Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Saturday night saw the end of the England rugby team’s fairytale journey through the 2007 World Cup.
South Africa finally found the power up front to compete with England and ground out a 15-6 victory thanks mainly to their forwards and the kicking ability of Percy Montgomery who had one of his good nights.
England, meanwhile, were unable to raise their game one more time and looking back they will reflect that reaching the final was beyond their pre-tournament expectations.
In the end the team that performed the best at this World Cup ended up winning it and few can have any complaints.
It was a contest that was dominated by the two packs and a kicking game that resulted in the ball rarely ending up in the backs of either team. It cannot be described as any sort of spectacle but then that has not been unusual in this World Cup.
In the five hundred and sixty minutes of rugby played in the seven knockout matches only 20 tries were scored, 9 of them by the eventual winners South Africa.
England managed just one try and that was from a blunder by the French full-back at the very start of their semi-final.
This lack of exciting back play should be a serious concern to the rugby authorities who are in danger of letting their game drift into a monotonous style of play that alienates many potential fans.
Firstly, they must resolve the issue of players kicking the ball back and forth trying to gain territory but no one taking the chance to run the ball back because of the fear of making a mistake.
The game has become about eliminating errors at the expense of trying to win games through passing the ball along the line and it is a poorer sport for it.
Those who say that winning is everything are right but only in a limited sense. It is only important to the fans of the teams that are playing but for those neutral fans who invest their time and money in a game it needs to be more.
Ask any England or South African watching the game on Saturday and they would have been completely involved but if the same match had been played out by two other teams they would have found it difficult to understand what all the fuss was about.
England though will return home knowing they have performed well and coach Brian Ashton can be rightly proud of his achievements.
He was able to reflect after the game on a performance to be proud of but was not quite good enough to win.
He did not blame the try that was not – even though the incident could have turned the match. As it turned out the video referee was correct but Ashton was more interested in assessing his own team’s deficiencies than blaming any injustices caused by the match officials which is in stark contrast to his football counterpart.
Following the 2-1 defeat to Russia Steve McClaren could only blame the referee for giving the second half penalty for his team’s capitulation. No mention was made of Rooney’s goal being offside and he certainly did not take any responsibility for the tactical errors that led to Russia totally dominating England’s left hand side.
But then again, why should I expect anything else from a sport that lives to blame failure on others but clambers to take credit for success. It is an, I win, we draw and you lose mentality that is so prevalent in post match interviews.
McClaren should be more introspective when trying to establish why his England team are unlikely to qualify for next year’s European Championships. Israel may do him a favour and beat Russia but it is his management and the player’s performances that should be under the spotlight most.
This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that Scotland – in a group with Italy, France and Ukraine – have managed to get one more point than England who have had no such opposition to play.
It is a damning statistic that Steve McClaren should reflect on when he attempts to deflect the blame from himself.
English rugby can rightly consider themselves to be a world power having reached three finals, winning one, in the six World Cups to date.
Their football equivalents, however, have only reached only one final and two semi finals in all the World Cups and European Championships that have been played and two of these were on home soil.
It is a woeful record and one that you would think might lead to a bit more humility.
However, this is not the football way and until they do start learning from their rugby counterparts it is unlikely they will resolve the underlying reasons that have led to their not so glorious failure.
