The England Rugby Team Did Us Proud

Well the England rugby team did us proud! We beat the French 14-9 for a place in the final next week against the South Africans. It wasn't a great match but the final score was what mattered here and it was still a joy to watch, all nail-biting stuff. It was also a pleasure to watch for two other reasons. Firstly there was none of this prima donna play-acting you see in football when a player is involved in a tackle, falls to the ground in extreme agony, the game stops, the player is attended to and as if by a miracle he is up and running around within seconds like a spring lamb. No, in rugby when a player stays on the ground it is obvious there is something wrong, fortunately this happens infrequently. The second reason why watching international rugby is a joy is for the pre-match singing of the national anthems. To a man, the England team belt out the national anthem as if there is no tomorrow, with a real passion and with a real belief that they are here to serve their country and serve it they did. Although many argue that the national anthem is a bit dull and lifeless, it is nevertheless the anthem we have so we should make the most of it. It would be interesting to see how many people under the age of twenty actually know the words and whether in years to come we will just have to listen to the anthem led by a solo singer. The image of John Redwood when he was Secretary of State for Wales, at, I think the opening of the Welsh Assembly comes to mind, when he, centre stage tried to mime his way out of a song that he did not know the words to. We shall see.

Am off to start preparing Sunday lunch now, a traditional British roast beef lunch is on the cards today as my girlfriend and I entertain my Mum and Dad at home. It's not often that families seem to sit down to Sunday lunch together, or any meal for that matter, these days so it's nice to try to keep another traditional British custom alive.