Oh Dear, oh dear !
Not only our football but now our Rugby too is broken. Following hard on the heels of the England football team's depressing performance in their World Cup the Rugby team touring New Zealand received a sound thrashing at the hands of the almighty All Blacks.
The first of three tests produced a close match with the home side winning only in the last minute or 2 and the visitors being genuinely unlucky to lose. The second match saw a less assured performance from the English and a rather flattering defeat by only one point. The third match, yesterday, saw virtual annihilation. England were blown away in the first half and never recovered; they looked jaded and out of their depth as the All Blacks ran in 4 first-half tries to lead 29-6 at the break, the match all-but over by then. England did put up a better showing in the second half but the suspicion must be that the home side knew they'd done the job and could back off. Even then, the best England could achieve was a 7-7 outcome for the half and a 36-13 thrashing overall. Success in next year's
World Cup seems a long way off.
Not that England were alone in finding the southern hemisphere too hot too handle. The French, too, suffered a beating, 39-13, at the hands of the Wallabies although the Welsh did rather better against South Africa, only losing by 1 point and to a last minute penalty try at that. Nonetheless, with little more than a year to go, the northern nations look to be the underdogs as the 'Big 3' from the south gird up their loins for the fight.
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