I had planned to do a recap of the rugby highlights on my blog when the world cup came to an end but little did I know when I was thinking of rugby highlights that Australia would not be involved in them. And so while this summary will be painful, I feel it is necessary to include given that the world cup has been a big part of French life over the past 2 months.
So, all was going well until the 6th of October when Australia played England in the quarter final. The Wallbies, who up until this point had been playing rather well, decided to play a shit match right when it counted and for the second world cup in a row were knocked out by Jonny Wilkinson - once again there were no English tries to be seen. With the aussies out of the running it was time to turn to my home country and support the French. They had a difficult task to come up against - the All Blacks - and everyone in France seemed to doubt that the New Zealanders could be beaten. Fortunately, unlike the Wallabies, the French did me proud and what had begun as a very depressing day turned into one of celebration as New Zealand was knocked out of the competition. It was now up to France to get revenge for me and obliterate England so that I would not have to endure another 4 years of taunts and gloating.
The following week I was paid a visit by the Whitnall brothers, who were understandbly more disappointed than I was by Australia's defeat given that they had tickets to the Semi final - which was now between England and France. While the boys tossed up the idea of whether to go to the match or sell the tickets and make a profit, I headed to the best pub in Paris to watch sport - none other than Cafe Oz. Even though the wallabies were no longer around, this bar was still packed to the brim with sport lovers and you couldn't move once you had made it through the queue and got inside. The atmosphere was incredible and just what you would expect for a world cup rugby match in the host city. This game was possibly more disappointing than the previous week as once again England managed to win and see themselves into another world cup final. All eyes turned to the match the following day to see whether it would be the Springboks or indeed the Pumas to meet (and hopefully beat) the poms. For once in this world cup the result was as expected and the South Africans cemented their place in the final.
Despite my dislike of English sporting teams, I love my English friends and decided it would be only proper to watch the final in a true British pub in Paris - The Frog and British Library. A good night was had by my friends and I as we enjoyed reasonable food and alcohol in a fun crowd and were provided with cheer leading pom poms by the bar staff - however the final was in one word DISAPPOINTING!! Thank christ the English didn't win, yet who could be happy with a final with NO TRIES, as bloody usual, and therefore a kicking match between Prince Charming from Shrek (Percy Montgomery) and Jonny "I go for drop goals even when it is completely inappropriate" Wilkinson.
So my top 5 from this rugby world cup would be;
1) The opening weekend fun with Sophie, Matt, Joel, Jess, Dave, Christian and lots of alcohol
2) Meeting a sexy Pierre whilst watching France v Georgia (I was actually there to watch the Manly Grand Final but what does it matter?)
3) France playing a super game and knocking out those All Blacks
4) The international sporting crowd in the streets of Paris
4) The international sporting crowd in the streets of Paris
5) The English losing!
