Considering that Rugby was one of those games that we invented, you would assume that we would be the best in the World at it but we also gave the World Cricket and Football so that assumption is evidently wrong but for a few short years in this young Century, England were World Champions.
Where once were just posh fat men jumping on each other while clutching a (or each others) funny shaped balls, the nation watched as the clock showed just 26 seconds left on the clock as Wilkinson kicked a drop goal to clinch a 20-17 Final victory for England and instantly became a household name and in your face Southern Hemisphere.
My Canadian colleague text me to say that after our victory the English will be insufferable which isn't very fair, us English don't need a sporting victory to be intolerable and sure, mighty England were the best in the World at a Sport we gave to it although we haven't won it in the 20 years since and anyway, most people have long lost interest in it.
The whole odd shaped ball game began today in 1871 when Scotland gave England a damn good thrashing winning by two tries and a goal to 1 English try but to me, Rugby has always been a bit of a game they play 'up North' and not something us sophisticated latte drinking southerners do and also a game the toffs indulge in, a stereotype confirmed when the players open their mouths to talk and you can blatantly hear the private school accent.
Despite a brief period watching the game, all i know about rugby still is a man gets oval shaped ball, man gets hit by larger man which continues until a big man manages to fall over behind the posts and when we are good at doing that the nation will cheer you on magnificently, if after 10 mins we are behind and getting our arses spanked we will all switch over en masse to Strictly Come Dancing.
We really are that fickle.
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