The Old Enemy

Sorry to my English followers but there was only going to be one blip today, and it would have been regardless of the result. I wasn't all that bothered in going to today's match but in the end I did, and I glad I did. Strange how you enjoy things more when you weren't looking forward to them in the first place.

Wales playing England in rugby union can never be considered a "friendly" match; there is too much history between the teams for it to be ever considered a friendly. Wales winning by 19 points to 9 points right before the World Cup is a great result but, and there is a but which I'll come on to later. In terms of the game, there were a lot of errors by both sides and the referee was too fond of his whistle, or you could say the players weren't prepared to listen to him. Wales' defence was immense and stopped England time and time again, but to be fair England also butchered a number of clear opportunities to score, and only have themselves to blame tonight.

Will the Southern Hemisphere sides worry about this game? In all probability no, New Zealand look the best side in the world and should win the World Cup. I hasten to add that should doesn't necessarily mean will, but hopefully this year they will go on and finish it off in style.

So what of Wales? Well as a nation we have two extremes of emotion, one where we're on top of the world and nothing can stop us, and then the other where we're in the depths of despair and fear the worst. We never have a happy medium, after this result there is bound to be a lot of euphoria but let's not get carried away, this is only one win. We know there are areas of concern with the team, and hopefully when the World Cup starts we'll have Adam Jones, our tighthead prop, back to bolster our scrum. For now let us savour our win!

The blip itself is James Hook scoring the try!