Twickenham Stadium - Paul Hollister

The pitch








The Royal Box where the royals sit during tests. Nice cushioned stadium sits.







Steve, Andy, and myself by the pitch.








Steve in the English lockerroom








Statue in front of Stadium. The action scene is a line-out.

More Twickenham Stadium - Andy Barlow

Naomi Barlow (Andy's youngest) who likes rugby.








Naomi, Steve, and myself up in the stadium bleachers.








The picture and stadium. The stadium holds 82,000 people.









The stadium from the outside.

Twickenham Stadium - Andy Barlow pictures.

The Gold Lion











The Rose on the pitch.







Me, Paul, Naomi, and Steve by the pitch.









Andy and Naomi Barlow by the pitch.








An All-Black's Jersey in front of Jonny Wilkinson's Locker in the English Locker Room.

All Blacks Win!

First Tri-nations game against South Africa....the ABs won 19-8 or something like that. It sounded hard fought against the reigning world champions from SA.

A good win against a side that could really test the All Blacks. So far Ireland and England did not put up much resistance.

The All-Black Haka

Seeing the haka has always made me wish I could have been an All-Black.
Though I do not think I could withstand rugby now, I think when I was young that rugby would have been a natural draw for me.

RWC: South Africa Wins It All!!!!

Well it was not pretty. All field goals from both sides.

SA 15 - England 6.

At least a side that has been worthy in recent times is World Champs. Actually as long as it was a southern hemisphere team then that is actually good enough since they have been strong for the last four years in the Tri-Nations.

RWC: Full of Suprises!

The English somehow beat the French so this is a huge surprise.

So it will be a ....

South Africa vs. England ... Final

South Africa is the favorite and I am pulling for them. I cannot imagine a side like England who could not beat their way out of a paper bag for the last four years be the "World Champs" so to speak. I now know that the RWC means little.

As recent articles say ....

"Kiwis are best in world" - Laporte (French Coach)

" England renaissance 'masks flaws' "


I feel that New Zealand should not worry about the World Cup unless the format is changed so that the top teams will rise to the top. England is not a top team and unless they continue to play for a few more years like they have in this tournment then the appearance in the finals is pointless.

RWC: All-Blacks are out

This happened last Saturday but I was too depressed to blog it. No worries they were beaten by two points by the French who were one of the other favorites.

So the semifinals look like:

England vs. France, Sat (today)
South Africia vs. Argentina Sunday (tomorrow).

England pulled off a huge upset over Oz. I am still in shock more about that than NZ's loss.

I would say my prediction:

South Africa vs France Final. :)

With SA favorites to win it all.

But who really knows.

RWC: Quarterfinal Matchups ! One off.

Quarterfinals

Date - Time			Result			Venue
06 Oct - 15:00		Australia	-	England		Marseille
06 Oct - 21:00		New Zealand	-	France		Cardiff
07 Oct - 15:00		South Africa	-	Fiji		Marseille
07 Oct - 21:00		Argentina	-	Scotland		Saint-Denis

Well I was off by one. Fiji pulled out a victory over Wales to move into the runner-up spot for that pool. Wales was a surprise and so was Ireland who missed out due to losing to Argentina and France. So it is 5 Southern Hemisphere sides to 3 Northern Hemispere sides. Very interesting and different WC play than ever before.

Scotland just hung on to their runner-up place by beating Italy 18-16 I believe.

I think France then Fiji look to be the best runner-ups and are playing the best. I am not sure which has the best odds of beating NZ or South Africa. Argentina is playing well and look to be in better shape than Scotland. England have no hope against Australia so I do not think it is even close.

We will see how it goes. The ABs really need a good test again France to win...it will be the first time they will play a side very close to their level. Luckily it is in Wales though it will be the same place as the famous French win over the ABs in the 99 WC. Who knows.

RWC: WALES 34-38 FIJI Upset!

Oh and I thought with England getting into the quarterfinals that my prediction was set. But Wales is not playing well and Fiji made them pay. Wow.

Another Southern Hemisphere side into the quarterfinals.

Deciding tests today and tomorrow will tell the story.

New Zealand - pool winner
South Africa - pool winner
Australia - Pool winner
Fiji - Runner up
England - Runner up

are all through to the quarterfinals. If Argentina can finish off the Irish then they too will be thru to the quarterfinals for sure.

RWC: NZ 108 - Portugal 13 FULL TIME

The ABs lined up almost a completely different side than against Italy. It appears this might have been a good decision because the ABs looked a bit rusty and sloppy and could use the practice.

Of course the "minnow" pool tests and these kinds of scores do not mean much to who is really in form. Once you get to the single elimination part of the RWC )quarterfinals) then the sides there will provide much stiffer tests and the ABs have to be in form and playing well. Hard to say who is looking the best right now in pool play. Have one bad day on the pitch and you are out of the tournament. The ABs have crashed out just like that.... touch wood (ie, knock on wood).

By the way, Portugal are Los Lobos!

Full Time: Wales 20-32 Australia

As expected Australia is in control of their Pool. Wales most likely will play South Africa in the quarterfinals.

RWC: Quarterfinal Predictions

This is how I see it play out though I think I will be off by one or two:

Quarterfinals

Date - Time			Result			Venue
06 Oct - 15:00		Australia	-	England		Marseille
06 Oct - 21:00		New Zealand	-	France		Cardiff
07 Oct - 15:00		South Africa	-	Wales		Marseille
07 Oct - 21:00		Argentina	-	Scotland		Saint-Denis

The sides on the left will be the winners of their respective pools while the sides on the right will be the runners Up in their respective pools.

Of the Pool Winners only Argentina worries me. This the D Pool and they could lose to Ireland and Ireland lose to France. Then it is all about points. This leads to the runner Up in that pool which I predict is Ireland. You figure it. France was the favorite but with Argentina winning that then it means France has to step up and win the rest of its Pool tests which they could easily do.
Updated prediction to put France in QF since Ireland barely gets past Georgia (14-10). Ireland looks weak.

I believe that England and Wales could either one mess up and not get there as runners up too. Especially England they are looking very weak. Tonga and/or a Samoa might take them.

RWC: England 0-36 South Africa !!!

The defending world champs have been embarrassed. At this point we could see the four pools won by the top four southern hemisphere teams: South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. It would not be that long of a shot for all four to reach the semifinals either. Unless Frances rebounds or one of the other three UK sides step up then the SH will be looking good as always.

RWC: NZ 76 - Italy 14

The All-Blacks locked this one up btw 11-17 mins with the score being 38-0 at minute 17 or theres abouts. Italy has recently shown very good form but today they just did not show up in the beginning and the ABs took advantage of that in a way that only the ABs could.

Rubgy World Cup (RWC) Begun! Upset already

The 2007 Ruby World Cup has begun! And one of the favorites, host side France, has lost a bit of a shocker to Argentina! Argentina 17 - France 12.

Argentina is my second favorite test side behind the All-Blacks. They are usually a tough side that can surprise you as they did France. Wow.

Tomorrow is three tests...one is NZ vs Italy. I look forward to it.

New Zealand Rugby - Texas Football

Only New Zealand's love of rugby comes close to Texan's love of football. The Rugby World Cup starts next week in France. NZ won the inaugural World Cup in 1987. Since then they have been favorites ever Cup (91', 95', 99', & 03') but have not brought home the Webb trophy since 1987. They are a Cup starved country for twenty years but again this year the All-Blacks are favorites .... and are looking good over the last four years.

The picture (by JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post) shows Richie McCaw (captain) holding a capsule that is filled with dirt from the rugby grounds of every All-Black ever. Turns out there are 1071 capped All-Blacks. I am not positive but I think each All-Black going France this year was presented with a small capsule while the captain received a larger one.

Talk about crazed fans and country. Expectations are high and NZ will not easily accept less than the Webb trophy this time.