rwc 07

i must clearly express my appreciation for the great sport of rugby. i always like to watch an odd bit of rugby, but since i came to england and was able to see most of the world cup in france i must say that i have become a fan. i even bought myself a little rule book because i didn't have a clue when and why penalties were called (to be honest, at first a match of rugby looked to me like one huge penalty).

sadly however ireland has already been eliminated from the tournament by strong teams from Argentina and France (they're foux about le rugby over there). so now i have to figure out who to lend my support for the remainder of the world cup.

so let's see, england already have (surprisingly to me) defeated Australia in the first quarterfinal and New Zealand are leadig France after currently 30 minutes of play by 13. New Zealand, the all blacks, seem like an obvious choice, they are favourites in this tournament and play attractive rugby. argentina also seem a viable option, even though they defeated my team. they are certainly one of the less known rugby nations, but they play with great determination and have a very talented team (and awesome shirts).

I will seve myself into the retreat of saying whoever is best should win the lot, be it the all blacks because they are a great team and show a nice haka, the french so they can retain the cup in the northern hemisphere or argentina as a reward for great effort. hell, fiji would be alright even though that would be a miracle and South Africa certainly has its chances as seen in the springboks demolition of england. may the best win... as long as it's not England!

Here are the quarterfinal pairings.

Australia v England
New Zealand v France
Argentina v Scotland
South Africa v Fiji


if you'd ask me now I'd pick rather conservative pairings, New Zealand v England with a slightly more risky pick for the second semifinal Argentina (sorry fellow scots) v South Africa. In the final I would pick the all blacks in a close match ocer the springboks... but don't take my word, I'm usually wrong when it comes to predicting...

anyway, enjoy the games
cheers, John

EDIT:
alright, fuck my predictions, france just upset new zealand again (they already did so on several other occasions, most remarkably in the world cup semis in '99) i clearly didn't see that coming again. so it will be les bleus against the three lions next weekend. just where did i put this French jersey...
obviously this probably means you should reverse each of my picks if you want to impress your friends with your expertise