So it begins!

I love this stuff. You get it every time England play Australia. It's only going to get better in the run up to Saturday....

Full Club and Drags writeups to come, sorry for the delay. Also, could Messrs Reardon, Boggis and Cooper (should they ever grace these pages) also let me have some match write-ups including (ideally) the final score, a quick report, team lists, names of scorers and some photos. This website is criminally short of photos at the moment, mainly because I can't upload them from work.

Anyway, back to the banter (stolen from the Telegraph again):

As if Saturday's quarter-final in Marseille didn't need any more stoking up, Aussie rugby chief John O'Neill has been at it again. Asked whether he stood by comments he made last week about the world "hating" England, O'Neill said: "All I'm doing is stating the bleeding obvious. If they want further proof, how do they think France won the right to host this World Cup? It is simple. No one would vote for England, and they were the only other country in the running. Sadly, this is all a by-product of their born-to-rule mentality. It's been there for a long time now and nothing has changed." Get you! If nothing else, it gave England lock Ben Kay reason to laugh. "It comes with the rivalry we've got with Australia, it's an intense sporting rivalry," Kay said. "These matches are fun to play in because of that, so it's just a bit of paper talk that you guys (the press) probably get more excited about than us. We all think it's quite funny really." Captain Martin Corry had a warning for O'Neill and his boys. "By the time the weekend comes around there will also be thousands of Englishmen on hand to cheer our every move," said Coz. "The centre of Marseille around the Vieux Port is much more compact than Paris and by kick-off it will feel just like a home fixture." Just like Sydney in November 2003! Corry, no doubt, has been given added reason to be cheerful with the news that Jason Robinson is back in training and will be available this weekend. Having lost number eight David Lyons to a broken leg, and without fly-half Stephen Larkham, the Wallabies were relieved that captain Stirling Mortlock said he would be fit after a shoulder dislocation. "It's only slightly dislocated," he said. Slightly! "OK. Listen. I just really want to play against England. I think we can play better rugby than we have so far. Quarter-finals are sudden-death rugby. And that is what it is all about in a World Cup. I want to be there for this one."