Les Rouges Allez-ed Pretty Good

Although it probably was a foregone conclusion, the French victory was a mere touch of icing for this pundit after two weeks of meandering in Belgium and Normandy where I experienced the genuine honesty and respect of the French people for Canadians who fought in the two wars.  The French educate their young about the catastrophic events – Ypres, Somme, Vimy, Juno – what amazing and tragically sad events where young men and some women from as young as 15 – 30 ended their lives that we might live the joys of RWC action in what is currently a free world.

This pundit offers Les Bleus as being a dark horse as action heads towards the “second round”.  To have a few quid with Ladbrokes at 15 – 1 (pre-start up) odds, reminds me of that great story when Captain Ibanez, urged his men to take a punt with the bookies in 2011 when Les Bleus came back to beat the Kiwis as monumental underdogs!  One can never count out the French as they quietly just get the job done.

For Canada so far it has been tough sledding with the guys giving of their best.  For me – good efforts from the Ceedub guys in the FRF – Tieds, Doug Wool, Raymondo, DJ learning fast and HAW Buydens being a stalwart.  In this French match, ‘TAG’ van der Merwe continued his stellar play, moving up the stats ladder and for the team to be within six in front of 30,000, playing entertaining rugby and a mere twenty minutes to play was sheer magic.  Unfortunately, in my mind, a tough schedule (3 games in 11 days!) and a general lack of big time experience for most, not to mention unknown injuries, took its toll.  Kudos to ALL the guys so far in this campaign.  Apart from a spell of ten minutes early and the late going against Ireland, Canadian rugby has stood tall and proud in the Pool games, with this group.  Having said that, the Rumanian game will make or break the tournament for the boys but let’s take some solace so far with just a lone bonus point showing.

At the mid-point of the Pool games Canada stands #3 with MOST METRES MADE, (300m ahead of NZ, no less); DTH leads the way at #1 as PLAYER WITH MOST METRES MADE (328); he ranks #2 with MOST CLEAN BREAKS (6) and MOST TRIES SCORED (3). Nate ranks #10 with POINTS SCORED and a huge BRAVO to Gillie who ranks #3 with MOST TACKLES MADE (33). The brass at Rotherham must be licking their chops after their new signing of Kyle!

FOOTNOTE – Noted on RWC Twitter feed for a “Fantasy Fifteen” to date, the names of Dougie Woolridge and DTH making the squad from votes made, fleeting or not – ‘onyas!!

CWRFC FRF standing proud!