KEY POINTS:
Rugby has been well and truly knocked off the back pages this week in France. On Wednesday night 'Une Catastrophe', as Scotland's 1-0 victory over Les Bleus has been described, ensured football would be the topic of discussion the following day.
That was coupled with the sensational penalties handed out to McLaren after being caught with Ferrari documents. In this motorsport-crazy country it led news bulletins.
You get the feeling that to re-ignite the massive public interest that accompanied last weekend's opening, France have to start winning - and winning big.
England bid backed
It seems almost certain England will bid to host the 2015 rugby World Cup after receiving Government backing. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport is ready to discuss what type of support, although the RFU has made no formal decisionon bidding.
Government support is seen as vital after a heavily-favoured Japan, with no overt Government support, lost out to New Zealand who used Prime Minister Helen Clark as a centrepiece of the bid.
If England do bid, it will be fascinating to see what form the tournament would take. They lost out to France for this edition, in part because their plan to host concurrent 16-team tournaments was seen as too radical.
Although some minnows have played above expectations, the disparity between the top and bottom is still huge and there is a general acceptance 20 teams is probably four too many.
This doesn't compute
So Schalk Burger appeals his four-match sentence for a dangerous head-high tackle on Samoa's Junior Polu and has it reduced by half. Meanwhile Phil Vickery is also sitting out two matches for a foot-trip against the United States. So a head-high tackle is worth, effectively, the same punishment as a foot-trip.
Doesn't quite compute, does it? With Vickery's suspension you have to wonder how Julian White feels sitting at home. He made himself unavailable for the World Cup at the 11th hour because he didn't want to spend time away from his farm or family. It must be the highest profile example of agriculture coming between a man and his sport since Gary Knight missed the second test of the infamous 1981 Springboks' series for farming reasons. After he was flour-bombed at Eden Park, he probably wishes he had stayed home with the lambs for thatone too.
Lost in translation
Kudos to Guardian columnist Thomas Castaignede for coming up with the strangest analogy to describe the clashes between the minnows and the giants: "It's great fun: like the sight of a grown-up who has bought his son a bow and arrow and ends up with his backside full of darts." What?
A commuter's query
I have a question for Auckland's council leaders. If the French, a country not noted for their work ethic, can get me from the middle of France to the middle of Marseille in a smidgen more than three hours, why does it take East Coast Bays residents more than an hour to drive the 20 kilometres into central Auckland for work each weekday morning?
