England 14 - 9 France: Have some of that!

Many a true word is spoken in song.  In 1971, famous rugby fan* Marvin Gaye said, "Oh mercy mercy me, things ain't what they used to be".  He then banged on about blue skies and fish full of mercury and the like, but his sentiments were never more apt than at the Stade de France tonight.

When England crumpled like a cheap concertina against South Africa, everyone (including this blog to be fair) wrote the obituary for the current and previous generation of England rugby, only for them to rise like the cast of a George A Romero film.  But, what people forget is that England are the attack dogs of the rugby world, and when you alloy that with a world that has written them off, plus a fly-half who does the necessary even when he is not exactly playing well, you have an awesome proposition of a team.

After the SA game, a post was published on the Guardian Unlimited Sport Blog reader which I will never forget, it said, "This tournament will show up the 2003 England win as the aberration it was".  Well, even with a team that three weeks ago was frankly a load of shit, our "aberration"  has managed to go further than all but one of the so-called best teams in the world. 

In this tournament, England have won in the most trying and critical of circumstances, so perhaps it is time for everyone to give the England way the respect it deserves.  Alternatively, they could continue their "you are boring" bleats while they consider the wallcharts they stopped filling in a fortnight ago because their team is now at home.

*soul singer

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