Rugby World Cup

Rugby World Cup 2007 Official Review
$29.95
Is it a good idea to have this... yes, absolutely. It was easily the best ever World Cup. But I am not entirely happy with it.

My concerns are -

* The dvd is only in English.

* The dvd has no subtitle options.

* The structure of the dvd is a massive step backwards. The 2003 World Cup Official Review showed all games highlights in order from game one to the final. The 2007 review, however, shows the pool matches according to pools with Pool D being first, Pool A second, Pool B third and Pool C fourth. Consequently, the pool phase is rushed over.

* The pool matches are rushed over with some matches not even appearing at all. Samoa vs USA was a very good game but was not shown on the dvd. Nor were Argentina vs Georgia, Italy vs Romania, Italy vs Portugal, Australia vs Canada or Fiji vs Canada.

* The bronze final went almost entirely unshown. Only one try was shown, only one! A true disgrace to the achievements of Argentina and to the quality of the game itself.

* The kick off from the first game was not shown at all. Every fan knows it was so emotional and such a roaring start to the RWC. The first passage of play was a must for the dvd but is not included.

* Games that merited 3 or more minutes often recieved a mere 20 seconds on the dvd. The France vs Argentina World Cup openning game was outstanding yet is downsized to cut out far too much.

* The fantastic images ofn the Argentine team crying as they sung the anthem is also not included. A short patrt of their anthem vs South Africa is included, but is clearly not good enough.

* The 2003 World Cup dvd is longer than the 2007 World Cup dvd. Clearly this was a mistake.

Rugby Club Choir: Rugby World Cup Sing-A
$11.99
I had hoped for better versions of these songs, preferably large crowded stadiums of loyal fans singing along.However, all I found were poorly-produced, anemic, badly arranged versions of some loved songs, performed by an unknown chorus.

Rugby World Cup Greatest Moments
$29.95
Snippets of great rugby moments from prior world cups. Very good for those who do not have access to cable and cannot watch. I wish they had shown the full Haka at some point in the video.

Thirty Bullies: A History of the Rugby World Cup
$29.62
It's too bad that few books on team sports can measure up to this one. Thirty Bullies covers the Rugby World Cups of 1987, '91, '95, '99, and 2003 (it was written a bit too early for the 2007 World Cup). The title comes from an Oscar Wilde quote: "Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city". You'll certainly find here that rugby--"A game for hooligans played by gentlemen"--is not always played by gentlemen indeed! There's a finely-done deep analysis of each of the World Cups, and the likely reasons why the champion indeed won. You'll read about the exciting matches and the blowouts--Georgia, who were hopeful of winning all their matches, lost to England 84-6 in 2003. Embarrassing? Yes, but that year this was only the fifth-worse defeat, the others being 142-0, 113-13, 91-7, and 90-8!

You get a great sense of the evolution of the sport--the development of fitness training, for example. On the England team in 1987, for instance, 15% was an acceptable body fat level. Compared to other sports, standard tests showed that most of the English rugby team ranked in the low 40's and 50's--i.e. 50 other sports, including archery and lawn bowling had players whose fitness averaged better than rugby players. It was also estimated--an interesting evaluation for any sport--that coaching at the international level makes about a 7% difference to the team--not a lot, but certainly enough at times to mean winning or losing. There is in the book some delightful comments about the "fifty-seven old farts" in charge of English Rugby--a statement that got the captain fired (the real number was 56). You'll read about how an injured rugby player writes to one of the English RFU committeemen, Dr Sir Peter Yarranton, to ask whether the RFU might help with the hospital bills and his mortgage payments while he was in the hospital. Yarranton wrote back to say that he had not been addressed properly, and unless his titles were properly used, no reply would be forthcoming.

The book pulls almost no punches--you'll read about the New Zealand possible poisoning episode, for example, about dirty play, hijinks, and the like. "Almost no punches"..I would have liked a short paragraph on Australia's 142-0 cliffhanger against Namibia in 2003, but perhaps the author, having described Georgia's 84-6 defeat, felt merciful. 16 pages of color photos add to the book. If you enjoy rugby, you'll certainly find this a worthwhile book for your collection!