The semi-final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup opposed England and France on the same weekend as the Tour de Corse. Needless to say, there was plenty of jibing between the representatives of the two nations during the rally ahead of the match which England went on to win.

This weekend, the final of the same tournament – on Sunday morning (European time) – coincides with the Spanish round of the WRC. New Zealand versus France, in Auckland. An inter-hemisphere clash which the experts presume will be a mere formality for the host country.

The New Zealand community in the service park at PortAventura is pretty much limited to Subaru driver Haydon Paddon, his co-driver John Kennard, and one of his mechanics, Neil. None of them appear to be huge fans of their national sport, though. “Pretty much everybody plays rugby at school,” says Haydon, who secured the 2011 Production-WRC crown last month in neighbouring Australia. “I played winger, but that’s as far as my career, and interest went.”

Haydon was able to gauge the interest for his chosen sport by the amount of coverage his newly-acquired world title generated at home… “It was good, but it would no doubt have been much better had it come at any other time of the year, because it happened during the first weekend of the World Cup. Guess what got priority!”

Even so, the 22-year old is hoping that his PWRC success will help his bid to move up the rallying ladder in 2012. “We talked to several people during the recent Rallye de France and I think there are some opportunities. The fund we started at the beginning of the year when we established ‘Haydon Paddon Limited’ has been a success and covered most of this season’s budget. It also left a certain stash for the future. So that’s good.” The youngster’s visit to Catalonia didn’t get off to the best of starts, however, when he was unable to start Day 1 because of an electrical problem… He re-joined under the SupeRally ruling on Saturday morning.

Returning to the topic of rugby, we hunted the service park the other day to find out who the sport’s biggest French fans are here in Catalunya. World Champion co-driver Daniel Elena is certainly among them. “True, I won’t be able to watch the match live on TV. I will have other things on my mind. I have downloaded the official World Cup ‘app’, though. That way I will be able to stay in touch between stages on Sunday morning!”

And what if the French XV and Sébastien Loeb’s right-hand man (who is Monegasque, to be accurate) both secured their world crowns in their respective sports on the same day. It would certainly give rise to some celebrating on Sunday night!

Hayden Paddon, New Zealand, PWRC, Rally RACC-Rally of Spain 2011, Rugby World Cup