Looking forward to the big game in the RWC tonight England v S Africa? Not sure I am to be honest – they seem to be the rugby equivalent of Germany, our bogey team. Let’s face it the England cause is not helped by the absence of Vickery, Wilkinson and Barclay but at least we have Catty and Farrell at 10 and 12 or is it inside centre and outside half? And we’ll need their kicking skills too. Farrell I read has scored 7 points for Saracens with his boot since moving from RLeague. That should be troubling Percy Montgomery who has only scored 797 points at test level for S Africa.
It’s that bloody kicking ability that worries me most about the Boks. My worst experience watching England was during RWC ’99. We’d taken 70 -odd guests over to France for the QF match against the Boks. I think most people were anticipating an England victory – not least all of our guests who we’d whipped up into a frenzy with our pre-match entertainment. We trundled back into our squalid club house after the match (it seemed great beforehand) having witnessed a 21-44 mauling, with SA’s Jannie de Beer having dropped 5 goals from everywhere on the pitch. It’s was only because we got Dean Richards our principal guest to tell some outrageous tales that we managed to lift the gloom.
But that memory comes back every time we play these buggers. At least the Burgerbeast isn’t playing. But I wish we had Deano out there still as you sense it could get pretty ugly out there tonight. Bring ’em on.
pp
Pasta Paulie 