RUGBY World Cup 2007 : France

It might have taken 20 years for the World Cup proper to arrive in France - let's ignore, please, those matches disgracefully purloined by the grasping Scots and Welsh - but the rugby world, as if by mutual agreement, long ago adopted France as its home from home

Before professionalism kicked in and market forces sent players in all directions, France had become the great, bubbling, melting pot of the global game and, frankly, the next seven weeks will simply be a glorious celebration of something we almost take for granted.

The Guinness Premiership may entice nearly as many of the bigger southern hemisphere names but French club rugby also readily embraces ambitious young players from every rugby nation on earth, the underprivileged underbelly of world rugby, not just the pampered elite

The Georgian, Romanian and Argentinian teams are essentially 'Made in France' with the Pumas learning so well that they could yet embarrass their hosts and de facto mentors in the opening game this Friday.

Some of France's finest rugby brains - Pierre Villepreux, Georges Costes and Pierre Berbizier - have worked mightily to develop Italy's exciting potential and certainly the best players from just over the border have automatically moved north to further their careers.

Any number of top Canadians and Pacific Islanders have made a decent living playing in France while if you trawl around in the divisions below the top flight you will encounter a veritable Tower of Babel. Ambitious Uruguayans, Spaniards, Russians, Tunisians, Moroccans, Ivorians, Portuguese, Poles, Germans, Americans, Ukrainians, Japanese and even the occasional Mauritian and Senegali - they are all there playing hard and living the dream in return for beer money, a part-time job in the local sports café and the free use of a club flat.

The French recognise that for some rugby is way of life and the need to express and pursue that passion is almost as important as the need to express political freedom. France, the home of political dissidents and rugbyheads!

Disregarding the pure impact of the national side, the contribution of French rugby to the world game is second to none. They were spreading the gospel long before the IRB even dreamed of missionary work.

France have reaped the benefit of racial integration - the likes of Abdelatif Benazzi, Yannick Nyanga, Serge Betsen, Emile Ntamack, Dimitri Yachvili - and all power to them for that.

A few years back an enraged Fabien Galthie, then the national captain, wrote to Jean-Marie Le Pen demanding an apology from the controversial National Front leader who, trying to make political gain, pointed out that 13 of France's match 22 at the time were the sons of first or second-generation immigrants. Galthie just about stopped short of threatening to 'send the boys around' but Le Pen's climbdown was immediate.

Frankly, the wonder is that the French didn't invent rugby. They seem genetically programmed to enjoy all aspects of the game.

Not surprisingly, French rugby - all light and shade and with its nicotine-stained backdrop - provides a perfect metaphor for much of French life, political and social. They are almost indivisible.

Rugby in France can be a game of extraordinary beauty but also of great brutality and cruelty; a game of cynicism but also beguiling honesty and worthy toil where there is a constant fight between good and evil to see which prevails; an egalitarian crusade in which the efforts of the 'collectif' will usually overcome - but not always - maverick individuals; a game demanding of debate, gossip and endless argument and speculation.

Rugby in France offers an opportunity to show off and be seen, to become a local luminary or a national treasure and a chance to advertise your regional identity and patriotism.

Ever since France won the World Cup in 1998 soccer has been huge in France but, when push comes to shove, it is still relegated to second place in the national consciousness behind rugby. Rugby appeals much more to the French temperament - sometimes volatile and moody, other times tranquil and poetic. On a big rugby day L'Equipe - and no newspaper in the world knows its market better - gives itself over totally to the oval ball, a slave to the national passion. Only the Tour de France, for just three weeks a year, commands the column inches in such a way.

The 2007 World Cup in France will not be perfect. I for one regret that the big regional cities have taken over at the expense of genuine rugby hotspots, but ultimately it will be a glorious and colourful gathering of the clans in the most welcoming of rugby nations.

Hey Guys ...! to aware of rugby world cup visit the official website....

Home Page:http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/index.html

Teams:http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/teams/index.html

FiXtures:http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/fixtures/poolstage.html

Pools:http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/standings/index.html

Rules:http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/rules/index.html

By VaMPir3BoY ;)