CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR...strong>

A few spare minutes in the airport so thought I'd point out a few bits and pieces from the greatest sport on earth..

England won the final leg of the IRB World Sevens Series in London, beating New Zealand 22-19 in the final, but the Kiwis won the overall IRB title, just pipping England into second place.

Damn.

And I have deep misgivings about this weekends upcoming test in NZ vs the All Blacks. No Johnson, Back, Leonard, Wilkinson or Robinson. Could be a bit embarrassing, especially as I'll be in South Africa when the game is on and they love a chance to have a pop at English Rugby. Fingers crossed eh.

Meanwhile everyone in Asia seems to be getting excited about groups of overpaid, undereducated spoilt brats from countries they've never visited, with names they can't pronounce, who will be playing some soccer competition in Portugal at about, with games kicking off at 3am HK time but still the locals will get up to watch. Mad. At least I'm confident England will underachieve again and get knocked by some bunch of part-timers and the fever will die down quick. Best for all I think.