GoulburnWho Is James Bevan?
June 4th 2007 02:11
...and why does he have a trophy named after him and why do atrophy and a trophy have such different connotations?
1. atrophy - weakening
2. a trophy - reward for strength
Played on Saturday June 2nd at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia.
Despite the overwhelming win, this was not a victory.
...but let's go back to the titular question.
The trophy awarded to the winner of the match between Australia and Wales is named The James Bevan Trophy.
James Bevan (1858 - 1938) was the first player to captain Wales in a Rugby international. He was not Welsh, he was born in Australia.
Bevan did not play in Australia nor did he ever play for Australia. He played just once for Wales but as the Captain - the first captain, and firsts always count more than others.
....and this was the inaugural trophy so...if the cup fits...
Now. Let's get on with it. The sorry excuse for a match.
I am not happy.
I'm not going to bother writing anything about the first half because it was just that memorable.
Not.
The only thing I can recall (other than a flash of Larkham's nakedthighs brilliance) is the freakin Ref, Paul Honiss (NZ) who obviously has not had enough on camera time this year and he fancies himself as Bogart with Bacall...because if he had interrupted the match anymore than he did, his freakin' whistle would have been been shoved up his freakin'...but we won't go there.
And...oh God....the injury to Welsh winger Chris Czekaj...
Will say this...also....the poor handling (both sides) was not just due to the greasy conditions in Brisbane that night. The Backs forgot to wash their hands after doing their hair.
I'm still on the first half. The nightmare is coming back to me. I gotta tell ya...some of the handling errors completely baffled me. Even the simplest of passing and catching the ball skills failed to gel. (tee hee..refer to above paragraph)
Dorklock (aka Stirling Mortlock #13 outside centre) dropped the ball at a crucial time. Dorkley (aka Julian Huxley #15 fullback) dropped it as soon as the whistle to play sounded and then kicked a dick ball later in the half, punting it into dead ball goal instead of taking a penalty kick....which is something I prefer but in this case, we didn't gain 3 easy points and we also lost the chance to take a lineout near the Welsh line.
George Smith should not have cut his dreadlocks. Like Samson...he has lost his power. Somebody should have woken him up before he came on field.
Dorklock at least redeemed himself with a couple of penalty goals.
...and then halftime break....and whatever was said in the locker room worked and I truly do believe that it was nothing that the Coach mumbled and everything that this man said.
When George Gregan ran on field 2nd half, you could hear the sighs of relief. From the fans and the players.
This experiment of having Hobbiteau (aka Matt Giteau) at scrum half #9 is not working people. How many times does it have to be s.p.e.l.l.e.d. out for you?
Okay...before I go on, I must clarify this.
Larkham was not at his best. Mind you, his less than best is still more than excellent.
It is World Cup year and he is obviously being careful. Too careful. And I would rather see him not play than see him being careful. He didn't kick at all, which means he is still nursing last week's hamstring injury.
Having said that, Larkham's ability to draw opposition players to him and to take the brunt of the tackle before offloading the ball is awe inspiring.
PLUS...he had a chance to grab and run with the ball, which would have led to an eventual personal try but he chose to tap it on to Nathan Sharpe (from a pass by Wycliff Palu) to Huxley to Digby Ioane's debut try. And the Wallabies first try of the match.
Gregan's presence just settled the team and finally, the phases flowed. The ball did what it does best. It passed from hand to hand, player to player then got grounded or kicked where it should be.
AND if I ever hear that George Gregan is ANYTHING LESS THAN THE WORLD"S GREATEST RUGBY UNION SCRUMHALF....I will find you and I will...hurt you.
There is no one better at getting that ball out of the ruck. There is no one better (and believe it or not...Gregan does this a little bit better than Larkham) at engaging the opposition player's eyes...by this I mean Gregan does this thing...where he locks eyes with the opponent...and offloads the ball...and his opponent is left wondering what the hell just happened?
There is no one better at 'listening' to the hooker's signal at feeding the ball into the scrum. There is no one better than Gregan at igniting the wallabies forward bound spark.
There is no better pairing than Gregan and Larkham. On a rugby field that is.
Hobitteau moving back to his favoured position of inseide centre (#12) put the backline in perfect Brumbies sync (although Hobbiteau is a traitorous midget who ran to the Force because those big meanies Gregan and Larkham were always going to be too good to usurp. Oh boo hoo. Call the wah-mbulance)
...and may the Rugby God strike me down and never bestow my wish of being a Wallaby but...the front row sucked.
Why? Why? WhYYYYYYY is Pudding (aka Matt Dunning) allowed anywhere near a Rugby match? Why is Stephen Moore hooker? Who is Stephen Moore? Where is Jeremy Paul? (post coming up)
As per usual, Rocky Elsom and Wycliff Palu proved how good they are at their individual positions with Palu being granted Man of the Match. He more than deserved it. Palu was hungry for the ball and he wasn't going to let anyone else feed him. He went hunting and fed himself.
So...in the second half, the Wallabies found their rhythm and found the gaping holes in the Welsh defence. After Digby's try, came a try from the other winger Drew Mitchell (Tuqiri better be worried) and now the score was 24-0.
Then Gregan through a beautiful inside pass to Huxley who chipped it ahead and then gathered a great bounce to ground and...try! 29-0 with Mortlock's conversion still to come.
The last 10 minutes were pretty strong and the Welsh could have saved some face with a try that rampaging Welsh Flanker Colin Charvis surged through with but never say die Wallabies held it up...and the Honiss blew his whistle for the last time. Thank God.
A lot of questions.
Too scary to think that we are only a few matches away from the World Cup and our form is sadly lacking.
The most crucial question of them all.
Why is there not a suitable understudy for Stephen Larkham?
I watched a bit of the other matches....and the all Blacks are looking right on track...TO LOSE ANOTHER WORLD CUP.
Cast your mind back to 2003 sportsfans.
The All Blacks ruled the Rugby world.
The All Blacks faded to grey when faced with the Green and Gold.
images courtesy of:
www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au
www.stuff.co.nz
1. atrophy - weakening
2. a trophy - reward for strength
Wallabies v Wales
31 - 0
The James Bevan Trophy
31 - 0
The James Bevan Trophy
Played on Saturday June 2nd at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia.
Despite the overwhelming win, this was not a victory.
...but let's go back to the titular question.
The trophy awarded to the winner of the match between Australia and Wales is named The James Bevan Trophy.
James Bevan (1858 - 1938) was the first player to captain Wales in a Rugby international. He was not Welsh, he was born in Australia.
Bevan did not play in Australia nor did he ever play for Australia. He played just once for Wales but as the Captain - the first captain, and firsts always count more than others.
....and this was the inaugural trophy so...if the cup fits...
Now. Let's get on with it. The sorry excuse for a match.
I am not happy.
I'm not going to bother writing anything about the first half because it was just that memorable.
Not.
The only thing I can recall (other than a flash of Larkham's naked
And...oh God....the injury to Welsh winger Chris Czekaj...
Will say this...also....the poor handling (both sides) was not just due to the greasy conditions in Brisbane that night. The Backs forgot to wash their hands after doing their hair.
I'm still on the first half. The nightmare is coming back to me. I gotta tell ya...some of the handling errors completely baffled me. Even the simplest of passing and catching the ball skills failed to gel. (tee hee..refer to above paragraph)
Dorklock (aka Stirling Mortlock #13 outside centre) dropped the ball at a crucial time. Dorkley (aka Julian Huxley #15 fullback) dropped it as soon as the whistle to play sounded and then kicked a dick ball later in the half, punting it into dead ball goal instead of taking a penalty kick....which is something I prefer but in this case, we didn't gain 3 easy points and we also lost the chance to take a lineout near the Welsh line.
George Smith should not have cut his dreadlocks. Like Samson...he has lost his power. Somebody should have woken him up before he came on field.
Dorklock at least redeemed himself with a couple of penalty goals.
...and then halftime break....and whatever was said in the locker room worked and I truly do believe that it was nothing that the Coach mumbled and everything that this man said.
The leGGend
When George Gregan ran on field 2nd half, you could hear the sighs of relief. From the fans and the players.
This experiment of having Hobbiteau (aka Matt Giteau) at scrum half #9 is not working people. How many times does it have to be s.p.e.l.l.e.d. out for you?
Okay...before I go on, I must clarify this.
Larkham was not at his best. Mind you, his less than best is still more than excellent.
It is World Cup year and he is obviously being careful. Too careful. And I would rather see him not play than see him being careful. He didn't kick at all, which means he is still nursing last week's hamstring injury.
Having said that, Larkham's ability to draw opposition players to him and to take the brunt of the tackle before offloading the ball is awe inspiring.
PLUS...he had a chance to grab and run with the ball, which would have led to an eventual personal try but he chose to tap it on to Nathan Sharpe (from a pass by Wycliff Palu) to Huxley to Digby Ioane's debut try. And the Wallabies first try of the match.
Who you calling a Digby? Oh yeah..me...
Gregan's presence just settled the team and finally, the phases flowed. The ball did what it does best. It passed from hand to hand, player to player then got grounded or kicked where it should be.
AND if I ever hear that George Gregan is ANYTHING LESS THAN THE WORLD"S GREATEST RUGBY UNION SCRUMHALF....I will find you and I will...hurt you.
There is no one better at getting that ball out of the ruck. There is no one better (and believe it or not...Gregan does this a little bit better than Larkham) at engaging the opposition player's eyes...by this I mean Gregan does this thing...where he locks eyes with the opponent...and offloads the ball...and his opponent is left wondering what the hell just happened?
There is no one better at 'listening' to the hooker's signal at feeding the ball into the scrum. There is no one better than Gregan at igniting the wallabies forward bound spark.
There is no better pairing than Gregan and Larkham. On a rugby field that is.
Hobitteau moving back to his favoured position of inseide centre (#12) put the backline in perfect Brumbies sync (although Hobbiteau is a traitorous midget who ran to the Force because those big meanies Gregan and Larkham were always going to be too good to usurp. Oh boo hoo. Call the wah-mbulance)
...and may the Rugby God strike me down and never bestow my wish of being a Wallaby but...the front row sucked.
Why? Why? WhYYYYYYY is Pudding (aka Matt Dunning) allowed anywhere near a Rugby match? Why is Stephen Moore hooker? Who is Stephen Moore? Where is Jeremy Paul? (post coming up)
As per usual, Rocky Elsom and Wycliff Palu proved how good they are at their individual positions with Palu being granted Man of the Match. He more than deserved it. Palu was hungry for the ball and he wasn't going to let anyone else feed him. He went hunting and fed himself.
No one gets in my way when I'm hungry
So...in the second half, the Wallabies found their rhythm and found the gaping holes in the Welsh defence. After Digby's try, came a try from the other winger Drew Mitchell (Tuqiri better be worried) and now the score was 24-0.
Then Gregan through a beautiful inside pass to Huxley who chipped it ahead and then gathered a great bounce to ground and...try! 29-0 with Mortlock's conversion still to come.
The last 10 minutes were pretty strong and the Welsh could have saved some face with a try that rampaging Welsh Flanker Colin Charvis surged through with but never say die Wallabies held it up...and the Honiss blew his whistle for the last time. Thank God.
A lot of questions.
Too scary to think that we are only a few matches away from the World Cup and our form is sadly lacking.
The most crucial question of them all.
Why is there not a suitable understudy for Stephen Larkham?
I watched a bit of the other matches....and the all Blacks are looking right on track...TO LOSE ANOTHER WORLD CUP.
Cast your mind back to 2003 sportsfans.
The All Blacks ruled the Rugby world.
The All Blacks faded to grey when faced with the Green and Gold.
GO THE WALLABIES!!!!!!!!!
images courtesy of:
www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au
www.stuff.co.nz
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Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
...and, oh boy, the wine tasted damn good after all those months of abstinence.
Love your reporting as usual. Your way with words makes the whole game come to life.
Oh, and SL looks so much larger on the field than his photos would suggest.
(No, I'm not talking about any particular part of his anatomy when I say that.)
Have a wonderful week, dear Dusk.
Cara. xxxx
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
You had wine!!!!! Ohhhh....I wish Cherry was here to virtual celebrate this occasion...I wish we could all do it in realtime too. One day....
AND I am so happy you manged to watch a bit of this match (not to mention managed to get through the wilderness of this post!)....wasn't the best match but... oh well.
And yes Stephen is
much biggerlarger than he looks in his photos (he is 6'2" and 90kg) but he's still considered small in comparison to other Rugby players!Even though Gregan is only about 5'9", he is still a big man muscularity wise.
DDH is 6'2" and 100kg...and he's actually smaller now than when he was playing Rugby.
I'm about that size (minus 45kg and a few inches...!) so I'm built like a Rugby player too....
These guys...they're huge.
Big hugs to the bugs...and to you my sweet Cara...
Dusk
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
and why does he have a trophy named after him and why do atrophy and a trophy have such different connotations?
1. atrophy - weakening
2. a trophy - reward for strength
Okay this sent my mind to whirling. Must quiet the mind. What a great point.
Best wishes
Super Bunny