New York

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:53:06 +0000

New York, New York. The Big Apple. Don’t think I’ve actually seen any apples, but it’s great being here anyway. Strictly speaking, I’m in Connecticut, staying with my brother in his new house in Stamford, but it seems that anyone within about 3 hours of said massive fruit describes themselves as living in New York.

I just need to get this out the way first: we were robbed. Rugby, that is. I don’t care what any of my South African friends say - we were robbed. (OK, maybe not robbed*.) But nevertheless England were the better side and a far-cry from the side that got drubbed 36-0 by the Springboks earlier in the tournament. Our attacking game was strong and that try could have gone either way. From where I was standing - about 12 foot from a widescreen TV in an Irish pub in Stamford, with at least one pair of beer goggles on and about 50 other English, South African, American and Irish people in a similar state - it was a try. Lewis Moody dropped the trophy for us, though, with that outrageous trip tackle - it was totally unnecessary and 6-3 would have been a much easier position from which to recover. But alas, it was not to be, and fair play to the Springboks for 80 minutes of solid defence. But equal amounts of fair play to Brian Ashton and the whole squad - nobody was expecting England to do so well and I’m pleased they were able to flick some V’s at the unbelievers. We can now look forward to regaining the cup in 4 years time.

South Africa on Matt Thornton

New York