Trying times

It’s Rugby World Cup time in France, and the oval ball is everywhere – even on the Eiffel Tower, transformed into giant goalposts for the occasion. Everyone has jumped on the rugger wagon, and you can’t turn a page or a corner without seeing an oval-shaped object: chocolates, phones, books, hats. Everything is fair game (I kill myself). This being Paris, you can even pop into Chanel to get your gear on the way to the game.
Every company, brand and institution is falling over itself to prove its close ties to the game. There is Société Générale, the financial partner of the IRB; Toshiba, official TV provider; Eden Park, official clothing brand of the French team, and Vivien Paille, official provider of dried pulses and vegetables. (True.) My favourite advertisement, however, is this one: You know the World Cup is in France when rugby has its very own foie gras. Initially unconvinced by this tenuous link between ball sports and duck liver, my skepticism is blown away by the logic of the copywriting: "rugby and foie gras, two expressions of the same terrain". Of course! Rugby is really popular in the south-west of France, and that’s where they force-feed poultry to make foie gras! Crystal clear. That’s not drawing a long bow at all. Or, to use a more appropriate metaphor, kicking a very, very long goal.