It’s been a minute…

I’ve been preoccupied with life. Perhaps I have lived in Australia too long now. The game with all its changes and the lack of parochialism for the game, here in Eshay-land, has rubbed off on me. I don’t follow the NPC anymore and couldn’t tell you who the captain is for Wellington. But this World Cup has been somewhat of a revival for my interest. I have always been a rugby guy but it’s waned in the Nrl stronghold of QLD where I live. Now though, watching this WC has been great for helping me remember that even though I don’t recognise many things about the game I grew up playing, living and loving. There are still aspects of this great sport that are thankfully still very much the same. The drama and the banding together to get the job done are very much still there. The fairytale for someone like Whitelock to be the player to earn his team penalty to finish them off. It’s why we watch.

Not surprisingly I still hate England. But I also now very much dislike Ireland. Sexton, as others have said, is an absolute fuckwit. Seeing all these Insta posts during the last few years, saying he was as good as Larkham, Wilkinson and DC was annoying. But the closer the World Cup got he was being touted as the best flyhalf the game has seen. The best flyhalf the game has seen shovelled the ball on for 80 odd minutes today. The biggest game of his career and all he had to offer was an etc set of hands for the ball to touch. I haven’t been here for some 2-3 years and when I was the Irish posters were always very good blokes. I don’t like to say gracious as that sounds patronising. Just good guys. But fuck your team has become easy to dislike. When you’re the top guys detractors are everywhere I guess. Also to be the best you need to have an arrogance about you. But Ireland, in the last 10-12 months especially ( “ …a shit McCaw”) have just built themselves up to a point where todays obvious tragedy, for them, is oh so enjoyable for everyone else. The fact they have been as good as they have been is great for the game. It’s great for their fans and great for their country. But otherwise pretty please, with a cherry on top, eat. a. dick. (Can I say that? I am not up to date with the in and outs of the fern in 2023). Again that’s not focussed on the Irish posters here. Just the Irish team themselves and the non rugby Irish bandwagon hoppers. But especially you Sexton. Who post match had a face like a thousand sucked lemons. I don’t doubt his disappointment was real and he has had an outstanding career for his country. But you’re the type of player the game needs rid of. There was a moment where, as a senior player he was mouthing off, post game at one of his teams mates when he should have been consoling him. Fuck right off.

Anyway on to the next. Ardie and Cane played their best game together, I thought. We tackled like demons and there were selections we either couldn’t make through injury or discipline that meant we could have been potentially better. So fuck all this talk that Ireland didn’t show up. We just meshed and got it right with what players we had on the day and tackled them out of the game.

I don’t care, in this moment, if we win from here. I’m contented, for today. Tomorrow will be different. But today I’m just happy for this team.

I’ve been drinking since 3pm it’s 7:30 now so I apologise if that’s incoherent waffle.

The Silver Fern

raznomore