of Great Britain, clinching victory from Markko Martin on the last day. His
first WRC win ever takes him all the way up to finish 2nd in the overall
points standings for the season. Runaway leader Marcus Gronholm
barrel-rolled his 206 yesterday in the same place as two other drivers,
having lost his auto 'box and driven manually for most of the stage. He is a
worthy champion, and at least he has won more than once in 2 years, as our
outgoing champion Richard Burns has managed. Burns crashed out today, neatly
reversing his 206 down a bank next to a tree, and looking at his co-driver
as if to say 'Oh well, never mind'. Sainz, Makinen, McRae, and Higgins
rounded out the top six.
Rugby: *The* most amazing game took place at Twickenham yesterday. I was
there last week to see England beat the All Blacks 31-28, and this week, in
the second game of the Investec Challenge, England invited the world
champions Australia to fortress Twickenham. It was perhaps the strongest
Aussie side to play here in the last three years, and while England scored
early through Cohen to take a 16-6 lead into stoppage time at the end of the
first half, the Aussies found a try in the dying seconds of added on time,
and came in 16-13 down. Right after halftime they added another well worked
score with Larkham drawing defenders and looping the ball to Sailor on the
right wing to run in. England immediately countered, and got down to about
5m from the Australian goal line, when we spilled the ball back for Flatley
to run the entire length of the pitch and even beat Robinson to score. With
England now two scores down at 31-19, they rallied, aided by some repeat
Aussie offences giving penalties away for Jonny Wilkinson to slot home
easily, and show Matt Burke how to kick in the process. 31-25. One score.
And then England broke through again. Man after man pummeled the Australian
defence, including both props and locks, before Simpson-Daniel, winning his
2nd cap, found himself at stand-off and invited Cohen to come short. A
little sleight-of hand fooled the oncoming Aussie defence and Cohen blazed
over to make it 31-30. Wilkinson inevitably converted, putting England back
in front 32-31 with ten minutes to go. Australia tried to come back, Matt
Burke missed another relatively easy kick, and didn't have the range to try
a kick from halfway in the closing stages. Final score 32-31. Wish I had
been there... England play South Africa next Saturday at Twickenham to try
and make it three consecutive wins over Southern Hemisphere opposition in
the two weeks of the Investec Challenge, all in the run up to the World Cup
next year.
Football (soccer): After topping their Champions League group in midweek
with a draw against PSV, Arsenal brought local rivals Spurs to Highbury for
a hotly contested North London derby. The Premiership champions had let
Liverpool take a four point lead at the top of the league with a blip in
form, and after clawing back points last weekend, needed to win to go at
least temporarily clear at the head of the table. Henry scored a contender
for goal of the season in the first 15 minutes taking on the Spurs defence
single-handedly and slotting home, before Davies was sent off for Tottenham
for two yellow cards - consecutive late challenges on Ashley Cole and Vieira
were enough for the referee to send him off. Arsenal are the most offensive
side in the Premiership at the moment, and a derby match against 10 men is
not even worth breaking a sweat for. They scored twice more after half time
through Ljungberg and Wiltord, to finish with an easy 3-0 win. Chelsea kept
their title challenge going with a lacklustre 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge
against Middlesbrough, while today, Manchester United were held by
struggling West Ham (bottom of the table in 20th) 1-1 at Upton Park, and
Liverpool couldn't score in a boring 0-0 draw with Sunderland(17th). After
crashing out of the Champions League to FC Basel this week, Liverpool are in
serious trouble if they are to challenge the title holders. Arsenal have now
regained top spot with 32 points from 14 matches, with Liverpool on 31 but
having lost a 4 point lead already and losing more momentum each game.
Chelsea are third on 26, Manchester United are 9 points off Arsenal with 23.
Newcastle are on 22 with a game yet to play, meanwhile Everton are somehow
in 4th with 26 points, although it probably won't last past Christmas.
The Champions League 2nd phase draw took place on Friday. Newcastle meet
Inter Milan, Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen. Arsenal meet Valencia, Roma and
Ajax. Real Madrid meet AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Lokomotiv Moscow.
Manchester United will meet Deportivo Juventus and FC Basel. My predictions
for the quarter finals are: Inter Milan and Barcelona from Group A, Arsenal
and Valencia from Group B, Real Madrid and AC Milan from Group C, and
Deportiva La Coruna and Juventus from Group D, which would mean all four
Spanish sides, three Italian sides and one English side in the quarters.
Football (NFL): With currently the SF - SD game entering OT at 17-17, the
NE - OAK game not kicked off yet and CHI - STL on Monday night in Week 11,
it is time to start thinking about playoffs, and how the new league
structure will affect which teams get through. If I am right in thinking the
four division winners go through, and two remaining teams from the
conference with the best records joining them, then the AFC is going to be
really tight, with all the teams in the AFC East and AFC West playing .500
football or better, with 5 more teams from the AFC North and South reaching
that mark as well. The NFC only has 7 teams playing .500, with possibly the
Rams joining them on Monday night. Will the Rams make the playoffs? If they
win tomorrow, they will be 5-5, and they meet the 49ers on the last day of
the regular season, so it could be close for the NFC West title. Will the
Raiders? Oakland are stuck behind San Diego (6-3) and Tennessee (6-4), level
with NE (5-4), and they play the Patriots tonight. Maybe I should write this
in the morning when I know all the scores and I'm less tired (it's 1am here
in the UK right now).
Cricket: Wednesday at midnight UK time, the 2nd Ashes test kicks (bowls?)
off in Australia. Unless Trescothick and Vaughan can hit runs it will be a
foregone conclusion, but just read the 'Rugby' bit of this post if you need
cheering up, England fans.
I don't particularly know why I wrote this, but I marked it OT and you can
ignore it, I guess. Just my take on the sporting events this weekend.
BREAKING NEWS: San Diego just beat the 49ers in OT 20-17 after SF missed a
field goal to win the game. That makes them both 7-3.