ON RUGBY/Gerry Thornley: No doubt much of the traditional hostility hereabouts toward the notion of England becoming world champions at anything has been re-enforced by the predictable glorification of "Johno", Jonny and Co across the water.
That the William Webb Ellis Trophy will be visiting English grounds in tandem with Sky's coverage is unlikely to dampen their fervour. God save us, more like.
Furthermore, that Sky will be the main broadcaster of the Heineken European Cup, which now assumes centre stage to the end of January, is not designed to give the rest of us much respite. Let's see, at five matches per weekend over the six rounds of pool matches, and with an average of 10 utterings reminding us of England's new status as World Champions, that's something in the region of 300 mentions. Paddy Power should run a book on it. And then, ye gods, comes the Six Nations.
The wallowing was undiluted last week, and good luck to them. As the cameras were at the Newcastle-Wasps game last Saturday (perhaps in the forlorn hope that Jonny might don his boots), so too was the Webb Ellis Trophy, when it might reasonably have been at Welford Road, given Leicester provided seven of the 30-man English squad, including four of those who played in the final.
Such was the feel-good factor in advance of the non-playing local-hero-gone-global Jonny Wilkinson and Wasps icon Lawrence Dallaglio parading the trophy before kick-off that Warren Gatland was moved to remark wryly: "When Lawrence Dallaglio gets off the coach here and the crowd cheers him, you know it's not going to be a normal day."
Ireland's exit at the relatively premature stage of the quarter-finals at least afforded the frontline players an additional fortnight's rest before most resumed playing at the weekend.
By comparison, many of the English players were immediately pressed into action within a week of lifting the trophy. There seemed almost an indecent haste in pressing them back into service, and even by Richard Hill's standards it seemed extraordinary that he should start, and cap a typical, all-purpose display with a try for Saracens a week after his exploits in Sydney.
Hill and Ben Kay started club games last weekend, and of the other starting XV who played in the World Cup final the preceding Saturday in the Telstra Stadium, Mike Tindal, Trevor Woodman, Phil Vickery, Martin Johnson and Neil Back all made thunderously received appearances off the bench.
The English clubs' desire to tap into the post-World Cup euphoria is understandable. It's one of the ironies of the fall-out from the World Cup that its end-of-year slot, which is a natural finale to the Southern Hemisphere season and often an ill-timed interruption to the Northern Hemisphere's, has worked to the European game's advantage this time.
Whereas the Southern Hemisphere slinks off into their winter hibernation, the ripple effects of England's triumph will be felt even in the Home Unions and in France and Italy. The ERC mush be salivating at the onset of their competitions in the immediate aftermath of England's win.
Zurich, to their credit, had a quick dip themselves as sponsors of the English Premiership. They flew out all the relevant club shirts and had the entire English World Cup squad photographed in them with the Webb Ellis Trophy on Manly beach to use as an immediate promotional tool.
Compare and contrast that with "The Boys Are Back In Town" poster of Leinster's World Cup squaddies, who look like a right motley crew attired in a mixture of Leinster jerseys and, seemingly, combat gear with heads superimposed on alien bodies. The players themselves probably squirm when they see it.
Like the ERC, Sky too surely cannot believe their luck or, perhaps more pertinently, that their calculated gamble came off. At £20 million, the European Cup now must look a snip.
The BBC, meanwhile, the broadcaster traditionally closest to rugby, still seem under the impression they have a divine right to cover the game, and have again been outmanoeuvred. Frankly, their renewed coverage of the European Cup had been disappointing, and at least with Sky not only will there be technically excellent coverage, there will also be five live games each weekend as well as the weekly Rugby Club.
However, bearing in mind that even an all-Celtic Six Nations clash on BBC would comfortably eclipse the viewing figures on Sky for an England-France game, you have to wonder at what spiritual cost the ERC have sold the rights to pay TV. Given RTÉ have retained a foothold on the games involving the Irish provinces (but rarely bolster this with away games or weekly magazine programmes), Irish rugby fans now probably have the best deal of all - at least in terms of television access . . .
Alas, optimism on behalf of the Irish provinces in Europe this season had already been diluted, in this column at any rate, by this being a World Cup year. Then, to compound a tough sequence of draws and a rash of injuries, you hear of the two highest profile signings have been sidelined by injury (Munster's Christian Cullen) and an administrative cock-up (Leinster's Felipe Contepomi). Human/administrative errors can happen anywhere, of course, and Gary Ella is least to blame of anyone apparently; but it seems to be another example of the power vacuum in the Leinster set-up since the departure of Matt Williams' hands-on style.
And you wonder about Leinster's move from the Donnybrook Experience to soulless days or nights at Lansdowne Road in order to, eh, accommodate their new 20,000-plus fan base. Maybe we'll be surprised.
gthornley@irish-times.ie
