England’s World Cup final defeat looked inevitable from the start

I found I spent most of the second half of the Rugby World Cup final thinking about an acquaintance. I had lunch with him last week. Three children in and 36 years old, he’d recently acceded to his wife’s request to have a vasectomy. As a reward – a kind of final hurrah for his hitherto unsullied vas deferens – at the last minute he’d decided, hang the expense, to fly to Tokyo to watch the match live. An ardent England fan, I don’t think it had really occurred to him – as it hadn’t to me – that England might lose. After the glory of Yokohama, where Eddie Jones’ boys mullered the fearsome All Blacks, spirited England were surely nailed on to thrash the Springboks and their negative style of rugby. On my acquaintance’s behalf, I hoped the game would be at least competitive. Nobody wants to travel to a sporting event 6,000 miles away only to witness a dull, one-sided affair.