Competitive Sport

The atmosphere here for the past week has been just phenomenal.

Semi-final 1: Australia 22 New Zealand 10 (Click here for the BBC match report)

Against all expectations, New Zealand were well beaten by Australia 22-10. We were watching the game in a bar on a big screen which had a mini stage in front of it, and when the haka started a kiwi jumped up and joined in with the national team on the screen behind him. Everyone cheered, even the Aussies. It was a different story at the end of the game though; the same guy jumped on the stage and started doing the haka again, in defiance of the Aussies, but was cleanly rugby-tackled by a jubilant Aussie catapulting himself across the stage! You couldn’t have asked for a more fitting metaphor, and that kick-started the party alright…

Semi-final 2: England 24 France 7 (Click here for the BBC match report)

What a match! In case you haven’t followed it, we won 24-7 with Jonny Wilkinson kicking all of our points. It was just like Twickenham; cold, swirling rain and 80% of the crowd was dressed in red and white, singing “swing low, sweet chariot” over and over again. The Aussies in the crowd were droning “boring! boring!”, because we kept kicking the ball instead of running with it - to which we could only reply “winning! winning!”.

There has been plenty of barracking, mainly through songs. Most popular has been “you can stick your (insert four syllables here) up your arse”. This adaptable song can be used for the French (“Eiffel Tower”, “Arc de Triomphe”), the Aussies (“Stirling Mortlock”, “Johnny Eales”) or just about anyone else. Phil in particular had good fun encouraging some Aussies sitting near him to join into “God save the Queen” (“c’mon, she’s your queen too!!").

All good natured stuff, except for one narrow minded Aussie who stopped Phil in a coffee shop to report that “All English are dogs”. Hmmm. The New Zealanders are obviously getting a lot of stick for “choking” again - this is the 3rd World Cup they should have won. Still, at least they can sell their ticket to the final…

Final: Australia vs England

Its the final we’d been hoping for. There are loads of pommies walking around Sydney wearing England jersies, so much so that the local press is urging people to wear Aussie jerseys to work during the week just so Aussie fans are not visibly outnumbered. Getting a ticket for a game is pretty much impossible, but the bars will be heaving so we’ll probably head to one of them. Even though its now sunny again here, the forecast for Saturday night is for rain which would suit England’s “boring” kicking game. Bring it on.

Stop press: Emily has access to the intercom system at her office, and intends to sing “Swing low sweet chariot” over it at 4.30pm on Friday afternoon. Good on yer!! However she may have taken things a bit too far by having a bet with her boss that England will win. If they do, he has to wear Phil’s England top all day on Monday. If this happens, rest assured the celebratory beer and possibly other liquids will not have been washed out of it. However if Australia wins, Emily has to wear his Australian rugby top all day Monday. It could get ugly.

Phil is taking a slightly more cautious approach and just been humming “swing low sweet chariot” and “God save the queen” just below his colleagues levels of perception. This will hopefully confuse them into cheering for the right team on Saturday night. Very stealthy.

Now, clear your throats and, to the tune of “she’ll be coming round the mountain”, lets practice…..

“Oh, the poms are going to party hard tonight!!”

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!