France marches on in the Rubgy World Cup.
Does that guy scare you? He is the hero of France. His name is Sebastien Chabal, and he is absolutely TERRIFYING on the field. I literally had this man appear in my dream the other night. In fact he is very sweet and soft spoken, as I have heard him interviewed. Quite intelligent.
Next "les petites" (this is how the French rugby team is referred to, some kind of little national joke, harty har) are playing the scary "All Blacks" New Zealand team. This team, always dressed in black, and full of indigenous Mauri players, does a little tribal war dance on the field before each match to intimidate their adversary. It is poignant and hilarious. I encourage everyone to check it out sometime on the net if you haven't ever seen it.
More importantly, I speak to those of us born in New England, home to lacrosse, soccer and the NFL in the autumn: has anyone ever WATCHED this game? They throw the ball backwards. That's right, backwards. In a little chain of men. Sometimes they get together in a little group and throw one man up in the air so he can bat away the ball. Whoop! Up he goes, like one of those clown puppets that pops up out of its hiding place down in an inversed cone. Or they get in a big group bent over at the waist, and they butt heads, like rams all locked together, staring at the ground, pushing against the other team, and the whole clump moves all around in different directions like the thing you put your fingers onto on a Ouiga board. All you see is flats backs and lots of legs, moving moving moving. The referees circle and circle the clump, dancing out of the way when suddenly the ameoba gets a burst of energy and takes off in their own direction. They have their whistle at the ready (for what, I have no idea...) It's visually quite comic in fact.
For the love of my husband, I feign intent concentration during dramatic moments. He jumps up and shouts out things like "Fault! FAULT! That was a fault! The ball must LIVE and be free!" No joke that is EXACTLY what he often shouts. At first I was touched, I fell in love with him all over again, as I thought he was being so poetic and lyrical about this very brutal game. Come to find out it's the damn rule. The ball must "live" and "be free". Otherwise it is a "fault". So much for poetry.
