We was robbed

What a relief to see England beat Tonga quite comfortably, at least allowing us to believe we have an outside chance of beating Australia on Saturday. I felt disappointment for the Irish, who are always everybody's second team, when they lost to Argentina (fair and square) and were sent packing back to Dublin. I've been fascinated to read over the past few days how losers in rugby, football, and cricket, should be strung up or shot - Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), Paul Collingwood (England), Martin Jol (Spurs), Eddie O'Sullivan (Ireland) - hasn't someone worked out that if there is a winner, there has to be a loser - not everyone can go home with the cup, and each national side or club side can only field the best people they've got, and one assumes those people do the best they can. Unfortunately, we live in an age where instant results are demanded, and instant punishment handed out. If that had applied in the past, Alf Ramsey would never have taken England to the World Cup, Denis Compton would have been dropped from the England cricket team, and C B Fry would probably have never got on the field.

A strange incident happened at Cambridge rugby club at the weekend. We were playing Redruth at home, and leading 30 nil at half time - in a match I assumed we'd win by 50 or 60, when the Redruth players refused to come back out onto the pitch. It appears that some of the players' valuables had sadly been stolen from the dressing room - I don't know the full details. Our chairman, Jerry Otter, assured them that any loss would be repaid in full. The Cambridge team and the referee appeared on the pitch for the second half, and the referee instructed the Redruth team to join them. They refused. Whether we gain our points, or have to replay the match, will be decided by the RFU. That shouldn't be too difficult a decision for them to make.