Oracle of Delphi
Craig HillWallabies v Fiji: Next up, Rossi v Me
June 12th 2007 15:04
I used to ride a Yamaha FZR 250.
Valentino Rossi rides a Yamaha YZR-M1 800.
I once rode to Philip island.
Valentino Rossi...well....if I have to explain who he is....then the punchline of the title is lost on you and you'll probably scribble a post about How To Write A Title (Chapter 4 in The World According To Carp...)
Paulini of Australian Idol fame sang both the Australian and Fijian National Anthems, which I thought was a nice touch, considering she is a Fijian born Australian...and she actually has a purty darn good voice....and it's fitting, the whole Australian Idol tag...she's standing in front of a whole bunch of them.
What really annoys me about blatant mismatches like this one is why a rich sporting institution like the ARU insist on having an international test match in Perth and make a 'poor' sporting country travel all that way to get their asses creamed because face it...for Fiji to win this match, they needed to play against themselves.
As I have said before...Fiji is a great and talented Rugby nation....at Sevens Rugby. They don't click as a first 15 and for 80minutes.
The Fijian team was lacking the majority of their players, (many of whom will be part of their World Cup team) because they're all overseas but still...it was a full strength squad and still they didn't click.
Fijians are considered fast and exceptional players and are scattered all over the world and Australia and especially NZ owe a big debt to them.
NZ owes them the All Blacks.
England owes them their domestic premiership teams.
Aneewayyy...a few points that spring to mind;
1. The Fijians are in awe of George Gregan and many secretly believe he is Fijian. (He's not, he was born in Namibia)
2. Lote Tuqiri obviously sees himself as a role model. He's not. He's an ex league player. Fijian born.
3. The Fiji team finds it very difficult to build cohesion due to the fact that their 'main' team consists of players who are based overseas.
They don't have enough time to train together, to play together, to focus together...and with beaches like this...how could you?
...but seriously now...
4. It was really cool to see an Indian name in the Fijian team. Their flyhalf #10 Jack Prasad. No, Jack is not the Indian name. And he's not quite Indian. Maybe a quarter but still... in a country that has had so much racially based problems on the surface, when the reality is that Fiji is as much Indian as it is indigenous Fijian...it's good to see.
5. Phil Kearns (ex Wallabies Captain and legendary hooker...no, not prostitute...#2 position in the front row....sigh...) asked where Jeremy Paul is.
Good question Phil. We'd all like to know.
...and final point....
What the hell is with all the patting on the ass after a try has been scored????
Now I completely understand why everyone would want to pat Stephen Larkham's ass...it's just so...compatible...but I wish they'd stop. Just stop. Makes my hand tingle...
Anyway. God darn it woman! Get on with it! Maybe this is why you are not employed by theboys club Australian Rugby media...Larkham's butt and you lose it....
The Fijians were very nervous. As their Captain said at the end of the match, this was something they usually see on TV, a Wallabies match...and here they were playing against them and even though they didn't score a single point against the Wallabies, at times, the Fijian defence held up really well.
The Wallabies really should have scored a century.
It's no excuse to say that the Wallabies were not at full strength.
Yes, they were missing the Forwards....Nathan Sharpe, Rocky Elsom and Wycliff Palu were on their way to South Africa...but at least they had Mark Chisolm, Dan Vickerman, George Smith, Benn Robinson, Al Baxter and we'll just ignore Matt Duh-nning....
...but the Fijians made stupid decisions. I would have loved to see them score some points but when they had the ball in hand to run with, they kicked and when they decided to run, they lost the ball.
Plus just to really rub it in, the team was reduced to 14-men when Henry Qiodravu was sent to the sin-bin just before half-time.
(and get this...one of their star players, a Prop, was not allowed into the country because he's a private in the Fijian Army. Come onnnnn people....this is Rugby...not politics. If we were talking about the ARU...then that would be a different matter...)
Their standout player was their scrumhalf, Mosese Rauluni who did what all good scrumhalves do...make a pest out of themselves!
Although Rauluni standing out is not hard for him to do because he comes from a family of Rugby players, was brought up in Rugby mad Brisbane and and is currently scrumhalf for Saracens club in England.
The one major difference...and quite scary....in the Wallabies phase of play is that when Stephen Larkham just passes and doesn't penetrate the holes like he usually he does...hold up...why am I giggling?....God I'm sick....it slows down the game but I suppose this was strategy...a tactic to ensure Stephen doesn't do his usual manouvre of drawing opposition players to him and getting hurt* before the BIG match this weekend (in South Africa v the Springboks).
However....in the 2nd half, he let loose...I love love love the way SL does not go in the direction he looks!
This really messes with the opposition players heads and he just makes everything look so easy.
So the Wallabies manged to score 8 tries;
Demi God 1
- too easy. Step, step, turn, triple back somersault followed by a roundhouse kick to someones ass, smile, slow motion then ground the ball then wave toDusk the crowd
Lote Tuqiri 2
- yeah...good...he was on fire but it's all too rare and he was showing off in front of his former countrymen. At least he showed some hunger for the ball after a lacklustre Super 14 but I believe this was die to Digby Ioane's superb debut playing Tuqiri's usual position, which really scared him!
Scott Staniforth 2
- always a good player to have around and he was on fire because he was playing on home turf and this was agreat chance for him to get noticed by the selectors, which means they'll ignore him. AND his second try just inside the corner flag, was set up by a great pass from...sigh...Stephen...
Julian Huxley 1
- the little pretty boy was not on boot. He landed just three out of eight conversion kicks but he scored a try. And he actually ran with the ball. Lucky. His kicking sucked.
Sam Norton-Knight 1
- little Mr wannabee-Larkham-keep-trying- weenie-boy was fairly non-impressive although he did score a try....his debut try mind you...but I also believe that this was 'given' to him by Mark Chisolm.
I love this about Rugby....players, usually forwards, Gregan and Larkham are quite happy to share their limelight...Chisholm could have quite easily taken the try but he chose to pass it inside to S N-K, thus granting him his first test try.
Adam Ashley-Cooper 1
- manged to ground the ball after a clever kick from winger Drew Mitchell.
Tuqiri was voted Man of the Match. Whatever.
Larkham always gets my vote.
*despite his safe tactics...SL did get hurt...post coming up....have wiped away my tears....
Valentino Rossi rides a Yamaha YZR-M1 800.
I once rode to Philip island.
Valentino Rossi...well....if I have to explain who he is....then the punchline of the title is lost on you and you'll probably scribble a post about How To Write A Title (Chapter 4 in The World According To Carp...)
Wallabies 49 v Fiji 0
Saturday June 9th 2007
Subiaco Oval, Perth, Australia.
Saturday June 9th 2007
Subiaco Oval, Perth, Australia.
Paulini of Australian Idol fame sang both the Australian and Fijian National Anthems, which I thought was a nice touch, considering she is a Fijian born Australian...and she actually has a purty darn good voice....and it's fitting, the whole Australian Idol tag...she's standing in front of a whole bunch of them.
What really annoys me about blatant mismatches like this one is why a rich sporting institution like the ARU insist on having an international test match in Perth and make a 'poor' sporting country travel all that way to get their asses creamed because face it...for Fiji to win this match, they needed to play against themselves.
As I have said before...Fiji is a great and talented Rugby nation....at Sevens Rugby. They don't click as a first 15 and for 80minutes.
The Fijian team was lacking the majority of their players, (many of whom will be part of their World Cup team) because they're all overseas but still...it was a full strength squad and still they didn't click.
Fijians are considered fast and exceptional players and are scattered all over the world and Australia and especially NZ owe a big debt to them.
NZ owes them the All Blacks.
England owes them their domestic premiership teams.
Aneewayyy...a few points that spring to mind;
1. The Fijians are in awe of George Gregan and many secretly believe he is Fijian. (He's not, he was born in Namibia)
2. Lote Tuqiri obviously sees himself as a role model. He's not. He's an ex league player. Fijian born.
3. The Fiji team finds it very difficult to build cohesion due to the fact that their 'main' team consists of players who are based overseas.
They don't have enough time to train together, to play together, to focus together...and with beaches like this...how could you?
...but seriously now...
4. It was really cool to see an Indian name in the Fijian team. Their flyhalf #10 Jack Prasad. No, Jack is not the Indian name. And he's not quite Indian. Maybe a quarter but still... in a country that has had so much racially based problems on the surface, when the reality is that Fiji is as much Indian as it is indigenous Fijian...it's good to see.
5. Phil Kearns (ex Wallabies Captain and legendary hooker...no, not prostitute...#2 position in the front row....sigh...) asked where Jeremy Paul is.
Good question Phil. We'd all like to know.
...and final point....
What the hell is with all the patting on the ass after a try has been scored????
There's too much patting on the backsides...that's because the backs spend so much time looking at the Forwards asses...note, Forwards don't do this, they ruffle heads...
- DDHNow I completely understand why everyone would want to pat Stephen Larkham's ass...it's just so...compatible...but I wish they'd stop. Just stop. Makes my hand tingle...
Anyway. God darn it woman! Get on with it! Maybe this is why you are not employed by the
The Fijians were very nervous. As their Captain said at the end of the match, this was something they usually see on TV, a Wallabies match...and here they were playing against them and even though they didn't score a single point against the Wallabies, at times, the Fijian defence held up really well.
The Wallabies really should have scored a century.
It's no excuse to say that the Wallabies were not at full strength.
Yes, they were missing the Forwards....Nathan Sharpe, Rocky Elsom and Wycliff Palu were on their way to South Africa...but at least they had Mark Chisolm, Dan Vickerman, George Smith, Benn Robinson, Al Baxter and we'll just ignore Matt Duh-nning....
...but the Fijians made stupid decisions. I would have loved to see them score some points but when they had the ball in hand to run with, they kicked and when they decided to run, they lost the ball.
Plus just to really rub it in, the team was reduced to 14-men when Henry Qiodravu was sent to the sin-bin just before half-time.
(and get this...one of their star players, a Prop, was not allowed into the country because he's a private in the Fijian Army. Come onnnnn people....this is Rugby...not politics. If we were talking about the ARU...then that would be a different matter...)
Their standout player was their scrumhalf, Mosese Rauluni who did what all good scrumhalves do...make a pest out of themselves!
Although Rauluni standing out is not hard for him to do because he comes from a family of Rugby players, was brought up in Rugby mad Brisbane and and is currently scrumhalf for Saracens club in England.
The one major difference...and quite scary....in the Wallabies phase of play is that when Stephen Larkham just passes and doesn't penetrate the holes like he usually he does...hold up...why am I giggling?....God I'm sick....it slows down the game but I suppose this was strategy...a tactic to ensure Stephen doesn't do his usual manouvre of drawing opposition players to him and getting hurt* before the BIG match this weekend (in South Africa v the Springboks).
However....in the 2nd half, he let loose...I love love love the way SL does not go in the direction he looks!
This really messes with the opposition players heads and he just makes everything look so easy.
So the Wallabies manged to score 8 tries;
Demi God 1
- too easy. Step, step, turn, triple back somersault followed by a roundhouse kick to someones ass, smile, slow motion then ground the ball then wave to
Lote Tuqiri 2
- yeah...good...he was on fire but it's all too rare and he was showing off in front of his former countrymen. At least he showed some hunger for the ball after a lacklustre Super 14 but I believe this was die to Digby Ioane's superb debut playing Tuqiri's usual position, which really scared him!
Scott Staniforth 2
- always a good player to have around and he was on fire because he was playing on home turf and this was agreat chance for him to get noticed by the selectors, which means they'll ignore him. AND his second try just inside the corner flag, was set up by a great pass from...sigh...Stephen...
Julian Huxley 1
- the little pretty boy was not on boot. He landed just three out of eight conversion kicks but he scored a try. And he actually ran with the ball. Lucky. His kicking sucked.
Sam Norton-Knight 1
- little Mr wannabee-Larkham-keep-trying- weenie-boy was fairly non-impressive although he did score a try....his debut try mind you...but I also believe that this was 'given' to him by Mark Chisolm.
I love this about Rugby....players, usually forwards, Gregan and Larkham are quite happy to share their limelight...Chisholm could have quite easily taken the try but he chose to pass it inside to S N-K, thus granting him his first test try.
Adam Ashley-Cooper 1
- manged to ground the ball after a clever kick from winger Drew Mitchell.
Tuqiri was voted Man of the Match. Whatever.
Larkham always gets my vote.
*despite his safe tactics...SL did get hurt...post coming up....have wiped away my tears....
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Comment by David
hahahahaha @ this from DDH:
I've always found male-bonding in sport (and in general) an interesting subject. If only I'd stayed at uni. I could have done a thesis on it? I think the gay community have gone off pornos from Fyshwick and now just watch sport.
I find this really interesting (from a purely non-gay sporting angle):
This really messes with the opposition players heads and he just makes everything look so easy.
The ease with which he does it is something you can't teach people. You've either got the ability to do it with ease or you haven't. I noticed it in the 2nd Test against Wales. Well he didn't play the first one, so it was always going to be hard to notice it in that one.
I also like the laconic way he scores a try. He just places the ball down on the ground without making the big 'I sure hope there's a sports photographer out there who puts this one on the back page' dive.
Okay, I'm going now. All I'm writing about is Larkham. That's really starting to disturb me.
David ...
Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
- DDH
I'm with David on this ... giggle snort giggle.
Take care
Cara. xxxx
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
I love that
My work here is almost done.
...now I just have to convince you that Rugby is the only ball code worth knowing...
I also very much love that you know what to watch.
Said like a true athlete.
big hugs sugah
Dusk
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
Oh my goodness!! We haven't giggle snorted for ages!!
Yeah I know...poor Sam.
He'll never be Stephen.
much love Cara
Dusk
Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
I've often wondered myself. I fact come to think of it there was a lot of it going on when I used to play basketball... oh... oh dear...
I need to call my therapist...
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
...bassketball...?!
It's funny that the women don't slap butt...they 'high five' and stuff like that....
Be well Y...
Dusk