Where international rugby is concerned I’m always conscious of being respectful of all teams. Ok, ‘respectful’ can translate to ‘fearful’ when it’s the All Blacks, as it will be next weekend. But I have lots of respect for Ireland, for Wales, South Africa, certainly Japan, not quite so much France. Then there’s Australia. Which is just a little bit beyond my sphere of respect. Into the world of ‘gloating’. Of serious rivalry. Of trash talk. Of piss-taking, merciless, brutal and often. In part because that’s how the Aussies are, and in part because THEY FUCKING DESERVE IT FOR THE CRICKET.

So what a joy this morning, what a pleasure, what a… what a… what a… EVERYTHING to knock those Southern Hemisphere criminals out of the World Cup in the quarter final. And it wasn’t just a victory for England, it showed a gulf in class that was immense. 40 to 16 is a big score for such an important match. And filled my boys with the confidence to be optimistic, to almost feel invulnerable.

Then the Kiwis played.

Our next opponents in the semis. Who today played Ireland. And beat them. But didn’t just ‘beat them’ like a normal team would. They beat them on 27 different levels. Where most teams can only think in about 5. They simply out-everythinged the Irish team which had in fact beaten them in the previous two tests they’ve played. The difference being that those 2 weren’t World Cup matches, and this was. It was simply awesome.

And at this very moment Spurs are losing to Watford. Who I simultaneously have a lot of respect for and have total fucking contempt for having the audacity to score at Spurs. Who do they think they are?

Brexit is miring itself deeper into the shit with every meaningless vote in parliament serving to weigh us down even further. So the vote later is immediately devalued because of Sir Oliver Fucking Letwin.

Otherwise, I’m good.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx