FRANCE. The Rugby World Cup is now well underway and as reported, The Moodie Davitt Report is celebrating this great sporting occasion with a series of reader competitions throughout the tournament. Today we bring you the next round of contests and also present the results of our first three rounds.
Our next two competitions involve two crucial matches, Australia (the Wallabies) v Fiji and England v Japan on Sunday 17 September (scroll down for entry details).
Once again we are asking readers to predict the results, and we have superb prizes on offer starting with Australia v Fiji (see rules of entry below).
Lotte Duty Free Oceania CEO & Director Stephen Timms has kindly offered an outstanding bottle of Taylors South Australian wine, The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon (right). “Very appropriate to many in our industry!” says Steve.
For England-Japan, drinks importer, distributor and creator BBC Spirits is pleased to put forward a bottle of the superb Hinotori Japanese whisky 5 Year Old to the winner. As reported, BBC Spirits has appointed Irish travel retail drinks agent and distributor Duty Free Global as the company’s partner in the global channel.
Hinotori whisky takes its name from the Japanese word for phoenix, echoing the rebirth of the Hekinan distillery founded in 1949. The range includes a 5 Year Old Blend, Goldorak Peated and Goldorak Blended.
And from the English side, Silent Pool Distillers Global Sales Director Adam Dobson has kindly put up a bottle of the outstanding Silent Pool gin, crafted in the Surrey Hills in southeast England. As reported, Silent Pool was acquired by William Grant & Sons earlier this week. The brand is also represented by Barry Geoghegan’s Duty Free Global in travel retail.
For our earlier matches, France 27 v All Blacks 13; South Africa 18 v Scotland 3; and England 27 v Argentina 10, we can announce the following winners.
France v All Blacks: Cliff Nolan from Caribbean travel retailer Ganzee is our winner with a near-perfect one-point differential having plumped for 27-14 to France. He was closely followed by Gerry Murray of Traveller’s Trove and Duty Free World Council with a mere 2-point differential having opted for 26-12; and F&B veteran Nick Inkster (22-16) with a 3-point margin.
We partnered with two outstanding companies – one Kiwi, one French – to provide a brace of fabulous prizes to our winner.
Strange Nature Gin of New Zealand – sponsors of our popular Image of the Day column – offered a superb 700ml Gift Edition Bottle + Glassware.
Courtesy of the French rugby and winemaking legend Gérard Bertrand, we are delighted to present an equally outstanding prize – a magnum of Château L’Hospitalet La Clape Grand Vin Rouge 2020.
South Africa vs Scotland: Almost all our contestants opted correctly for the Springboks to win but the relatively low-scoring game caught most out badly on differential.
Our winner was Middle East travel retail veteran John Reynolds with a 27-12 scoreline for an 18-point margin just ahead of Schiphol Airport Retail’s Shaun Vallun (a South African), who picked 28-12. Close but no cigar.
Whyte & Mackay offered a bottle of the latest limited-edition collection from Scotch whisky brand Jura, the Islanders’ Expressions Collection No 2. The travel retail-exclusive range of single malts was inspired by the creativity of the artistic community in the island of Jura.
Courtesy of Diverse Flavours, a great champion of South African wine, we were pleased to offer a Magnum of Ernie Els Big Easy Red Blend.
England v Argentina: Another industry veteran, consultant Peter Sant, came out on top in our third contest with a fine 26-16 prediction, a table-topping 7-point differential. Most of our contestants chose Argentina to emerge triumphant.
This round was sponsored by Nick Sutton, a Director and Co-owner of leading travel retail marketing and design agency Purple.
He generously donated a bottle of Hambledon Première Cuvée, an outstanding English sparkling wine from Nick’s local vineyard in Hambledown, Hampshire, complemented by a Catena Zapata Malbec from Nicasia Vineyard in Argentina.
The competition continues…
The rules are simple:
- You must be directly connected to the aviation or travel retail industry to enter
- Pick the winning team (or draw) and predict a score
- The winner will have chosen the correct result (i.e. Australia win, Fiji win, or draw) and be the closest entrant on total points differential (i.e. if the match ends 29-18 to Australia, and you picked them to win 25-16 you would have a differential of 6; if Fiji win 33-12 and you said 23-10 in their favour, your differential would be 12; if you accurately predicted a draw… well you are a very good pundit indeed).
- In the event of a tie, the winner will be decided on who get closest to the winning team’s score. If still tied, our sponsors do a random draw.
- Send your predictions (one only per match please) to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com headed Wallabies v Fiji showdown by 16:30 French time on 17 September and England v Japan by 19:00 the same day.
- Judges’ decision is final. ✈
