Chabal

Dashing off a quick blog so that I can get off my chest the incredible, mind-blowing, delirious and generally large-scale sense of joy at watching France beat New Zealand at rugby. It was a match to remember, the kind that comes around once every ten years. At half-time they were 13-3 down, but something about their performance told me it wasn't over. And it wasn't. The second half was indescribably thrilling: the All Blacks pushing and pushing with their scrum at the French line, the French taclking and tackling and tackling. Then Michalak and Chabal (the cuddly caveman -- see above) came on and the team got a sudden burst of energy, and Jauzion scored the second try. Right down to the last seconds -- and the failed drop attempt by New Zealand -- it could have gone the other way. Utterly gripping. Typically French, too, to lose to Argentina and then beat the best. It was the same in the football world cup last year. Everyone wrote them off after some dismal performances in the opening stages, but they came back with stytle. Bravo. Now England next Sat.