Ordinary Gweilo

Being English, I get quite used to sporting disappointments. So when England started beating the southern hemisphere nations in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup, I fully expected that they were peaking too soon, and would contrive to lose in the quarter-finals.

The game against South Africa seemed to confirm my worst fears – up until the last 20 minutes, England looked second best against very committed opponents. Then the game against Samoa was more competitive than expected, but again England came good in the end.

The Wales vs. New Zealand pool match should have been a formality for the Kiwis based on pre-tournament form, but Wales gave them a major fright, and suddenly England’s quarter-final looked a lot tougher – if Wales won, England would play New Zealand, and even the expected game against Wales suddenly seemed more daunting. Cue the quarter-final exit I had been fearing, perhaps!

Wales did give England another hard contest in the quarter-final and led at half-time before the inevitable English fightback.

Now I was starting to get a bit more optimistic – if England could win without playing that well, and could fight back against determined opposition, then perhaps it really could be their year.

The two semi-finals were compelling matches, and what can I say about the final? Gripping stuff, with an absolutely incredible ending. As England drove forward in the final minutes of extra time, the commentators calmly explained that Jonny Wilkinson was waiting to have a drop goal attempt once they got close enough to the posts. It looked too good to be true, but events then unfolded exactly as they had predicted.