South Africa Wins Rugby World Cup 2007

PARIS, 20 October - South Africa defeated England 15-6 in the world cup final at Stade de France on Saturday to add a second Webb Ellis Cup to the one they won as hosts in 1995.

Reigning champions England came into the match on the back of four impressive victories after a poor start to the tournament but were unable to find a way through a disciplined Springboks outfit who were miserly in defence, dominated the line-outs and kicked five penalties.

England fly half Jonny Wilkinson, the hero of their 2003 triumph in Sydney, was unable to turn on the magic this time, missing two drop goal attempts and given little chance to impose himself on the match.

South Africa led England 9-3 at the break after an even first half marked by tactical high kicking and little open play.

Both sides sought to flex their muscle and apply pressure with a series of up-and-unders, though to little avail.

Percy Montgomery opened the scoring with a three-pointer on seven minutes after centre Mathew Tait had slipped and become isolated in the ruck and England were penalised for failing to release.

Wilkinson squared the ledger on 13 minutes after South Africa wing Bryan Habana was called for lying on the tackled player, counterpart Paul Sackey.

Repelled on line

But Montgomery regained the advantage for South Africa three minutes later after team-mate Butch James was adjudged to have been impeded on a kick and chase.

Wilkinson tried a quick riposte but pushed his drop goal attempt wide.

South Africa twice attacked late in the half but were repelled on the line on both occasions.

However, they were awarded a penalty for the second drive and Montgomery kicked truly to push the margin out to six points.

England began the second half in sensational style as Tait cut a swathe through the middle of the South Africa defence with a series of steps and swerves to set Mark Cueto up for a try. But after a long deliberation by the TV match official, the wing was ruled to have been in touch when he crossed over in the corner.

A Wilkinson penalty kick for an infringement earlier in the movement was some consolation, though.

England's hopes were hit on 48 minutes when full back Jason Robinson, playing his last match before retirement, left the field with a shoulder injury.

Montogmery squeezed home his fourth penalty from as many kicks on 51 minutes to restore his side's six-point lead (12-6) after England conceded for handling in a ruck.

Francois Steyn took over the kicking duties on 62 minutes when England were penalised for obstruction and the impressive young centre didn't let his side down, piercing the uprights from 46 metres.

Taken from www.rugbyworldcup.com

CONGRATULATIONS SPRINGBOKS!!!

There was no doubt that the Springboks would win this competition after the upset in the earlier rounds, where the New Zealand and Australia teams were knocked out of the competition.

Forgive my comments, but this is one that's been said to be going around my office at present time, and I tend to agree that there's some truth in it:

The French rugby team should just stick to their underwear modelling after their complete and utter failure to defeat the Argentinian rugby team! hehehe...

Prediction Vs Actual Score

It's the Rugby World Cup's semi-finals this weekend, with England vs France and South Africa Vs Argentina.

Here're my predictions, optimistic scores at best!

England 32 - 28 France

South Africa 48 - 32 Argentina

Well, I'll wake up to good news or bad tomorrow, but let's hope it won't be an upset. Sorry to all the French, but I don't want them to win. I want the Spring Boks to win, and they're the contenders for this year's world cup, unless there's a huge upset.

We shall see, more updates tomorrow morning...

Update 1

FRANCE IS OUT!!! HOORAY!! England beat France 14 - 9, with Jonny Wilkinson delivering a goal-kick on 75 minutes and a drop goal on 78 minutes to clinch the victory! Congratulations England! Now, we have to get rid of Argentina.

Update 2

Argentina is out, as predicted. The Springboks beat them 37 - 13. Far from my expected predictions. My friends tell me this isn't like basketball where the scores are so varied. Rugby depends on the kicks and the drop goals earned, thus the strange scoring system.

Anyhow, the stage is set for the Rugby World Cup Finals between England and South Africa!

I want South Africa to win!

Resident Evil: Extinction

It's been quite awhile, no, correction, a bloody long time since I watched a damn good movie. Of course, it goes without saying that I've watched several horrible ones. However, some of the horrible ones were horrible because the plot was lame and the acting was, well, horrible!

I've been so busy at work, either an action thriller, or a comedy to laugh my heart out would have done wonders to my morale. So, I chose action thriller and what better action thriller than watching Milla Jovovich kill zombies, shoot up bad guys and maybe blow up a few things along the way, in other words, kick @$$!!!

Yes, Milla, she's the newest action-babe on the block. Forget Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and (God forbid me to go back so far) Charleton Heston! The 2000 era has ushered in female action heroes. It all started with computer gaming character Lara Croft, the scantily clad archaeologist with C cups, in search of the most mystified treasures on Earth.

>>Warning Some Spoilers Below<<

Anyhow, I won't say that Resident Evil: Extinction was good or bad. I had my own reasons to watch it, more of a de-stress movie for me. I loved the way Milla kicked @$$ and still look pretty! Yes, can you believe it, in all that dry, desert air, fighting zombies and killing black zombie crows and all that shit, her complexion was still beautiful, skin was so supple and moisturised, with lipstick! Wow, if only everyone could look that good in real-life. Perhaps it's her L'Oreal or Mabeline make-up doing the trick - She's [definitely] worth it!

The plot centred around Alice, it wasn't explained what she was doing riding around the desert in her bike saving lives. There was a small convoy of humans who were uninfected by the T-virus trying to find a safe haven free from zombies. Somewhere in the middle, Alice finds them being attacked by zombie crows and uses her new psychic powers to safe them, thus reuniting with Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) from the second movie. They then journey to Las Vegas, which has been reclaimed by the desert for the past 5 years. Of course, Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen) lays a trap for everyone, to get a sample of Alice's blood, which has bonded with the T-virus and can cure the world of all T-virus mutations. Dr Isaacs get bitten one of his mutant zombies and gets infected, turning into the Tyrant, another new breed of zombies, but gets killed in the end with the help from an Alice clone. The movie ends with room for what will happen next when all the Alice clones awaken, and the original Alice's warning to go after The Umbrella Corporation in Japan.

There you have it, an average hacker, slasher, action-thriller sequel with a little bit of plot. I won't recommend it for hardcore movie-goers who go for all that serious drama. But once in awhile, you need to watch these movies to just entertain oneself from work and boredom.

6.5 out of 10 stars (mostly for all the jumps, suspense, action and zombies!)

A Map Of Humanity

I saw this somewhere and thought, what an interesting idea if the world were rearranged this way!
(You might have to click to enlarge to see the big picture.)