLRFC. No worries - a modern memory of a moment in Paris (or a Parisien's moment in London maybe?) is as valuable as any. So get writing and let all those who read this blog know just how much fun it is - whether you have played, are playing or just watching. All your memories count.