Frederic & Clement

These two are what most gay boys' wet dreams are made of.

If you don't know who they are, these are 2 French rugby players who play for Toulouse. The one who's inked is Frederic Michalak and his friend is Clement Poitrenaud.

Here's the a picture of them from Dieux du Stade a few years ago. It's been circulating on the internet for a while - and for good reason. It's a fantastic picture because even though it's so revealing, it nevertheless leaves so much to the imagination.

They're both straight, by the way.

Here's a more recent picture of Clement and Fred, taken after their loss to Argentina in the third place play-off in the recent Rugby World Cup. Poor Clement looks all teary and Fred is trying to comfort him.

What I wouldn't give to have been there to kiss it all better.

A Damp Squib

It's finally over.

At least for another 4 years.

If you've not already seen the final match or heard the result, England lost 15-6 to South Africa.

The result notwithstanding, it was certainly an improvement over the 36-0 loss in the pool stage and a good result given the almost no one apart from the players, management and the most deluded of supporters expected England to make it to the Final.

It wasn't an entertaining match by an means - a few tries would have been nice but the match was never about entertaining the public who no doubt paid at least several hundred Euros each, apart from those who had the benefit of corporate entertainment. No, this was all the about the result - how the winner went about it will have been entirely irrelevant - as previous World Cup Finals have all demonstrated. Never have I seen a team in tears while receiving their runner's up medals - even the Wallabies managed to hold it together in 2003 - most of them anyway.

It's been tough for all the playerss these last few weeks - physically, mentally and emotionally - especially for the Wallabies and the All-Blacks. Going forward, the Springboks get to call themselves World Champions again for another 4 years and rugby in Argentina has been given a shot in the arm but it will be quite a while before the game takes root in the otherwise football-mad country. England's come a long way since they played their first pool match in the tournament and there is at least some hope that England have turned their fortunes around and might have a fighting chance of winning the 2008 6 Nations tournament.

The Rugby World Cup Circus starts up again in just under 4 years and this time, in the rugby-obsessed nation of New Zealand. If the All-Blacks don't win on home soil, they will almost certainly get lynched by the Kiwi public.

Poor Jonny

This is the very delicious Jonny Wilkinson training prior to the big match against South Africa this weekend. It doesn't look good - "No Contact"? How can we expect to win against South Africa?

North v South: A Double Deja-Vu

What do these 2 pictures have in common? Here's a clue - the answer is not cute, beefy boys although it's true that the pictures do feature cute, beefy boys.

If you've been following the results of the Rugby World Cup matches this weekend, you'll know already.

If you've not, this weekend saw the biggest upsets in the tournament so far. On Saturday, England played Australia and New Zealand played France - a repeat at the quarter final stage of some key matches played in the last few rugby world cups. Again the results were the same - Australia and New Zealand lost, despite being form-book favourites and both losing by 2 points each.

Both England and France showed rather indifferent form in the pool matches with France losing the tournament-opener to Argentina and England losing to South Africa 36-0.

I think Australia were trying too hard to win the match - they gave away lots of penalties which fortunately for them, even though they scored the only try of the match, Jonny Wilkinson didn't manage to fully capitalise on. It seems like the strategy adopted by both sides was to play a kicking game although it does appear that England didn't give Australia much of a chance to play ball-in-hand attacking rugby.

The France v New Zealand match was altogether quite different - far mor entertaining than England v Australia as the try-count will attest to. French got their tactics right and prevented the All-Blacks from playing the ball-in-hand running rugby that has become their trademark in recent years. The best part this encounter was the post-match interview - sour-faced (have you noticed that he always looks as if he's been sucking on a lemon?) Graham Henry was sick as a dog!!!! The Kiwi press will no doubt be baying for his blood, if not already. They same might be said for John Connolly.

Now England will meet France in the one of the semi-finals and who knows what the result will be? There is a possibility England can score another upset in the semi-final against France but being the realist that I am, I don't think that will be likely.

Today, South Africa take on Fiji and Argentina play Scotland. Pool match form suggests that the other semi-final will be South Africa v Argentina but that remains to be seen we've already seen 2 upsets on the trot on Saturday and there is no reason why it can't happen again today.

There is a possibility that France could meet Argentina in the final which would mean that the tournament would end the way it started but perhaps, the result might be different this time.

I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself now. The South Africa v Fiji match is currently underway as I type this and South Africa are currently leading Fiji 8-3.

I Don't Understand

This is quite inexplicable.

It's quite common for rugby players to exchange shirts at the end of a match but to exchange shorts as well? That's a first, I think.

There might at least be an explanation if the shorts were different but this picture was taken at the end of the recent World Cup pool match between Japan and Canada and both teams were wearing black shorts.

Granted that the shirts are unique to the player but the shorts are quite generic so why are Luke Thompson and his Canadian counterpart exchanging shorts as well?

I'm gay and I enjoy undressing myself together with another beefy guy undressing himself as much as the next gay boy but this rather defies explanation. Rugby is undeniably a homoerotic sport to begin with but perhaps exchanging shorts is taking things perhaps to the extreme?

On a completely different matter, I wonder what's in there?

England (44) v Samoa (22)

I don't think I'll be needing a manicure any time soon, not that I've ever had a manicure.

I was very concerned about the outcome of the match given what a good showing Samoa had put up against South Africa and the result was by no means certain that England would win.

England started off very well and I thought things had finally turned the corner for England. It looked as if they had learnt from their dismal showing against South Africa but this was somewhat shortlived as they allowed the Samoans to play catch-up for a but fortunately never allowed Samoa to take the lead.

England eventually woke up and managed a creditable win, even though the Samoan side didn't look like the side which gave the Springboks such a hard run in their opening match of the tournament.

This was a must-win match for England and their next and final pool match against Tonga is another must-win. Tonga are the dark-horse in this pool and given their performance against the Springboks this weekend, there is a possibility that they might edge England out of the quarter-finals.

England play Tonga next Friday and it should be another nailbiter of a match.

I'm watching Australia v. Fiji as I type this and the the Wallabies are on a try-scoring rampage. Even if England manage a win against Tonga, they will face Australia in the quarter-finals and barring some miracle happening - like the Wallabies being struck down by some illness, England will have to pack their bags after that match, if they don't manage to win against Tonga first.

Irony

This is a remarkable photograph in so many ways and not because Jonny Wilkinson is in it.

Those of you who read this and who know me well enough will understand why Jonny Wilkinson features in this post and I promise he will be featured in full pictorial post of his own one day.

The reason why I picked this photograph is because it's so pregnant with meaning.

This was shot when the England rugby team arrived in France for their World Cup campaign. I wouldn't call it a defence of their Championship because all but the most one-eyed of English supporters will admit that we don't have a chance of winning it this year, not least of which was the rather lacklustre performance against the USA yesterday although Olly Barkley (he yummy too) put in a very creditable performance.

For that reason, I'd be inclined to be quite cynical about "Hope & Glory" and given Jonny Wilkinson's ankle injury, I rather doubt that he'll live up to be England's "Hope & Glory" for this World Cup.

I still fancy Jonny but it's not going to be the same as the last final Rugby World Cup final where he kicked the winning goal against Oz. Poor Jonny.

A Good Weekend For England Supporters

It's not offten that England supporters can celebrate three wins at any one time. Must have been some fortunate alignment of circumstances but who cares?


Rugby World Cup: England (28) v USA (10)

7th ODI: England v India
England: 188-3 ( 36.2 overs )
India: 187 ( 47.3 overs )
England beat India by 7 wickets


Euro 2008 qualifier: England (3) v Israel (0)

It Starts Today

Yes, the Rugby World Cup kicks off later this evening with the opening match between France and Argentina. There is a chance that the Pumas may maul the roosters but I suspect that the end result will be that the Pumas are likely to be pecked into submission.

I'm a realist. England will not get any further than the semi-finals and much as I would like to see them win it again, it will not happen.

Of the Home Nations, I think Ireland is in with the best chance of making it to the final but that remains to be seen.

The All Blacks are of course the tournament favourites and it remains to be seen whether they live up to their promise.