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I have enough trouble with the English language, so excuse my French, but hasn’t this World Cup been rugby’s La Belle Époque – a golden age?
Even now, before the play-off game and the final, this tournament can be afforded the character of greatness.
No doubt greatness is seen in other rugby games, in other sports, in other eras.
That is the nature of the sporting beast and to be celebrated elsewhere as much as this World Cup.
And greatness should not be readily claimed. Whether Zhou Enlai was referring to the French Revolution of 1789, of 1968, or of 1066, it is often too early to say.
I’m not at the games. It must be glorious to attend whether in London or Cardiff or any of the more regional venues. The cheers of the crowd even through the television could have woken sleeping giants.
And for those left behind in the southern hemisphere, the broadcasting has been pretty good overall. There is fun to be had sitting home in the dark under the doona.
The camera angles have changed views, the replays both cloud and clarify. The online reporting includes trumpeting and trepidation.
The online forums are a place for seers and sayers, gazing into a pointed crystal ball. Beyond a feast of the senses, the World Cup has become a feast for one’s sixth sense with few pre-ordained outcomes, with confounded expectations and then “I knew it” passing judgements like quick hands.
I went to some of the round robin games at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and plan the same for 2019 in Japan. Farsightedness may see all three tournaments in La Belle Époque, but the 2015 Rugby World Cup has been a richness of experience.
Each week there has built the exhaustion, the exultation, the ruinous – the sweet savagery of both structured and unstructured play.
Notwithstanding their superb fitness, skill and enterprise, the players must be exhausted. One can applaud those who administer the decisions, set up the framework, assist the play, coach the skills. But the players out on the paddock are giving us joy, as well as giving their all.
Rather than seeing a sport in which the final is contested by the similar, rugby fosters differing body types merging with the chaotic to pursue the sublime. We see poetry in motion, from ancient heroic epics to neat Haiku. It has exceeded the theatrical, the cinematic, the operatic. These players are playing past metaphor.
The Belle Époque might have been contrasted with the devastation of the First World War. Whatever is to follow, I don’t want this World Cup to be lost to the future.
It is glorious now, the contests to be as celebrated as the victories.
This includes the differing styles of the two hemispheres. I’m seeing teams from the north display more southern characteristics and teams from the south, particularly in the finals series, display some of the north. Both are to be revered.
I’m fuzzy on New Zealand history, but wasn’t it the great statesman Sir George Grey who received, already passed through Westminster, the New Zealand Constitution? He read it and sent it back, saying in gentle international diplomatic voice “You’ve done well, but I think you can improve. Try this and it will be better for all.”
The south and the north do combine.
When that Great Scot Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa, the community honoured him and buried him with great care and solemnity. On the top of Mount Vaea, hunting was forbidden so his grave would be venerated by birdsong. This southern hemisphere genius is as much to be celebrated as his monument in the High Kirk of St Giles, Edinburgh displays the genius of the northern hemisphere.
For me, the only element missing in this World Cup is the absence of the Holst I Vow to Thee My Country re-crafted as The World in Union.
Perhaps it is heard at the grounds, but doesn’t make it to the broadcast. Gough enjoyed it at his funeral. I’d be happy with a choral version, or as hip hop, or as a dirge from the crowd. Around 82,000 fans at Twickenham and more on the lounge at home singing make a fine Eisteddfod.
And for the final? Go the Wallabies! Go the All Blacks! They are the transcendent Trans-Tas-men of this golden age.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.