The Final is Nigh

This weekend could prove to be one of the finest of the decade for rugby players and fans alike. On Friday, October 19th France and Argentina compete in the consolation match for third place. Then, on Saturday England and South Africa showdown in a monumental battle for the World Cup championship.

Tensions are high. Not many people in the rugby community would have predicted that England, ranked only 6th coming into the world cup, would have made the championship. English player Jonny Wilkinson has, for his second world cup shown himself to be the world's best goal kicker, scoring point after triumphant point against the opposition (on a side note, Jonny will also become the highest world cup point scorer if he makes just five points in the next game). South Africa, ranked 3rd in the preliminaries have played consistently and deserve to be where they are at. The crucial points in the game will be whether South Africa's strong forward pack will be able to oust the heavy English defense, and whether Jonny will be able to overcome the immense pressures the Springboks (South Africa) will present to him.

More than the pressures of the game and the what the teams stand to gain from their performances though, the World Cup final should help bring rugby players and fans together like never before--in front of their televisions. As Stuart Kemp and Georg Szalai of The Hollywood Reporter write,

"In a statistic that might surprise people outside traditional rugby hotbeds, the Cup's worldwide TV audience exceeded 3 billion four years ago. Although shy of the most recent soccer World Cup (30 billion for all matches) and Summer Olympics (4 billion), it's still No. 3 on the list, For perspective, the Super Bowl in February drew about 100 million global viewers (with 93 million in the U.S.)."

With this kind of viewer-ship one may ask why this tournament is largely unheard of in America? If the above excerpt is valid, then this may not be the case for long. Other sports and busy commitments are not a valid excuse for not watching this once-every-four years tournament.

Rugby is a social game, and as such we should try to spread not only the sport, but also the camaraderie associated with it. I encourage you all to watch the game this weekend. If you look at my post entitled Rugby World Cup you can learn how to watch games online for free. What I am suggesting then, is completely free. Invite some friends over, watch the game. Have a good time. Learn Rugby.

The game will be held on Saturday, at 8:00pm English time and 3:00pm US Eastern time. If you don't know how to convert just go to the Time Zone Converter. Also, to buy a jersey or other paraphernalia simply follow the link to the right for World Rugby Shop. Get fired up.

Will South Africa be the second team in history to hold two World Cup titles, or will England do the same and better to become back-to-back two time champions? Also, voice your opinion by voting to the right. I offer you the tools to watch the game: take advantage of them.

Go England. Go South Africa. Go Rugby.