On Saturday afternoon I ducked down the pub to watch the All Blacks play their last football game of the year, as by now you know I do.

The bar was packed with South Africans in town to watch the Springboks play France. I got talking to Flippie van der Floppie who happened to have a spare ticket and next thing you know I was out at Stade de France in the freezing cold.

The French were wonderful spectators. How could I not join in La Marseillaise, inhibited only slightly by not knowing the words? I sat in about the same position as I was in at Twickenham a week before and the atmosphere was completely different. For a start the stadium is glorious. The crowd though go to have fun. Sure they chip the other side, but they bounce up and down with delight, they sing and play. It's fun, even in the freezing cold. Asamatteroffact it's just like the Wellington Stadium but about four times bigger.

Couldn't help feeling one of those two teams will play the All Blacks on that ground in the world cup final in 2007. The South African backs are really bad. If they were half decent they would have won. The French footie team are always good to watch. They play like the All Blacks, or the other way around.