A perfect taster for the World Cup

As many of you will have seen, England gained revenge for their defeat in the first test last weekend by beating New Zealand 10-3 this afternoon in front of 12,000 spectators - possibly the largest crowd to ever watch an international in England. Meanwhile on the other side of the Channel the third and fourth ranked teams in 2006 - France and Canada - completed their series, with the home nation also coming back from a first test defeat to beat Canada 22-0.

These results seem to have set things up perfectly for next year's tournament, showing that no-one is invincible. Details about venues and formats are due to be released next week, but I am sure I heard one of the commentators let slip that the pool and ranking games will be at the University of Surrey in Guildford, with the final at The Stoop. We already know that there will be games on August 20th, 24th, 28th, and September 1st, with the final on September 5th.

Between now and then all nations are due to play in a range of tournaments and warm-up games - including the Six Nations which is due to start on the weekend of the 6th February. England are likely to be playing their home games at Esher.