Tym Glaser

IF YOU thought this year's Cricket World Cup went on forever, you should really get a load of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) which ends in Paris today with the final between South Africa and England.

I think this tournament started around about May in 1947 and has been stealthily whittled down to the last two sides still standing, the Boks and the Lions.

Now, being from the southern Australian states where Aussie Rules is king, I find it pretty hard to get excited about rugby and that goes doubly so when Australia get kicked out early.

In this tournament, the Wallabies fell to England 12-10 in the quarter-finals which were held, I think, in 1973 - or thereabouts.

The only thing that made the whole thing worthwhile was that when the Aussies packed their bags after a failed campaign, the chronically under-achieving All Blacks joined them on the plane home.

Prohibitive favourites, the Kiwis were dumped by France at the same stage as their Antipodean cousins and, despite having one world crown to their names, are starting to look suspiciously like the South African cricket team when it comes to turning up and turning it on at big events.

No team possesses more skill, flair and muscle than the All Blacks but they just seem to stumble when they are least expected to do so.

human freight train

The human freight train known as Jonah Lomu ran over everybody in 1995 as New Zealand charged into the final only to be shockingly derailed by a feisty, underdog South African unit which was cheered on by No.1 fan Nelson Mandela.

That sent the Shaky Isles into a state of mourning which is now repeated every four years.

There's not quite the same amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Australia as expectations were considerably lower but, as in most sports, the ritual blood-letting of the coach was performed swiftly.

The RWC wasn't all gloom and doom for the southern hemisphere sides as Argentina stunned hosts France in the preliminary rounds and made it all the way to the semis where they were outclassed by South Africa and Fiji KO'd one-time powerhouse Wales and reached the quarters for the first time.

Of course, the Springboks are still alive and kicking but they seem to have designs on moving their allegiances north after this Cup. Of course, the easiest way to confuse a South African is to ask him which hemisphere his country is in?

little flair

Anyways, on to today's final which tosses together two sides no Australian can cheer for with any amount of passion.

Defending champions England have little flair and rely heavily on the boot of Jonny Wilkinson, but they are peaking at the right time and playing with tremendous spirit and drive.

Meanwhile, South Africa have cruised through the Cup and pummeled England in the preliminary round. They play a tight brand of rugby but are capable of bursts of brilliance - particularly through the likes of speedster Bryan Habana, who is the leading try scorer in the tournament with eight.

As plucky as the English have been, I don't think they can smother South Africa for the entire, bone-crunching 80 minutes, so it's the Boks for title No. 2.

Later ...

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