Goin' for bronze

Canada kept it close--a lot closer than most people expected. They only lost by six points (20-14), and Heather Moyse came tantalizingly close to eluding the last tackler on a long run at the end to score a try that would have set up a go-ahead conversion attempt.

But in the end, the better team won, and it will be England facing the Black Ferns in the gold medal match at the Women's Rugby World Cup on Sunday. Canada will play France for bronze, and if they play the way did on Tuesday, they have a very good shot. France is beatable, though they fought admirably against New Zealand. England, we learned yesterday, was beatable too; Canada just needed to hold on one more time on defense, break one more tackle on offense, make one less turnover, and who's to say what would have happened. But they didn't, and for all their fighting they just didn't quite match up to England. That's okay, though; yesterday's match was a huge step forward for a team that, in the past, has tended to lose to England by dozens of points. They're not quite caught up, but they're getting there. They can take another big step by beating France on Sunday. I'll be there to cheer them on, and you should be too. (As for the final: God save the Queen.)

I'd also like to say that the Journal's coverage of the event has been quite good, with regular, and occasionally multiple, articles in positions of prominence, and cover appearances on several occasions. Kudos to them. The Sun meanwhile, has been comparatively disappointing, though with a couple exceptions they're at least covering it when they should, which is appreciated. And then there's the Gateway.