Dwarf Throwing and a Psychic Sheep.

I was wary of the Argentineans and we ground them down (eventually). I was slightly wary of the Scots (they have spoiled the English party more than once in the past) and we ground them down too. But for a handful of missed kicks from the normally metronomic  Jonny Wilkinson neither result would have been in doubt. You do have to question what the reason is for his poor form. The guy has a kick conversion rate of less than 50% in this competition. And he is one of the best kickers in the world. However, so is Morne Steyn the South African, and he is in the high 80%’s.

I think we will be victorious against the French (and not because Sonny Wool the psychic sheep has predicted an England win) however I think it will be a similar game to that against the Scots. I know the French appear to be in meltdown at the moment but everybody raises their game to play the English and they will be no exception.

The other quarter-finals should also produce some exciting rugby. I’m tipping the Irish to have a little too much for the Welsh, The South Africa-Australia game is too difficult to call as I haven’t seen much of the Wallabies, and The All Blacks will cruise past Argentina even without Dan Carter.

I hope that after the next round of matches England will make the headlines for their rugby instead of their off-field indiscretions....although the dwarf-throwing jokes were quite amusing. Despite all this I have been impressed with Johnson’s handling of the media in these situations. I am willing to bet he has handed out a few gale-force bollockings over the last couple of weeks. The on-field disciplinary stuff has been a bit suspect in my point of view. The citing of Armitage and Lawes for foul play is one thing but to fine Tuilagi nearly £5000 for wearing a branded gum-shield?! This is rugby...not football.

I still have concerns about some of Johnson’s team selections, particularly at centre, second row and back row but overall we seem to be moving in the right direction. Replication of some of the running lines shown against Romania (yes I know it was a weakened team of a Tier 2 Nation) and some continued dynamism from the pack and we should have the French going backwards.

I have been fortunate enough to watch the majority of the pool games and its is very encouraging to see the gap between the “smaller” rugby playing nations and the big boys reducing. Teams like Samoa, Tonga, Georgia, Japan and Canada have been putting in some cracking performances and some really enjoyable rugby. I sincerely hope the IRB has plans to support the developing nations. The inclusion of a Plate competition to run alongside the latter stages of the World Cup is gathering a number of supporters in the press and I would love to see this take place. In addition I would like to see a second division of the Six Nations Championship with promotion and relegation. I know they would be seen as the whipping boys but looking back, the French did not win a 5 Nations game for a number of years and the same for Italy in the 6 Nations. Developing the game globally cannot be a bad thing. It is the “World in Union” after all.

Incidentally Sonny Wool predicted wins for Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.