Rugby is proving itself. As are the French. And I believe we are witnessing one of the best sporting competitions ever held. There are two reasons for this. The first is the rise of the ‘smaller’ nations challenging and sometimes beating the ‘bigger’ ones. This has now made the sport ‘global’ rather than a manifestation of empire. We have crossed the bridge. The second is the amazing level of support. It is interesting to compare this world cup with the soccer one. In the early rounds of the soccer world cup you often get games played in almost empty stadia. But in the RWC even the minor games – USA v Tonga for example – have been attracting crowds of 30,000 plus. This would be unheard of in football. I was reminded of the 60,000 crowd who watched a world cup qualifier between Georgia and Russia a couple of years ago. The French deserve credit for their great support and I was thrilled for them that they reached the semi-final. I was at Lyon airport at 10.30 on Saturday night and was able to join hundreds of people huddled round two screens for the last 15 minutes of the match against NZ. A wonderful atmosphere.
And now, against all the odds, England are playing France in the semi-final. How did that happen?
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