It's all over... till the next time

St Patrick's Day 2007 will be famous forever in the annals of Irish sporting history... as the day Ireland beat Pakistan in the cricket World Cup. The subsequent mysterious demise of the English coach of the Pakistan team will surely be turned into a low quality whodunnitt with Gerry Adams as the lead detective partnered with Ian Paisley as the CSI boss - well less likely things have happened so who knows!

As for the rugby, I can barely think about it even now (and not just because I can barely remember it). Ireland pipped at the post yet again by a higher scoring French team. Scotland did a manful job of resisting Les Bleus and when the Scots held out for a try near the end I thought the French were sunk but it was not to be. Aided by a generous Irish TV referee France emerged winners by 27 points and took the championship, too.

A less generous person might point out that if Ireland hadn't eased up on the Italians and let them score in injury time then the Championship trophy would be sitting next to the Triple Crown. Of course if they hadn't fallen asleep in the last minutes against the French at Croke Park the tournament wouldn't have gone this far even, but I wouldn't dream of being so unkind.

But if the Irish and Scottish results were disappointing the English performance in Cardiff was woeful. Oh, the pain, the agony of defeat, the humiliation of sitting next to Dai and Myron as the Welsh hordes trampled over England's weakling army. Where's King Edward when you need him?

One commentator noted that the tournament may have been short on quality but it was certainly full of tension. Though this is true it wouldn't seem to be a very good omen for the World Cup which looks set to head back down south after a brief sojourn in the northern hemisphere. The petty bickering between the European clubs and their respective unions is not going to help either. The Scottish clubs can barely survive as it is and the impact on their national side was all too obvious this year. Without the money from the European leagues there will be even less chance of Scotland re-emerging from the doldrums.

In the meantime rugby resumes at Ste Julie on 28 April with the visit of the Toronto Canadians - see you there.