OK, so the English rugby team have won a place in the big final of the Rugby World Cup after defeating France last night in the semi-final in Paris. It was a brilliant match full of excitement but with an outcome that I have come to expect. Namely, the English side won through penalties again, not through scoring tries. Wilkinson and his boot got the side through, not the rest of the team. Just ask the Australians.

I have slight issues with games like these being won purely from penalty goals, not from the skill of a teams attack efforts in scoring tries. It seems all they have to do is ‘goad’ the opposition enough into making mistakes, in full reach of an easy goal kick, and the points are theirs. I suspect the Poms had the Wallabies all sussed out the week before; annoy them enough and they will retaliate and defer. Easy enough…the Poms annoy us Aussies no end, both on the football field and off.

The game last night was exciting, but, it is a bit of an anticlimax to me when the only points scored are from penalty kicks. I have some words of advice to the winner of the next semi-final: wipe the ground with those Poms!.