English Over The Sleeve

The results are out. Now we know what the knock-out stages of the Heineken cup look like.

2 French teams - Toulouse and Perpignan. The Stade Français did not qualify (they needed Cardiff to lose v. Bristol) although they went out in style. Sky News noted that the tournament lost out in colour (Stade Français play in pink).

2 London teams - well, the Saracens actually live in Watford, and the London Irish play in Reading (of all places!)

3 teams from England, all from the South. The northernmost team is Gloucester, the current Guinness Premiership leaders. A fun fact about Gloucester for my French readers - it’s pronounced “gloostère”.

0 teams from Italy.

2 teams from Wales - a result not equaled for the last seven years. Ospreys and Cardiff

And the 8th team is Munster, from Ireland. Munster beat the Wasps (the defending champions) over the weekend.

But before the next stage of the Heineken cup, we have the 6 nations to look forward to. Let’s see if England can show Europe what they showed the world in September!

Here’s a question for you: why does London have a large amount of top-flight Rugby teams, while Paris has one ? (we’ll assume here that London is Greater London (600 sq. miles), and Paris is anything in the Ile de France (depts. 75, 77, 78, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)(4.5 thou sq. miles).