RWC19.7

It may all have been my fault. I should have watched the match from the exact same position as I occupied for the dismantling of New Zealand. Instead I abandoned the right hand side of the sofa in what we rather tweely call the snug and imposed myself upon the hospitality of TW and SW in Milton Keynes. Their hosting was faultless but I still have to live with the fact that I caused England to lose the World Cup final. Sorry.

More realistically we have to acknowledge a good old-fashioned Springbok shellacking, a brutal evisceration of the shell-shocked English based upon a ferociously dominant scrummage. I have my reservations about the modern vogue which referees the scrummage so that the weaker side automatically concedes a penalty once in retreat, but England have benefited plentifully from this perverse jurisprudence in the past, so no complaints from this commentator.

Overall probably the best RWC thus far - organised with flair and dignity by the host nation, whose progress to the quarter-final was the best news to come out of the tournament.