Wow, there is just a ton of stuff that is rugby-related to comment on
from this past weekend. It's tough to decide where to begin. 

I will start close to home-well, in the Americas, anyway, since the USA
Eagles were able to beat Uruguay 27-22
http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,9817_5696007,00.html in the
first leg of their two leg playoff in Montevideo. On the one hand, the
Yanks should be pleased that they got the win in Uruguay-but USA coach
Eddie O'Sullivan has to be upset that his players let a 27-9 slide to
only a 5 point advantage for the return trip to Fort Lauderdale.
Uruguay's Jeronimo Etcheverry punished the Eagles in the last 20 minutes
with his goal kicking and scoring a try to bring Uruguay back into this
tie. Lack of American discipline killed the USA in their return leg
against Canada a few months back-they have to maintain their discipline
next Saturday in Florida.

Speaking of Canada, they got smoked over the weekend 46-8 by Japan.
Don't look now, but Japan has really improved the level of their game.
The former 98 pound weaklings in world rugby have now become a rising
force. They swept the Americans in two games the last time the USA
toured the Land of the Rising sun. With Japan set to host the Rugby
World Cup in 10 years, Kiwi John Kirwan has Japan focused on being a
more respectable side.

The Marquee match up had South Africa playing against France in
Toulouse on Friday.

It did not start off well for the Sprigboks, as Durban-born raggae
singger Ras Dumisani made a total hash of the South African National
Anthem. There was wide spread press coverage of how how upset the
Springboks and the SARFU were with the poor rendition of Nkosi Sikelel'
iAfrika . http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_5694882,00.html The
French ended up winning the match 20-13 in Toulouse. This has given the
defending World and Tri-Nations champs two straight losses to start
their European campaign, after their shock loss  last week to Leicester.
Marc Lièvremont has to be very pleased with how his team played against
the Springboks-particularly at the scrum, where the French
scrum-particularly loose head prop Fabien Barcella gave the South
African tight head prop John Smit fits. South African discipline was
lacking, as Morne` Steyn was given a yellow card, and wing Brian Habana
avoided a yellow for kicking out at Francois Trinh-Duc.

It was France's first match of the November internationals. Les Bleus
have looked the best, in what was an uneven performance by the Six
Nations teams over the weekend: Italy showed great heart in losing to
the All Blacks 20-6 in Milan. (The Italians were screwed over when
Australian ref Stuart Dickinson would not penalize the All Blacks for
repeatedly wheeling the scrum in front of their posts). Scotland had a
good first quarter against Fiji, but was uneven the rest of the game,
England looked terrible in eeking out a tight win against what was an
amateurArgentine side at Twickenham, Wales was very lucky to hang on
against Samoa in Cardiff, and defending Six Nations champs Ireland had
to rely on a last second O'Driscoll try and O'Gara conversion to TIE the
Wallabies-the worst of the Tri Nations teams 20-20.

Finally, during our Metropolis Annual General Meeting, it came out that
my Metropolis Club now has it's highest ranking ever at the Division I
National level: #9.http://www.uspowerrugby.com/club/rankings.php?id=md1
It's been a great year for Metropolis. We will host a first round
playoff game this spring, against an opponent yet to be determined.