St Francis of Assisi and Boy Louw of Paarl had at least one thing in common - acceptance of what is permanent. This is not, it seems, something that some rugby supporters manage - acceptance of what is permanent. Francis and Boy expressed themselves differently.

St Francis prayed: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."

Boy Louw put it differently: "Looks at the scoreboard." After all the scoreboard at the end of the match told you something that simply would not change. The best thing was to accept that fact with serenity.

The lack of serenity in some quarters after the 2010 Super 14 Final has been unhealthy. Some has been ridiculous.

We have even had a suggestion "that decisions can be over turned in a final, like the Super 14 final over the Saturday. ONLY on finals", and the radio is quoted as the source. That is the most way-out comment after the Stormers' defeat.

The last time a score could have been overturned was in 1895.   It was a dispute that brought an end to disputing in rugby football.

In 1884 when England played Scotland at Blackheath, England's Richard Kindersley went over for a try allowed by Irish referee George Scriven. Then the debate broke out and afterwards it raged for a long time.

In those days various rugby unions regulated how the game was played within their union. A club could take its dispute to the union which would listen to the evidence and then decide. But the Blackheath match was an international and so neither England's RFU nor the Scottish Rugby Union could deal with the dispute. Scotland's reaction was to refuse to play England for some time. Eventually the Irish stepped in and this led to the formation of the International Rugby Board. The try was tried by three Irish High Court judges who found in favour of England. One of the first things the IRB did was lay down that the referee was the sole judge of fact and law, thereby ending disputes.

There is no chance that the result of the 2010 Final will be overturned. Better accept it and try to gain serenity. And no amount of complaining about the referee will change the result, just as no amount of fact, it seems, will convince people that the referee was neither a poor referee nor a cheat.

We started with two quotes. Let's end with two.

The first is from Tom Canterbury, the American basketball player who said: "The trouble with referees is that they just don't care which side wins."  Impartiality on the part of a referee seems an impossible concept for a fan. He is biased and cannot understand that anybody else should not be at least as biased as he is!

The last is from Rudyard Kipling, from his poem If. Kipling says that

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same,

then you'll be a Man, my son!

We were taught that there was a way to win graciously and to lose graciously - win as though you've lost and lose as though you've won. We were taught that from the time we first pulled on rugby boots. It remains valid for Triumph and Disaster, for winning and losing - even Super 14 Final.