It was all starting so well. England may have lost to France, but the performances under Ashton were an improvement and we were looking more organised, positive and to be honest the whole issue of not scoring tries could be sorted against the USA.

Normal service is rapidly being resumed. Johnny Wilkinson turned his ankle yesterday in a training ground incident only best described as not involving a ball, another player or exercise. Maybe we’re just keeping him fresh for the South Africans.

My world cup will be spent commuting between Southampton and France. Yes, I have tickets! The whole journey starts tomorrow on the Dover to Calais ferry. I’m starting to get quite excited.

Six of us are meeting up for the first game in Lens. Tany, Sarah and myself are all on the boat tomorrow. Gordy is flying out in the evening and getting the train up from Paris to join us in Arras. Then on Saturday, Chris and his sister Sarah are meeting us in Lens for the game.

I will try to take some photos and keep the blog up-to-date while on the road but I know that some hotels don’t have wireless so things could be a bit patchy. However, I am back to work after each game so I will have some kind of internet connection. The summary for this weekend is Thursday, travel to Arras; Friday bum around town and go and look at some war memorials (Arras was the town is just 12km from Vimy Ridge the front line of the battle between the allies and Germany in the First World War); Saturday to Lens and England v USA; Sunday travel to Paris and fly back to Southampton from there.