Whatever one things about the sheep shaggers, and as I explained in Friday I have mixed feelings, an evening match at the Millennium Stadium has a world beating atmosphere. It was a wonderful night. Wales played well, France were abject. I returned to Bristol rather worse for wear on the last train.
Worse was to come with Ireland against the Old Enemy. I really do loathe the swagger of English rugby with a passion. I loathed it when I wore the green jersey of London Irish and remembered the off the ball comments. I loathe the arrogance when they win. So losing a match that was incredibly tight really hurt. Had that England hand in the maul 3 minutes before the end been spotted it would have been a penalty and a draw. Such is life.
England can still win the Triple Crown if they defeat Wales. Needless to say I am 100% behind our Celtic cousins for that match. I stand shoulder to shoulder with my daughter on that one. The Championship is wide open. If Ireland continue to play as we have done and France are as abject as they were against Wales then BOD might get the send-off he merits. We have the points advantage going into the last two games and the Italy match should add to that. We shall see, it is all to play for.
If Ireland do not win then may it be Wales. Or France.
As to the soccer, another good win for West Ham. Yes one goal was offside but a 3.1 win was deserved. Now on 31 points we are not out of the woods yet and away at Everton next - can we nick a point?. Win that one and some daylight starts to appear between the Irons and the drop zone. As things stand it really looks like Fulham, Cardiff and one of the next nine to go down. You really cannot call it at this stage. But our fate is in our hands. Horseface is back from Suspension.
As an aside it was odd watching the QPR game in the Championship last night. I counted 5 West Ham old boys in the starting eleven. It is good to see that those Old Boys were as hapless for QPR as they were for us.