as a long time soccer fan (uk premiership), it was with some trepidation that i sat down to watch the game yesterday. i havent watched a rugby game,ever.

but, like many others i was caught up in the hype of it all.

i am now a rugby fan.

great crowd atmosphere, none of the undercurrent of nastiness that you get at soccer games.

no effete falling down in agony after tripping over a blade of grass and howling for the medicos to rush on.

in spite of continuous heavy physical contact, no complaining or feigning injury.

excellent refereeing, and sporting respect shown for his decisions.

its what sport should really be like.

i will watch those pampered, overpayed, childish and egotistical soccer players with different eyes from now on.

well,at least until leeds united start playing decent soccer again

B O D Y L I N E .......cheats never prosper. Albeit that there's talk of Royal honours for the bastards

I also have never been a great fan of Rugby but yesterday I found myself in a pub for an hour with UBC on the game. It was cool to be surrounded by americans, wondering how they coped without armour, British men wondering if they would get whopped again and another Aussie and myself.

I had to leave at half time, but like another poster I will be happy enough to watch again in the future.

IT

my oh my ! I'm in Oz- sydney and boy it's great being here at the moment......

I gotta say while i have been following this thread iv'e enjoyed the opinions around.The only thing I have got to say is And by the way the Wannabes scored the same points by the same method ie 1 tri and the rest by kicks Oh apart from that last kick by Mr Wilks And that one is going to last for years

Ahh back to Bangkok next week and alternative reality........

good game

Shame Really:-

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PM defends 'sullen mood' at medal presentation

By Annabel Crabb, Doug Conway

November 24, 2003

Prime Minister John Howard presents the Rugby World Cup to England captain Martin Johnson.

Howard adds a sour note to a grand sporting occasion

The Prime Minister's office was last night forced to defend his demeanour as he presented the medals to the England rugby team after its thrilling win over Australia in the rugby World Cup final on Saturday.

Correspondents to The Age were critical of Prime Minister John Howard for a failure to speak to the victorious players and accused him of being "graceless", "sour" and making the presentations with "lemon-sucking grimace".

One letter writer said that the performance "will be remembered alongside Sir John Kerr's 1977 Melbourne Cup presentation".

The presentation came after a thrilling 20-17 win for England in a match that went to extra time and was won off the boot of goal-kicking ace Jonny Wilkinson.

A spokeswoman for Mr Howard said: "Obviously he was disappointed that we hadn't won but he was very polite and shook hands with each player.

"He also spent time in the dressing rooms of the English and the Wallabies after the game."

The spokeswoman said he had spent about 10 or 15 minutes in the England rooms.

"He had a personal chat with Jonny Wilkinson and told him 'you are a very great player'," the spokeswoman said.

England's win was a heartbreaker for Australia but a fitting end to a tournament that broke all kinds of records.

The crowd of 82,957 at Saturday night's thriller took the total attendance for the 48 matches involving 20 nations to a record 1.83 million, with the Australian Rugby Union's cut of the profits reaching more than $45 million.

Almost 100,000 international visitors injected an estimated $800 million into the Australian economy.

Unlike the Olympics, the six-week tournament spread the action across the nation, from Tasmania to Townsville and Wollongong to the west.

England's fan base yesterday pushed Sydney airport to the second-busiest day in its history, eclipsed only by the day after the 2000 Olympic Closing Ceremony, as an estimated 22,000 or more people passed through the international passenger terminal.

Saturday's contest was extended beyond 80 minutes with the very last kick of regulation time by Wallaby Elton Flatley and was 25 seconds from an unprecedented sudden-death play-off when Wilkinson's unnatural right boot turned Australian hopes to despair.

Wilkinson's goal denied the Wallabies the honour of becoming the first team to successfully defend the trophy.

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I just got this in an email, a couple of months late, but I still got a laugh from it.

Fantastic, where can I get those graphics from?

Just right click on the picture then select "save as".

THat's great gotta agree wish I had it couple of months ago.

How can I post it in a forum?

OK Tiz figured it out, just put it in the touch section, didn't mean to pinch it but couldn't resist