Instead of taking the eurostar from London to Lille then tgv to Marseille im starting my travels from Utrecht. So first a train to Schipol, then a plane to Clermont-Ferrand then a plane to Marseille. Then a camper van to Arles. Since we couldnt find any decent hotels in Marseille. So we will be taking trains from Arles to Marseille for the matches this weekend.

Very sunny in Marseille. This is not good for England. So I suspect we will lose. I think Australia will win by 20. If they dont we will win by about 3

We actually played quite well for once. We look like a ruigby team this week. We are unlucky to be trailing. Then again with the one chance australia had they scored a try. Weve had several decent chances but havent made full use of them.

Woo! We won. Exciting finish. We looked good for once. The aussies scrum was under pressure all match. They wouldnt have been able to contain new zealand in the next round. So they may as well lose this round. Makes the England tournament respectable even if we go out next week.

New zealand by lots i suspect. In a bar in Arles watching it. Had tartare du chef with bulls meat for dinner. Raw egg and all.

Another shock win today. Allez le blues. Makes our semi easier. Very tense match at the end. The french in the bar are very happy. As some frenchman told me after the loss to argentina "to be champions we will have to beat new zealand" just they had to do it in the quarters and they have. The country may almost forgive for losing against argenrtina now. South africa now have the best chance of winning the world cup.

Given last nights results im tempted to predict a Fijian win. However South Africa have looked the form team in the tournament and this match matters. So I think they will win by 30.

Got distracted by getting back to the station for our train to Arles. South Africa won convincingly in the end but Fiji certainly gave them a fright. The two tries to draw level were fantastic and they were down a man at the time.

A win by 20 points for Argentina. Scotland may stifle them but they should still win

Scotland came close at the end there. The kick was probably the wrong choice. At least it made sure all 4 quarter-finals were exciting and tense to the end. Roll on the semis.

Whizzing through the french countryside on hopefully my last tgv. Its a double decker which is quite fun. There is a lot of legroom even in second class. I can even have the table out which is quite a novelty these days. Toilets are broken though.
3g coverage is a bit patchy in the countryside. Still 1.5 hours till Lille already been on this train for 3 hours(the one from Arles to Marseille took an hour). Admittedly I suspect its a lot faster than you could do in Britain. Marseille to Lille is a long way after all.

So for most of the tournament the touts have been taking a pasting. There have been so many spares for every game ive been too. Most people would have bought lots 2 years ago so have spent the money already so were

... full train of people getting off to get on another. 45 minutes is possibly enough time to change from tgv to the eurostar normally at lille but not when everyone was on it. I made it but i do wonder if they will have to hold the train or will the time taken to load us all give everyone a chance to make it through security.

Just got off the ferry at Boulounge speeding to Paris in the car. We managed to get 2 tickets off a kiwi in London for a not to inflated price. We need a third but were not to fussed. One of us will go and watch it at the eiffel tower.
Dad even managed to find a hotel about 2.5k from stade de france. So its all good. Now to pray for rain.

... And found another ticket almost instantly again at only 30% markup. Having another beer before we go hunting a cash machine since were down to our last rounds worth of euros.

The atmosphere is great here. England to win by 3. It will be a close low scoring game.

Good try by lewsey to start. Weve held them back since. Neither team has taken control yet. Still a tight match. The england fans are a bit quiet. Then again all the aussies and kiwis here are shouting for france as well.

Excuse my french but Fuck Me! What a result. What a game. So tense at the end. Four more years! At least if we lose the title now we do so in the final.

Argentina to win. Im so pissed while doing a circle line pub crawl.

So somehow England have made it to the final. South Africa have looked good all tournament. This wont be the beating we got in the pool matches but I still think were going to lose. It will be close though. I think South Africa by  5.

Although ideally our forwards step up again and we win by 3 points or so. :)

Close, very close.  South Africa were unlucky to not score a try at the end there. England certainly look a lot better than they did in the pool game. We still might do it.

Bugger! well at least we lost our title in the final. South Africa have looked like champs all the way through. I dont think it was a try either.