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.
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