Scotland face into their final pool game with only the slimmest of hopes of eliminating England from the tournament and progressing to the quarter-final themselves. To do they will have to beat England and score more bonus points than them or simply win by more than 41 points, so unless Chris Paterson can find his Monsieur Cent Pour Cent form from the 2007 World Cup and England are penalised off the park, you would think that one would preclude the other. Continue reading
Well done New Zealand: It’s a relatively small country a long way from anywhere else and the weather hasn’t been the best but the atmosphere and organisation, bar some opening night nerves, seem to have been very good. Beating the French will have cheered up the Kiwis and put some ghosts to rest, while seeing the Aussies lose has been very well received. The Ireland v Russia game sounded like it had been organised by the best hostel in the world and the crowd were suitably lubricated. Continue reading
Johno and Freddie in happier times; the dwarf-throwing came later
Freddie Tuilagi has just gone and given every critic of England’s United Nations RWC11 squad some easy copy. Continue reading
That's a pretty text-book front-row engagement right there
England once again put on the counter-puncher’s gloves and scored a rake of wide-out tries through their three-quarters against a not-too-powerful Mighty Oaks. Continue reading
"Ya, might have mentioned that the oiks in the press give the family a hard time." "How far do you think I could throw that little fellow?"
Romanian rugby fans may well look back wistfully at the glorious days of the Ceausescu regime when the Oaks beat Wales, Scotland and France twice each, as well as running the All Blacks close in 1981. Probably not, though. Continue reading
No wonder that Georgian lad tried to break his arm at the end of it
The Mole was in Bordeaux four years ago when the French neutrals got behind a Georgian team threatening to upset Ireland in the group stages. All you could hear in the velodrome that night was “Georgie! Georgie! Georgie!” Continue reading
Zen master points automaton Jonny Wilkinson had a hard to believe off day with his place kicking. Fortunately for the White Orcs, temporarily decked in black, so did Dr Phil and full back Rodriguez. Argentina missed most of their kicks before England did and it is difficult to see how England would have come back from a 12 point second half deficit. There have been a lot of missed kicks so far in this tournament and it will be interesting to see if kickers get more used to the new Gilbert ball as the games progress. Continue reading
By providing the Rugby World Cup with undoubtedly the worst finalists in the tournament’s history in 2007, England proved that they know more than a thing or two about thriving in cup match rugby. A big scrum and an incredibly reliable place-kicker maintaining both physical and scoreboard pressure can get you an awful long way. Continue reading
Maradona heads one in against Angleterre in a typically unemotional sporting encounter between the two countries
England don’t have many options but to pick a huge pack, and they haven’t veered very far from the form book. Continue reading
Sayonara, old boy. England rugby player gets accused of being arrogant. So what’s new?
Digging Like a Demented Mole 