The West London's RWC blog

Wales v Fiji

Wales and Fiji actually played rugby yesterday. Fiji won - deservedly, although they nearly lost the plot after 80 minutes. A proper adventurous do-or-die game from both sides in patches. Watch out for Delasau in the next match - they'll not win but it might make for exciting rugby again! Wales, for all their investment, power and past inventiveness failed to um...'deliver' I think is the word. As they say in Fiji "Life's a beach, and then you Dai!" How much money do the Fiji RFU receive for getting this far...anyone know? Is there a prize divvy up a la golf tournament? It is rumoured that Italy were 'on' £14,000 win bonus each last night... £50 now and the rest to be collected in weekly installments from Giuseppi's Chinese Laundry allegedly...

A Big But

Apparently, rugby balls (like cricket bats being 'knocked in' I suppose), have to be 'kicked in' before being declared fit for use in matches. At least according to Neil Jenkins the Welsh kicking coach they do.

Daniel Carter, Graham Henry and Co. (Snarling hakas a speciality) are perturbed that the match balls are not flying true - unlike the 'practice' balls that are supplied (which are apparently identical?!).

Jonny meanwhile is checking each pimple on his Gilbert with a micrometer looking for discrepancies in semi-hemispherical arrays.

Meanwhile, in St Etienne, in the pissing rain, in a difficult situation under pressure, at night etc... Chris Paterson slotted six from six kicks - up to 16 consecutive I believe. Don't suppose he'll be talking balls  - for the moment anyway...

Scotland Rain Over Italy...

"Scotland The Bathe" skirled out from the pipes after this push -pull match dribbled to a conclusion. Scotland won 18-16 in a contest that was there for Italy to win. Very slack play by Italy allowed far too many penalties to be administered by 'Charlie Kaplan' (who wasn't too bad actually - he must be losing his touch...).  I'm getting really fed up with the 'pro-speak' of managers/ coaches/ trainers/ nobodies etc who talk meaninglessly about the pressure of this and that, the spirit of Wee Willie McWinkie in training...body on the line blah blah blah! The curmudgeonly Frank Hadden was caught out with a smile on his face when Bortolussi pinged the ball wide of the posts toward the end of the bathing session...but we didn't notice that Frank, okay? You can get back to being miserable, viz. - he's arranged for his squad to have a sandpaper massage this morning, before a meal of raw haggis - followed by a drop of telly, a tart an a cuppa while watching France and South Africa win.

Fiji tings...2

Wales are getting edgy. I have been typing through the start of this match due to the National Anthems being er - not very interesting. POW! Fiji are firing up now... Amazing start and a game of catch up for Wales as well as actually having to win.

Italy Thrash Scotland...

...at National Anthems that is!
Without a doubt, the Italian anthem is the most stirring evocation of World Rugby anthems. Fiery, proud, pacy and  well, just right... can't wait until tonight as another of the contenders for my top five is there (rubbish words though - which is a shame) Scotland. Without further ado (oh well, maybe a bit...) here's my top five Anthems:
1    Italy
2    France
3    New Zealand (with the proviso that they already sing it in two languages but should be a few more...)3a) Scotland
4  Portugal
5   Ireland  (surprise version!)

The Rain In Spain...

...is a bit like the rain in Bordeaux.
Stade Chaban-Delmas is the venue for today's encounter between Australia and Canada. Bit of a foregone conclusion but I am pleased to announce the winner of one aspect in this tournament: 'sans doute' the band of the pools is the mob that are blowing their lungs out and thumping the drum within this stadium...dispersing the wetness with their brand of accelerated pomp - FANTASTIC! There was a rendition of the Basque 'national anthem' before the break which was enough to dislodge my speakers  - mes enceintes - from the wall... Agent Sylvain, your task, should you choose to accept it will be to get this band, on video, on the front page of Le Parisien Rugby World Cup 2007. What an honour that would be! (Clue - Dax? Attention the Controle de dopage: if the band are found to be full of Petrus, they need to be tested or congratulated...not sure which at the moment :¬)  )

Super Saturday Matches...

Let's get the formalities over with: New Zealand - win. Australia - win. Wales - well, I sort of expect them to win but Fiji might just ignite...also 'The Big Fishes' will be playing a game of rugby IN FRANCE! and IN THE OPEN AIR! The weather is going to wreak havoc on Duncan Jones' hairdo, not to mention that of Colin Charvis, although he has been wearing an alice band (sponsored by Elastoplast) in recent games. Gareth Thomas paid a flying visit to the WWF headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut to learn how to forearm smash someone without really hurting them. Let's hope eh? Interestingly, the picture of Duncan shows him in his prop's jersey...so called because it gives the viewer exact instructions as to what the wearer needs...
And so to Scotland. My friend Stephan Freyermeuth writes elswhere that the Scottish jerseys are horrid and that they are going to lose. (I told him they were going to St Etienne but he didn't get it). Anyway, St. Etienne. Scotland are not going to be giving presents like last time Italy came out to play - who remembers that? 21 - 0 after about thirty seconds- "Happy Hogmanay Luigi,.." It will not happen today but rubbish kicking will see Scotland in trouble from the counter attack - be careful ye wee Scots. So back to St Etienne, who are a team playing in Div.1 of the French Soccer League - in eleventh place actually...and their next game is against Marseille on 6th October at ten past five local time - unluckily, it's a home fixture for 'Saints' otherwise there would have been ample time to have watched England grind another win, scoot across town and pay up for another big clash. But here I go again - 'digressement generale' - it aint gonna happen! To finish for now - I have to go and do my Mum's shopping and cleaning for a while - here's St Etienne and 'Nothing's gonna stop us now!' - for your delicatation. A nice video, decent riff - but lousy sync! Up the skirt wearers!

Reading Between The Lines

Some people have asked how to read the previous 'articles' in this blog.(Well, the ones that are total insomniacs, have read every page on Wikipedia, saddos, tramps etc...)

To see everything for the month, click on 'Archives'. To read any observations made by others following the article, click on 'Comments'. To leave a comment, click on Comment, enter your / a name, email address and hey presto!  - you write. Click 'Post' and watch your words appear. If you have stuff to post, or photos to show then write to me using martinflackatblueyonderdotcodotuk - in the obvious email address format. Try it - it doesn't hurt! (That damn bleu, blanc rouge gets in everywhere doesn't it?!)

Oui Lasta Longa than Tonga!

So farewell Tonga - a plucky performance but not enough to overcome the English gameplan of scrum nudge, lineout, kick... Your correspondent did not see the first half and I depend on others to illuminate my opinion. The bit I saw was ok but nothing to indicate that Australia are going to lose much sleep working out points of attack next week. England players will be a bit more relaxed though so who knows - "it's a funny old game". I spent the whole day organising an exhibition in Manchester and feel right off the pace...roll on tomorrow afternoon when real work can recommence! Bad hair day too - as the IRB put a stop to paddy perm power and the green hair business. Sometimes I wonder where the interference will stop and the amusement be left to run through a tournament  - it maybe wrong, but I think the commercial squeezers are taking the fun out of rugby...too much talk and little fun - but it's the spectator who'll pay every time.
I have to say also that I am surprised that more of the West London members have not taken this opportunity to put forward their points of view - it is an open forum with no censorship...obviously the Rugby World Cup is a private affair between you, the pub and a telly? The picture is a moment of reflection from a disused factory in Palaiseau - on the outskirts of Paris (now that's what I call graffiti!) Have a great evening, a very good morning and good luck all you Ireland, Wales and Scotland supporters...England have done it - are your team going to be joining the fun?

Friday Match - It Could All Go a Bit Pete Tonga...

Tonga are dyeing for England. Hair today, grown tomorrow - or should that be green? In the latest team bonding exercise, the Tonga XV have availed themselves of a hairdresser and a bottle of green dye for the showdown in Parc des Princes (what a cauldron that is...). England's plans to counter this colour blitz are already ahead of target, with a few players familiarising themselves with each other (first time for everything folks...). The great unknown will be match day mentality (how do I know that if it is the great unknown..? Huh?)
Anyway, the England pack will grind away at Tonga - they have no choice as Tonga's back row blast around all over the place when given the opportunity - whether less than 100% scrums from the opposition, or scrappy ball from unforced errors - they will be chasing everything! For England - try again. I think they will probably win simply through experience, a bit of lineout superiority and a lot of  kicking. Does anyone expect an open, controlled and flowing game? Can Jonny hack it with dodgy balls? This is the first of four games which are all or nothing for the sides involved - competition! Theoretically, there could be no British Isles representative in the Quarter finals, come October the sixth... As my friend JR is fond of saying "Someone needs to get their ducks in a row..."