Red, white, or blue?
Being resolutely English in many ways, I've never really been a big fan of all things French.

Wine? I'd rather have something from the New World.

Cheese? On balance, I prefer Wenslydale to Brie.

Cities? Give me Rome or Barcelona over Paris anytime.

Yet we stand on the brink of the sixth Rugby World Cup, and having long since accepted that neither England nor Wales (my wife's country of birth) are going to be lifting the William Webb-Ellis trophy, I'm becoming something of a Francophile.

Partly, this is down to a desire to see Northern hemisphere sides do well, but I think Sebastian Chabal has to take some of the credit - the man's a rugby playing beast (and it amuses me that he looks like a cross between Neanderthal man, and the Joy of Sex bloke).

Seeing this tackle on Youtube was probably the clincher, but for the next six weeks it's going to be a case of "Allez Les Bleus"!
- posted by Paul @ 3:35 pm