Other news from the rugby world
Georgian young guns
For those of you looking for a slight offbeat statistic arising out of Ireland's 14-10 victory over Georgia in Bordeaux, this column stumbled upon the fact that the Georgian team that started the match is the youngest in the tournament.
The average age was 26 years 142 days and broke the previous record, set earlier in the day by New Zealand (they beat Portugal) on Saturday by six days per player.
The youngest ever starting XV at a Rugby World Cup was fielded by Argentina against Australia at RWC 1991 and averaged 24 years and 212 days.
Continuing the theme, Ireland's starting XV against Georgia averaged 29 years and 212 days, their oldest ever at the finals and the third-oldest at RWC 2007.
France (v Argentina) and England (v United States) have, during this tournament, fielded the two oldest starting XVs in RWC history.
Moose-taken identity
Ireland have Broc, South Africa have a springbok (we're not sure of its name) and no doubt there are other teams in the World Cup with mascots that travel with them. One such is Canadian and travels under the sobriquet Mountie Moose. The moose is in the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is a sideline fixture at the Canucks' matches.
Team captain Morgan Williams spotted the moose at a souvenir shop at Toronto's Pearson International Airport when the team were departing for the tournament in France. Apparently French photographers have taken numerous shots of Mountie at team training but have been referring to it as a caribou. Quelle Horreur!
This little yarn is just a segue into the fact that this column watched the Ireland versus Georgia game in The Moose Bar - yes it's a Canadian pub - in the Odeon district of central Paris. It was a lonely experience in a packed pub because everyone appeared to be up for Georgia; there were many nationalities present.
This column braved the pitying looks and caustic comments before slinking away under the cover of darkness.
Pointless for England
There is always someone worse off than you, although in the case of Ireland at the World Cup that's a shortening list. Our neighbours England are having to endure some rather unwelcome statistics.
Friday night's 36-0 defeat to South Africa being a case in point. The English join Côte D'Ivoire (1995), Canada (1995), Spain (1999) and Namibia (2003) as only the fifth team in World Cup history to finish a match scoreless. They are the only reigning champs to not trouble the scorekeeper in cup history and the defeat was their heaviest at a World Cup.
The 79,700 that turned up - with over two-thirds English supporters - made it a record attendance for a Rugby World Cup match in the Northern Hemisphere.
Quote unquote
"Our players are under the impression, having played both teams, that if Samoa play the way they played against us they will beat England, which was the feeling of what our players said."
- South African coach Jake White's honest appraisal, based on conversations with his players, on who will win the World Cup showdown between England and Samoa in Nantes next Saturday.
"They've got, and you'll all agree with me, one or two world-class players, and (Fourie) du Preez was a massive difference - a massive, massive difference. He saw three opportunities and there were three tries there. We're disappointed with our own game management but we are where we are with the players we've got and no disrespect to anybody but we just haven't got those sort of world-class players in our team."
- England assistant coach Mike Ford on the gulf in class between South Africa and England.
