England won the Rugby World Cup today, taking the title away from the host
nation and defending champion (Australia).

England came away from their semi-final encounter with France to win the
match, whilst Australia looked good as they had just defeated the All-Blacks
(New Zealand - one of the most feared rugby teams in the world) in the other
semi-final. But England were the favouritesd and despite apparently rather
strong pommy-bashing all week in the Australian press (99% of which was only
a bit of fun, I'm sure).

England had the first half tied up as the score was 14-5 at half time (as I
recall). However, in the second-half they seemed to go to pieces as, despite
a strong defence, they kept making errors, especially in scrum, which cost
them 7 points to Australia on penalties. (nine, not seven). At full time the
score was 14-14, and after 1 minute 40 seconds of extra time it looked as if
the game would go to agolden score round, when suddenly Johnny Wilkinson (who
incidentally plays for Newcastle, my home team) proved the commentators wrong
by proving he *can* make a drop-kick go through the goal-posts. Jason Robinson
earlier also proved the Aussies wrong by proving that England can scor tries,
and pretty decent ones at that.

A bloody nailbiting game that brings a major world championship home to
England after 37 years. About time too! This also marks the first time that
a Northern Hemisphere side has won the Rugby World Cup since it started in
1987, the other sides being South Africa, New Zealand and Australia (twice).

I should also say a bit about the Australians, who played brilliantly and
valiantly but who unfortunately never managed to gain possession for much of
the game, though their scoring on penalties was almost perfect. I think they
put the wind up the English when they managed to equalise in the 2nd half,
but England prevailed in the end. Thanks for a great game and a great Cup
guys!

BTW, I'm sure I saw an American flag fluttering in the breeze at the closing
ceremony. So America plays rugby, eh? Who knew?

34 responses total.

We are the Champions, my friends, and we'll keep on fighting, to the end...
Thanks also to Clive Woodward, team coach, who has spent four years preparing
England for this day. "Arise, Sir Clive..."?

(Please link to the sports conf.)

"1 minutes 40 seconds of extra time" should be "19 minutes 40 seconds..."

This item is linked as Autumn agora 186 and sports 126.

Congrats to you and to your country's winning soccer team, twenex!  
I'm not a soccer fan, not above the level of my kids who sometimes 
play, but it sounds very exciting for you!

Thanks for linking,a and thanks for the congratulations on behalf of the
nation and most importantly, the team.

Just one thing: it's rugby, not soccer! 8D

I apologize!  Yes, I do see now that you said 'rugby', not 'soccer'.

Twenex, would you be willing to describe rugby?  If possible, I'd 
appreciate a comparison to American football.  I've never seen rugby 
played, and know little about it.

No apology necessary, but glad tyhat's cleared up. I had to check #0 to make
sure I wasn't talking about a whole differnet ball-game (excuse the pun)
altogether ;-P

Jep - you slipped in at #8 befdore my #9. Yes, I'd be perfectly willing to
describe rugby; as I understand it, it may be the case that American football
shares some common roots with rugby; if so, this would mean that they both
derive ultimately from soccer (which from your "American" football
reference I assume you know is just called "football" over here. Even more
confusingly, it's official name is "association football".

I'll cetainly try and describe rugby, though perhaps another item would be
the best place; I'll have to read up a little on American football if you
want a comparison, as I'm not at all sure I understand the rules, and
don't recall ever seeing a game right through.

I thought it was called "football" here because the regulation size ball is
a fot long?

Commentary from the English paper the Guardian can be found here:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyworldcup2003/story/0,13904,1091048,00.htm
l

And from the Sydney Morning Herald:
/c/t/w/twenex/eng-rwc-wmh-com.txt

(A text version of their webpage detailing the game; viewing SMH coontent
on the web is billable after the first day).

(The above zip file has been gzipped; add a .gz extension to the filename)

Football is what you play with your feet. The ball is spherical. 

They call it "soccer" in the States, thus everyone's been saying 
American football to make the distinction.

Well, I dabbled at being a rugger myself, trained a little bit at 
being a weak-side prop, but never really played.  I'd watch the game 
if I could, but rugby coverage is so abysmal here in the States that I 
couldn't catch a game if I tried.  I've seen some highlights on cable, 
but that's about it, and I don't get cable TV.

Rugby's a wonderful game.  It's similar to American football in some 
ways, but the pacing is much faster, I'd say.  The passes are all back 
and it is a much more passing game.  I realize that's not *near* 
enough to describe it at all.  But I will say you've got to be in 
shape for the game-- none of this blocking formation crap because 
everyone's running a lot... offensive and defensive plays for football 
just don't apply here.  twenex should explain. 

rugby is way cooler than nfl homoerotic crapola, and WOMEN'S
rugby is HAWT!

An explanation of rugger can be found in sports item 127.

Any idea how soccer of that states came to be called football in Asia? 
Ummm .... Jeff, can we know more about women's rugby?? ;)

All football games have their roots in the games played in England
involving a ball and a foot. "Soccer" is a colloquial term deriving from
"Association Football", the type of football now known as "football"
everywhere except America and Canada. This is turn comes from the fact
that the body set up to codify the rules on what would become soccer
in Engfand called itself the "Football Association", a term that became so
entrenched that the international governing body of the sport is known as
the "Federation International de Foorball Associations", where French
would normaly require something like "..d'Associations du Football".

The only difference I know of in women's rugby is that women are allowed
to wear protective clothing around the breasts.

Re 14> Not in the US it isn't. Football is played by passing the ball 
by throwing it and tackling and basically falling all over the other 
team. And the "ball" is not spherical. It's ovoid.

Yes, but it developed out of rugby football, which is why
it's called football.

"The United States of America" doesn't include all of the
Americas. QED.

Then I've been mis-informed. I was told the reason it was called 
football in the US was because the ball was a foot long. I never 
questioned it, because it never interested me enough to.

""The United States of America" doesn't include all of the
Americas. QED."
I know that. What's your point? (I'm sure you have one, in response to 
something stupid I probably said, but I'm too lazy to backtrack :) )

whore.

Re #22: I've never heard that story about the ball being a foot long before.
It's interesting - I always assumed it was football because people used to
use their feet a lot.  (Under modern rules, you're only allowed to kick the
ball in a few specialized circumstances.)  Do rugby players kick the ball a
lot?

Well, that's why I thought it was dumb to call American football 
football. All people seemed to do was pass the ball, with limited foot-
contact. Soccer has way more foot-work, and it makes more sense to 
call that football.

(For a time, I thought that American football was just another name 
for rugby. I learnt differently last year)

My point being, that the name of something can have more
to do with hysterical raisins than with any defined
characteristic. Another example would be British public
schools, which are what america calls private schools, but
which were "public" because they were originally set up by
public institutions like the church (not the governmentA),
rather than being organised by a company or family for
their own children.

Football, i.e. soccer, players kick the ball up the field;
rugby developed out of various forms of football in the
19th century (see sports item 127), but players are only
allowed to use the foot when drop-kicking to attempt a
goal, or when a penalty goal is awarded; typically, the
rugby ball will advance up the field tucked under
somebody's arm. Indeed, it would hardly be possible to
kick it up the field, as like an American football, it is
ovoid.

I've heard from totally unreliable authorities that women's rugby is
only played by lesbians.  I'm not sure that makes it any less hawt,
though.  :)

Not hardly, flem.  But from the little bit of college rugby I did, I 
remember some lesbians on the rugby teams.  *shrug*

American football still allows the drop-kick (freely dropping the ball 
onto the ground and then kicking it through the goal posts; if 
successful you score three points; the same as a field goal).  I think 
I saw one once, but maybe I'm remembering something else.  They are 
extremely rare in football because it's unreliable.

After almost every score in football, the ball is kicked.  A touchdown 
is usually followed by an extra point kick.  A fourth down is usually 
followed by a punt or field goal attempt.

After every score, the scoring team kicks the ball to the opposing 
team.  The only exception is the safety.  For this play the defensive 
team gets 2 points, then the former offensive team has a "free kick" 
to send the ball to the opposing team.

Anyway, there's plenty of reason to call it "football".

A football weights 14 to 15 oz, is inflated to 12.5 to 13.5 psi, and 
according to a very blurry diagram, is around 10 7/8 to 11 1/8 inches 
in length.  (It is blurry enough as to be unreadable to me, even when 
printed out.)

http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2003/2003_football_rules.pdf

re:  "A fourth down is usually followed by a punt or field goal 
attempt."

Would you care to try that one again?

third maybe?

Uh, okay.  A fourth down usually consists of a punt or field goal 
attempt.  (-:

ok, that i'll buy ... <g>.

whore.

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