AND THEN THERE WERE TWO (AND THE KING...)
This World Cup was always going to be about the Big Four. The gulf between that group of France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, and the rest, is immense. That the draw should ensure that only two of that quartet could make it to the semi finals again illustrates the craziness of doing the seedings three years ahead of the event, a mistake World Rugby will hopefully never make again. That the draw gave us two of the most intense, high quality, gripping matches of the tournament is little compensation. Because it also means that two of the semi finalists have had to follow much harder paths to get to this point, and fatigue must be starting to be a factor by now.
Clearly a Boks v Kiwis final is now the only one worthy of the sport itself. But that won't stop me from shouting my support for Los Pumas on Friday evening. Scotland might have gone early, unable to cope with the power and skill of two of those Big Four, but as an Edinburgh supporter I still had people to cheer on. So my support was very much with Fiji, who were so unlucky yesterday, and Argentina. The man we call Big Bill Mata is gone now, but King Boff is very much with us.
I'll hopefully, injuries permitting, be getting to see Big Bill and King Boff in action a lot this season, when they return to the Edinburgh Rugby fold. But for now Edinburgh eyes are on one of Argentina's biggest stars, and one of the world's great goal kickers, Emiliano Boffelli. While I think anything other that final I began the last paragraph with would be a travesty, my heart will still be with the blue and white hoops.
Vamos Los Pumas! Vamos Rey Boff!
(But I still want to see Kolisi lifting the trophy again, for much the same reasons as I did four years ago...)
