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For an English rugby fan I wonder what’s worse. Losing to the Welsh, the French or the Australians?
A tricky choice and none that any self-respecting Englishman, and I’d like to think I can count myself in that particular category, would care to make.
The only solace lies in the fact that the Germans haven’t entered the world rugby playing fraternity.
But enough about age-old nationalistic rivalries and on to this Saturday’s (Sunday morning Australian time) Rugby World Cup humdinger at Twickenham.
Managing to conjure a dramatic defeat from the jaws of what should’ve been a comfortable victory over Wales last weekend was bad enough, but at least it wasn’t terminally damaging.
Should the outcome be the same in a few days’ time then not only will Anglo rugby pride have taken another almighty bashing but there will be the double whammy of elimination from the biggest competition of all. At the hands of an historic adversary. On home soil. Before the knockout stages. Mmm…
A grim thought for all those this side of the globe but no doubt the exact opposite for those whose favoured colour of replica rugby shirt is yellow (or is it gold?).
And with a detached eye, this is what top level tournament sport should be all about. A game of massive proportions where the stakes are, and there’s little danger of overdoing the hyperbole given what is to come as the game draws ever nearer, potentially far-reaching.
A bugbear of this writer is competitions that waste time before getting to the business end. Champions League football and the Cricket World Cup spring to mind as events that fill the TV schedules but little else until the group stages near their conclusion. Sport that is the competitive equivalent of going down to the driving range.
However premature the seedings were decided for the current tournament, they have thrown up what we’ve got coming and while the tournament has been pretty good so far, it is about to get even better.
As for the Pool A battle, Ashes contests on the cricket field have a habit of exceeding all other internationals is terms of their ability to make or break careers. Unfairly so in a lot of cases, after all, international sport is international sport, but that isn’t the way the world turns.
Had Australia triumphed a couple of months ago I for one am fairly certain Michael Clarke would be taking the field in a green cap in the upcoming months.
Had England not regained the Ashes, Alastair Cook’s position as captain would have been close to untenable.
The Anglo-Australian rivalry magnifies and exaggerates the fallout to such an extent that the knives are sharpened that bit more keenly. And should the result be negative in south west London then Stuart Lancaster and his coaching staff may not fancy answering their phones when they ring on Sunday morning.
Aside from the outstanding resilience displayed by a Welsh side who seemed to be auditioning for extras roles in a war film, England have only themselves to blame for the predicament they are in.
Ten points to the good and in control, their inability to keep the penalty count down and a gameplan that could only be called attritional bit them on the backside and bit them hard. Nobody would’ve batted an eyelid had the lead been held on to.
But stopping the opposition from playing and kicking your goals works as a style up until the stage where you start to concede a bit too readily and you’re left with nowhere to turn. In football terms, packing the midfield and playing for a point looks awfully flimsy once the dam has been breached.
The choice of Sam Burgess and Brad Barritt in the midfield was made with one thing in mind and to that extent it worked. But when three points gained are immediately negated by three points needlessly chucked away, thereby keeping the opposition within touching distance, then it only needs one lapse for the cards to come tumbling down.
It shouldn’t be presented as all doom and gloom, however. Australia will really fancy their chances, and rightly so after two effortless victories, but if – big ifs I know – their attack can be negated and Owen Farrell/George Ford successfully convert the chances they will inevitably be presented with then the Wales-Australia clash can suddenly be more than a jockeying for position.
So that’s all there is to it. Don’t give any points or penalties away and kick everything. Easy.