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.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
I was taught many, many years ago that the colour you insist" on as being ''gold'' is in fact a distinct ''yellow", Gold is gold, and Yellow is yellow, ~ can't change that fact!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Yea! the streets of South Auckland would be really hopping, had the Samoans progressed!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Premature Aussie; blow is what this is about!, ~ Don't the Kiwis kick butt as a norm against the yellow and greens?, why should it be any different this weekend?, ~ PS, it won't!
CA3ZAR
Roar Pro
I do hope ABs win, but Wallabies look incredible coming in from the pools and semis
Speak Softly
Roar Rookie
Love the tribalism, but please don't let Disney make "The Mighty Darks". Love the contest (every ball and every play, as well as between every tribe), so this week's play off game and final are so exciting. Throughout the tournament, it has been great. The variety of differing playing styles (even from the same team a week apart) and the differing outcomes (each ruck, each line-out, each bit of downward pressure in the scrum and over the try line) can't get any better. Or can it? I am hopeless with statistics, but from an astronomical point of view, New Zealand and Australia are so close that as the final is being played out, gold light will be pouring over the ABs homeland whilst the WBs homeland is bathed in black. A Trans Tasman triumph, whoever dances off with Bill.
Speak Softly
Roar Rookie
Thanks both DaniE and redheavy. I have now caught up through YouTube. Sorry I did so with Paloma. In another language I don't understand her name means Dove and without being unkind, I think Holst would have let her sing that version flapping somewhere off Jupiter. Hayley in NZ was lovely and Ladysmith plus drums fantastic (my how the lads' playing uniforms have changed since 1995). But as another's Roarer comment today about national anthems suggests, go the baritone or one step further and bring back Bryn (with Shirley in the dragon frock, plus choir). Again, he sings part in a language I don't understand but bless his ruck broken nose and deep voice. If only Samoa had made it to the finals this year, the singing would have been worthy. Perhaps more of the Pacific flavor in Japan in 2019...
redheavy
Roar Rookie
Paloma Faith actually ;) I am a big fan of her work normally, but in this case her rendition is truly awful. Quite possibly Pablo's daughter could do a better job!
ph1lstar
Guest
It will be a BLACK day for Australia very BLACK
Speak Softly
Guest
Gold
Speak Softly
Guest
All Gold
Speak Softly
Guest
Gold
Hertryk
Guest
Je soutiens les hommes en or pour gagner la Coupe du Monde de Rugby. Porter de l'or pour la gloire pour montrer votre appui Go Wallabies
Hertryk
Guest
GOLD for GLORY ... wear yours to show how much we want this to be a Wallaby victory.. World in Union is a great anthem to stir the senses and sums up our wonderful game... Stir the passion in fellow supporters, show every doubter out there we are behind our boys to bring home the Bill.. Wear GOLD for GLORY on the streets of Australia, or where ever you might be.. My office pays a small donation to charity to wear casual on Friday.. I will be proud to display my GOLD for GLORY.. will you.. ??? GO WALLABIES...
DaniE
Roar Guru
Wonderful article - sums it all up. The competitiveness of this years competition has created an adrenalin rush, and its addictive... hopefully the final can help feed it some more. Regarding the song World In Union - Paloma Picasso did this year's version. It was so awfully bad that a petition went up to stop it being broadcast. I don't hear that version on the TV feed I get here in Malaysia so I am very grateful! Just use the Ladysmith Black Mambazo version every tournament I say.
Southerner
Roar Rookie
Well spoken, Speak Softly. Almost poetic I can't be at Twickers, but if the game rises to the drama of the only RWC Final I have attended, 2003, then it will be a spectacular event. I remembered feeling robbed at the end of that match. Not by Wilkinson's drop kick (and let's never forget the systematic foundation the Pom pigs manufactured for that play!) , but by the pace at which the game progressed. It seemed like it was all over in what felt like 1/2 time. , the Wallabies have great talent and skill - equal to ABs I believe - so if they can overcome or stand up to ABs more mature strategy/tactics, resilience/agility capability, then we're in for a fabulous match. I've backed ABs to win and would be pleased to see such great players retire on such a high. But I'll be very pleasantly surprised to see Oz get up. Either way, it does shape up as a true clash of Titans
Steve
Guest
Gone past the Sydney Olympics and sits alongside the FIFA 94 World Cup as the greatest sporting events I've witnessed.
FrancisF
Roar Pro
Its the golden age of the Wallabies on the horizon, as I wrote in my piece after the Wales game. Somehow at that stage, there was already a deep sense welling up that the Wallabies will be heading into the final one way or the other,and that winning the Cup is almost a foregone conclusion. The other Roarers cautioned me that I was counting chickens before they are hatched. How not to, when the Wallabies showed greatness never seen before in their game as played in the modern era. The outcome of the game against Scotland in the quarter final was an aberration, bearing in mind, Wallabies scored five tries ( one LESS than that against the Pumas in the semi final) The odds are against the All Blacks in winning the Cup as a defending champion and it is for the Wallabies to lose it. This time the rugby gods are on the side of the Wallabies, for whatever reasons, I don't know. Look at the Pumas game: Just when the Pumas had the Wallabies on the ropes and on the ascendancy in the match, two of their match winning players had to leave the field and one was sinbinned at the crucial 10 minutes of the game. The Pumas looked a fresh and ready-to-go team after their romping win over Ireland, while the Wallabies looked tired and bruised with heavy feet especially in the last 20 minutes, yet they scored 4 tries against none from the Pumas. It is fitting for the Wallabies this coming Saturday to meet its traditional nemesis for the FIRST time in the World Cup final when history will be made if either team wins.
Crashy
Guest
It's Belle Époque. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.