Cup Picture Rugby World

Andy Robinson goes into crisis talks at Twickenham on Monday amid a grim prediction that England's losing rugby team can write off more World Cup success until 2015.

'I cannot remember an England team playing much worse than they did against Argentina. I don't think you have ever seen them play as badly as that but in terms of the bigger picture, I see no improvement whatsoever.

I still remember the day I watched Fifa award the 2010 Soccer World Cup to South Africa. I had this warm patriotic feeling of how great it is to be South African.

Of course, being selfish, I also wondered what I'll get out of this World Cup. All indications are that it will not be the national team that will make us proud.

It was only during the last couple of months that I realised the impact the World Cup will actually have. Over the course of the next two weeks I will look into the implications this event will have on the South African technology sector.

For years now we could only envy television viewers in other countries, especially those with the latest and greatest that television technology has to offer, pay-per-view or even High Definition Television (HDTV).

Just when the government has finally got its act together on economic policy, it is blowing its hard-won credibility on a billion-dollar stadium. Such is the pathos of politics.

For seven years the government has struggled to articulate the country's economic challenges. Along the way it has given us important pieces, such as the Growth & Innovation Framework, and its accompanying sector strategies in ICT, biotechnology and creative industries. But the big picture eluded it.