NEW ZEALAND WIN LACKLUSTRE RUGBY FINAL

Earlier today, New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup with a narrow vctory over the extreme underdogs, France. On Friday, Australia won the loser's prize of 3rd place against a Wales side that seemed to have lost at least half of it's raison d'etre.

It's hard to dent the All Blacks moment of triumph but this was not a good performance. It could even be argued that, on the day, the French were more deserving of victory. The problem is that it was not a match to savour and neither side was particularly good; given a following wind, Wales would have beaten both, but for an unfortunate exit at the semi-final stage, by a single point to France while playing with only 14 men.

New Zealand won and lifted the trophy. So what ? It was not a good tournament and there was no outstanding team; the best were probably South Africa, the defending champions who were ousted, unaccountably, by Australia, and Wales, along with New Zealand. The French were never in real contention until the final and, even them they came up short, though only just.

Overall, it was a disappointing tournament, with too many of the old guard representing the major players; it was a competition for a lot of tired old men trying to grab a moment they were no longer entitled to. I don't begrudge New Zealand their victory, in fact I shouted them on, but it was far from the exhibition of Rugby that it should have been. Let's hope that 2015, in England and Wales, will be a little different.

MONEY WINS THE BATTLE OF MANCHESTER

Today's football scores have produced one of the most amazing results of the last 60 or more years.

There have obviously been a few eccentric results in the past, sometimes with top-flight teams being beaten by supposedly vastly inferior oppostion, but has there ever been a more extraordinary result than the 1-6 drubbing suffered by Manchester United at home to their arch rivals, Manchester City, today ?

The simple answer has to be 'NO' but that is to ignore the true facts behind this match. Manchester United played a large part of the game with 10 men, after one of their number was sent off, and 3 of the goals were scored on, or after, the end of normal time. Not that any of this will be any consolation to the distraught United fans, nor of any interest to the elated City followers.

What is of greatest importance is how this result has come about. A few weeks ago, Manchester City thumped Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane; since then, they've run up a string of wins with goals galore and now head the Premier League by a distance. Unless something untoward happens, they could be crowned Champions tomorrow as there's little likelihood of anyone challenging them. All this from a team that a couple of years ago were struggling to escape from mid-table at best; how has this happened ?

Manchester City has been bought by an Arabic conglomerate that has injected a ludicrous amount of money into the team, having seen a business opportunity in exploiting the football-mad youth, and others, of the world. In the short term, they will undoubtedly make a lot of money, but what will happen when the bubble bursts, as all bubbles eventually do ? We are currently in a casino where the player with the biggest wallet wins because no one can afford to 'see' his hand, but what happens when the other players all drop out and refuse to play any further ?

The importance of football has been exaggerated to a point of lunacy. The pay of the players has reached a level that is completely unsustainable without the vast advertising revenues that are currently attracted and that has no connection with pay in the real world that the supporters inhabit. This is, after all, a game that is basically played by children in school playgrounds and fields and yet the status awarded to the players is something that eclipses the greatest statesmen, scientists and philosophers by many times. This has to, and will, end.

Today's result at Old Trafford was, in reality, only to be expected; it was not all that extraordinary at all. It was a consequence of a concatenation of events, the most potent of which, financial speculation, will inevitably lead to an eventual collapse in the finances of the game. At some point, interests will change and profits will fall, or, quite simply, the current investors will see greater profit in some other venture. However it happens, football will oneday become nothing more than the the game it once was; sadly, that day may be some-way off and, by then, it's quite possible that Manchester City will be nothing more than a name in football history.

ALL BLACKS TO BRING FRANCE TO JUSTICE.

England's exit from the Rugby World Cup after their abject performance in the quarter-final allied with the departure of a poor Ireland, left those from these islands with only Wales to cheer on. Happily, their performances gave us real hope that they would make it past France and head into the Final with a genuine chance of ultimate victory.

How disappointing, then, to see the 'Men from the Valleys' go down to an undeserved defeat after playing most of their semi-final match with only 14 men. Sam Warburton's sending-off may have been within the letter of the law but every former player who was asked for a view seemed to have the same one - a penalty, certainly; a 'yellow card', yes; but not a sending off. Referee Rolland ruined the match, according to the great South African, Francois Pienaar, and effectively doomed Wales to defeat.

What followed Warburton's dismissal showed just how right Pienaar was, at least in terms of ruing Welsh chances of victory. Despite being a man short for so long, Wales outplayed the French, scored the only try of the match and came within a single point of forcing extra-time; had they had a full team, they would surely have put France to the sword and emerged as deserved winners. As it was, a poor French side has found itself in next Sunday's final after losing 2 of its 'pool' matches, scraping past an utterly disjointed and incompetent England and now just beating a team of 14.

The second semi-final saw the right result if not a convincing one. Australia rarely threatened the All Blacks' try-line, but then neither did the All Blacks show their traditional flowing style of rugby. This match was a dour affair, eventually won, and rightly so, by the All Blacks who must now be odds-on favourites to lift the trophy and delight their entire nation. It's inconceivable that France can cause an upset as the latest William Hills' odds suggest - New Zealand 1/8; France 11/2 - but then this has been a World Cup full of surprises, with the best, or favoured teams, not always doing so well.

Still, my money, if I had a bet, would be firmly on the All Blacks.

Of course, there's also another match taking place which is the game on Friday neither side wanted to be in; the play-off for 3rd and 4th places between Australia and Wales. This one is much more difficult to call and much may depend on which side has put their disappointments of last weekend behind them most effectively. My heart wants Wales, but my head suspects that the Wallabies might just shade it; whichever way it goes, it ought to be close and may well be a better match than Sunday's final.

IF ONLY WE WERE GERMAN------ OR FRENCH !

It's been a while since my last post but then not that much has been happening - until this weekend.

Today, Sebastian Vettel became World Formula 1 Motor Racing champion, even though he didn't win the Japanese Grand Prix; that honour went to Jensen Button, the only man to have challenged Vettel to any extent in recent races. Today's was an eventful race but, in at least one sense, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. As long as Vettel scored a single point or, even if he didn't Button didn't win, he would be the champion; in the event, Button won but Vettel got more than his single point and that was that. The remainder of the season has still to unfold but Button now looks like a good bet to eclipse his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, and heaven alone knows what that will do to relationships within the McLaren team. Next week they do it all over again in Korea - watch this space.

While Vettel was winning his championship, South Africa were trying to defend their Rugby Union crown in a quarter-final against Australia, unsuccessfully as it turned out, though heaven knows how. The Springboks totally dominated the match and yet couldn't breach the Wallabies defencies; the result was an exit for the defending champions and a crippling blow to national moral. Later, the home nation, New Zealand, eventually beat off the challenge of Argentina with an incredibly flattering 33-10 victory. For much of the match, the Argentines were arguably the more impressive side, certainly putting up much more of a fight than many had predicted, and the eventual scoreline did not reflect the problems that the All Blacks had in subduing them. New Zealand will now face their close neighbours in next week's semi-finals, with the winners likely to be considered hot favourites to take the title.

Yesterday, we saw the first 2 Rugby quarter-finals, involving northern hemisphere teams. Firstly, Wales played their socks off to make the Irish look pretty worn out and to establish themselves as real contenders for the title. Playing fast and aggressive Rugby, they put Ireland to the sword and never really looked in danger of losing. Wales' semi-final opponents will be France, who overcame a pathetic England; any decent side would have destroyed them. Despite their clean sweep in the group matches, England were never a match for a French side which played reasonably well but did little more than exploit English deficiencies. England were, frankly, quite awful; they played with little spirit or determination, were disjointed and offered little threat to their opponents line. They had no 'cutting edge' and played with a stale approach that gave their supporters little hope, all this against a team which is a shadow of many former selves. Martin Johnson may have been a fine captain but, sadly, he is clearly no manager; it is time to clear away the old and bring in the new and that will mean parting with some much-loved figures - Wilkinson, Tindall, Cueto, Thompson, Moody among them - and start building again. This was a tired performance that we can only hope will never be repeated.

The semi-final line-up is, therefore, New Zealand v Australia and Wales v France; I can't see Dragons failing to beat the Frogs, and the All Blacks really should beat the Wallabies, so Wales v New Zealand should be the final in a fortnight's time; though my predictions rarely come true.