A French person who was clever, called Montaigne, believed we should "beware of the man who takes games too seriously, it means he does not take life seriously enough". I would have reflected on this as I watched three large Taranaki forwards trundle toward our line in a mini-maul in what was to be the last play of the game. But I didn't because I was too busy using bad words very loudly to encourage our players to repel the charge of the six-fingered Sons And Cousins Of Ferdie. Our players did not hear my encouragement, but Troy Flavell fortunately saw the perfect chance to join a maul from the side and thrust his forearm in someone's neck, propelling the collective mass into touch; and the ref saw fit to affix a hometown blindfold over his eyes and blow for full-time instead. Thus did we top the NPC points table, albeit fleetingly. In those few seconds leading up to the final whistle, Montaigne was just another phlegm-filled Frenchie with an attitude, onion-breath, and undersized genitaux..

We had no right to win this game, just as Southland had no right to beat us. Shakespeare's Edmund in King Lear said that "the wheel has come full circle" and had the NPC been around in the 1600s, he might well have been suggesting that for order to be restored and justice to be done, Taranaki should undeservingly beat Southland. This will not happen, though, because Taranaki have forgotten how to win and Southland are slightly more bestial. They care little for order or for justice. They care only for rugby and candlelit dinners with their nephews.

Yet win we did with 35% of territory and 40% of possession, both of these share figures doubling over the second half alone. That we won was due to equal parts staunch defence and clueless Taranaki attack. Ron Cribb is having his best season since 2000 and would be generally acknowledged by the press as the best No. 8 in the country at the moment if it weren't so busy messing its sheets over the impending RWC inc. 2003. (Who is the All Black No. 8 at the moment, by the way? Do we even have one? I'm not trying to be smart, I really can't remember.) We also have a bunch of burgeoning young backs who are very classy. I can almost hear the sound of cash registers ringing with francs but they are just drowned out by the wheezing and groaning of another tired sports' cliché. I made the mistake of listening to sports' talkback this week and tuned in when six consecutive callers decided to bemoan the lack of 'spark' in this year's NPC. They, variously, "can't get excited" or "can't get interested" or were disappointed in the "lack of All Blacks". Five points separate the top 8 or so teams. It is the closest NPC ever. It really hasn't taken long for Corporation Adidas Rugby with its bright, flashing lights and party gimmicks to turn the rugby public into a thronging mass of star-fuckers obsessed with, in the words of Living Colour, the cult of personality. What these mammothrepts want is not rugby but entertainment with heroes. Go see Bad Boys 2, dickheads. (No, really do, it's good. A bit long, but funny. Mike Laaaooooowwwwwree.)

So, we head back this week to the Stadium of Echoes where we will probably get our biggest crowd of the season because a couple of Canterbury All Blacks have been released to play. Our destiny is in our own domain. Two wins from two and we'll probably grab a home semi-final.

Here's to another mid-table finish.