Rugby World Cup Shorts: Turgid or thrilling? Depends which hemisphere you're in

What were they watching?
The Guardian thinks the turgid slugfest between Argentina and Scotland was a thriller "that could have been scripted by Hitchcock". So at the Herald we were wrong then to label it "a battle of dreary attrition". The British paper goes on: "It is perhaps time to reiterate that rugby is about intensity, passion, character and human frailty in addition to the number of tries scored." Just in case we missed the point its cup man concludes: "Israel and Sonny Bill are great to watch but there is more than one way to reach the promised land."

Meanwhile, in New York
The New York Times - a must-read for cup watchers - had this to say yesterday about the pool phase: "The sport of rugby, venerable in its own bone-crushing way with its rucks, mauls and scrums, can seem puzzling to a non-aficionado. But any hopes that it will move its appeal much beyond the old British Empire seem oddly undercut at what is supposed to be the sport's best moment. Take, for instance, the decision to stage the event over seven weeks, nearly a month of which is used to play 40 games that reduce the field only from 20 to 8. That is nearly twice as long as soccer's World Cup, which manages to reduce 32 teams to one in a month. Add the complication of having only about 10 teams that have any significant chance to make the final eight, and you have a recipe for meaningless games, blowouts and boredom."

Dive on, my friend
England winger Chris Ashton is adamant he'll keep up the flamboyant dives. Fair play Chris, keep it up. And ignore anyone who points out that you look like a bit of a bell-end by soaring through the air as if you've won the whole damn World Cup, when in actual fact you're scoring against tournament roadkill Romania.

Former Ireland first five-eighths Tony Ward said the big dive reeks of arrogance.

Happily, Ashton has promised to leave New Zealand if he blows a try with the big dive. "If I drop it when I do a dive, I will get the plane home!"

England's cagemen

England's forwards are getting into the mood for Saturday's match with Scotland by watching cage-fighting videos.

No 8 backrower James Haskell said: "We get the balance right between having a good bit of banter with the boys during our relax times and then people come into training and switch on. In the team room, some of us watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship, enjoying ourselves. It's a nice way to relax. We will be fighting this week as if it's our last game."

Floating at the Cloud

London's Daily Mail visits the RWC media bar at the Cloud.

"It used to be a quay that stored the city's second-hand cars and bananas. Now, after a $9.95 million upgrade, it hosts the world's rugby media. So it still nurses tired engines and houses a bunch of old fruit."

When chips are down ...
Ireland fullback Geordan Murphy has come up with a novel way of dealing with Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni when their teams meet on Sunday.

"I'm thinking of leaving some baskets of chips in the corners," Murphy said. "That should do it. The amount he eats, it should distract him quite nicely."

Murphy co-owns an Italian restaurant with Castrogiovanni, his Leicester Tigers clubmate. For his part the big Azzurri unit swears at his business partner in Italian but Murphy is not up for language lessons.

Says the Irishman: "I'm not going to repeat them."

So how do the pair work together in the restaurant?

"Look at the shape of both of us," Murphy said. "I tend to drink a lot of water and he tends to eat a lot of the food."