RWC 07

 23 Sep 2007 11:18:06 am

Let me just preface by saying that I don't want to do this; and you don't have to read this. In fact, I encourage you not to.

Well, it's that time of year. School's started, the weather is becoming only slightly more bearable, and -- above all else -- the Rugby World Cup is underway. It actually started on the seventh, over two weeks ago, but with school and all, I haven't had time for much else.

(Being in America, there's a flying pig's chance in hell that I'll ever see a test match on television. As such, I have to go on teh internets and buy each match individually for about five bucks. Which is totally lame, because Rugby is about five million times better than American Football, Basketball, and Baseball all put together. ESPN shows jump-rope competitions, for pete's sake. Apparently, Rugby ranks just below jump-roping in America.)

France is hosting this year. As much as I am francophilic, however, I'm not rooting for them. I do like the French team -- with l'homme des cavernes (Sébastien Chabal, and who doesn't?), Michalak, Élissalde, and Poitrenaud, they've got some of the best players in the game. However, I've found myself feeling some sort of inherent animosity towards the host nation. They're in the same pool as Ireland (fantastic team, with O'Gara, O'Driscoll, Horgan, Dempsey, et al), who I happen to like just a bit more. And, of course, as host nations, France is obligated -- expected -- to get into at least the final stages of the Cup. Consequently, they're wholly expected to smash Ireland to a pulp and knock them out of the running.

Which is precisely what they did just the other day.

I downloaded the France-Ireland match the other day, and it was ultimately a really aggravating experience. Ireland got pummeled. They had no possession, did (relatively) poor at line-outs, kicked an absolutely awful game (this match had one of the longest kicking duels I've ever seen), took practically no-one off the field, ceded penalties left and right, and had a defense comparable to a wiffle ball. France, meanwhile, dominated at the line-outs, made plenty of personnel exchanges, were rarely penalized, and held an amazingly strong defensive line. Their kicking, too, was largely mediocre (they had a pretty horrific conversion rate), but they were a small step up from Ireland.

For the whole match, things progressively got worse for Ireland. France started strong, with Chabal, Nyanga, all stops pulled out. Ireland, though solid, didn't have a particularly monumental line-up -- especially with Stringer sitting it out. The spectators was almost entirely French (duh); Ireland could have definitely used some (conspicuously absent) mob support. Also, much to Ireland's dismay, the refereeing was spotty. The ref -- White, I think -- was really obnoxious and shouted lachez at five-second intervals like a broken record. It was really satisfying when he got smashed in the face by a wayward tackle. Also, that touch judge calling Ireland for "uneccessary stepping" was the most ridiculous moment of the match, and really set Ireland back a bit. It also resulted in White having to call another stepping penalty, for the sake of consistency. Which was really dumb.

I could go on, but I don't want to have to put any more effort in this blog than I have to. Long story short, Ireland lost, France won, Evan angry.

Category : General | Posted By : evan | Comments [22] | Trackbacks [0]