Ken rang me today telling me to read a comment he put on a blog exhorting me to comment on the Rugby. When I went there, I notice Chris said the same thing. While I was looking I read the Wog’s piece for her/his father – and I had to email her/him saying that her/his father would always be remembered because his child wrote so lovingly.
It’s not that I don’t have some opinions on the parlous state of Oz Rugby, I bet a mate the All Blacks would win by 50 to 10! Pretty much all the stuff written by Chris and Ken I agree with – but they do it so much more eloquently, don’t they ?
Ken’s thesis that the All Blacks have perfected the ‘league’ game has merit, particularly when one looks at a replay of the game. Several times Oz players were just standing around the rucks while their opposite numbers were out in the looong back line providing overlaps. Too often it was left to Smith and Waugh to tackle Umunga and the other centres/forwards that came crashing through the backline.
Unfortunately Mudflaps has run out of time and must now stay pretty much with the line up he’s got. I reiterate what I said in a previous post, that Sailor is far inferior to almost any other winger – as soon as either Mortlock, Roff or Tune are fit enough, they should replace Sailor. He was responsible for all three Rocacoka tries, the big Fijian just stood him up for the first one, scored the second while Sailor was in the sin bin and sucked Sailor into tackling the full back while he scored the third.
I think the other problem is the team’s attitude. They don’t play with enough confidence; that’s a leadership problem that Jones and Gregan must sort out before the World Cup.
I’ve also been busy preparing a brief for regulation of the biodiscovery industry in the NT and have set out some thoughts on how to increase the number of international tourists coming to Darwin. But most of my time of late has been spent in publishing Southern Pearl.
I’ve hit a bit of a wall with the transition from the background to the ‘now’ stuff. Scott commented that I’ve introduced too many threads, so many that he’s having difficulty remembering what has happened. Chapter 12 is definitely wanting, so if some one could make a suggestion on how to include a ‘state of play’ bit I would appreciate it.
Don’t disagree with any of that Wayne, except that one of the players on the (far) edge of Test selection told me that Tuney is out of contention, not because he’s injury prone, but because he hasn’t got enough gas these days. T
The only other thing I’d add is that your remark about Smith and Waugh rings particularly true … and this goes to the Sailor sin-bin. A couple of commentators mentioned that the Wallabies looked exhausted toward the end of the first half, and I noticed that Smith was blowing real hard. Obviously, this was partly because he’s just come back, but I surmise it was also because of what you say … he and Waugh had just spent 10 minutes flat out trying to make up for the big dumbo in the bin … thus, ‘Del also knocked off the only real edge anyone can say with confidence that we had in the match, our flying flankers.
Wayne, re: the Wog. His father’s son or her father’s daughter?
You are of course correct Gareth, my apologies to the Wog if I’ve mixed genders. On reflection, perhaps it’s too sensitive to be written by most Australian males. I am however impressed by what the Bunyip (presumably another male) said,Deepest condolences to the Wog, whose father’s life is celebrated, and death mourned, with an eloquence that suggests not only a wonderful man but a parent who produced that rarest and most precious of all things: an adult equipped to appreciate and revere the complex measure of what it means to be fully and gloriously human. When the Professor’s time comes, he can only hope to have produced such a child — and to have been loved as much.
Got to go now, I’m writing to my Dad.