Hell and Heaven (Pete's rugby epitaph)

---

It was the worst of times; it was the best of times. France performed as requested in losing to Argentina such that they would meet Nouvelle Zealand in the Quarter Final. Australia could possibly beat France but only France has the wood on NZ. The Wallabies had only to beat Wales and England to meet France in the semi final. Everybody played their part... except for Australia.

We may never know who turned up on that Saturday in Marseille in the Australian strip but clearly aliens were involved. England had embarrassed themselves in defeating the USA 28-10 and were then thrashed by the Springboks 36-0. England did however turn up for the game in Marseille on Saturday and as it happens that was all that was required against an Australian side that had decided that the best way to defeat England was to give them the ball at every available opportunity.

Inconsolable depression was only relieved by the heroic Les Bleus who once again bundled the Kiwis out of the Rugby World Cup. The Germans have a word “schadenfreude” which describes delight at the misfortune of others. Maybe that’s all we have left.
The World Cup has definitely come of age in making all results possible. We are now heading off to see Fiji play South Africa and Argentina are still in there. It’s anybody’s game.

---