Sports fans up here in the North East of England, where the All Blacks play Tonga on Friday, had a really bad day yesterday.
It started in the Premier League when the dreadful Newcastle United went from 1-nil up against high-flyers Manchester City to 1-6 down in the space of less than 20 minutes in the second half. Equally poor Sunderland also managed to blow a 2-nil advantage against West Ham but they did at least salvage a draw out of the game but both of these clubs are in dire straits at the bottom of the division.
So with those less than palatable results behind them it was up to the England rugby side to restore their faith in human nature. In a tiny pub in Darlington four Kiwis and a number of locals joked and laughed about the possibilities and we did our best to disguise our hope that England, so full of bluster and bravdo, would fall to our mates across the Tasman.
It's always been a dilemma - England or Australia, when the two meet. At cricket it's always England and that was confirmed by the antics of the graceless and arrogant Aussies in the World Cup final, but in rugby it's different. England, and I'm sure the players are great blokes, are pumped up beyond belief by the press and ex-players before the game, to the point where the expectations are way above reality.
England forward Ben Morgan boldly predicted before the game that, "We will attack them at their weakest point, the scrum".
