Already nervously eyeing a cavalcade of lopsided blowouts during the tournament so far, Rugby World Cup officials will this weekend have to face up to some stiff competition generated by their very own flock.

Dubbed “the other Rugby World Cup”, a delegation of Parisian lawyers is taking on a NSW Law Society team tomorrow (25 October 2003).

Traditionally, the profession and rugby have moved together with all the harmony and grace of a push over penalty try. The code’s big wigs are, therefore, entitled to be appalled that its support epicentre has the ‘Gaul’ to challenge the showpiece event’s monopoly with the rarest and most valuable commodity of the day: a potentially competitive game of rugby.

Even law society president Robert Benjamin, who, with the help of fellow mutineers Rupert Rosenblum and Lloyd McDermott, assembled the home team, has taken his eye off the world cup ball to ponder the vagaries of this intriguing match.

“While we are assured of the legal credentials, we have limited information about the sporting prowess of the team that the French are fielding. We have been advised that the average age of their players is 34, but they have not been forthcoming with other details,” he said.

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