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14th November, 2003 I got a text message from a friend telling me that Princess Pauline Hanson was free, I dropped the phone in my excitement. She looked great as she left Wacol Women’s Prison although she was not her usual confident self in the first interviews. That night with some make up and designer clothes on, she was back to her usual self and she has a very big axe to grind. At 49 years old the Princess still looks good and when she re-enters the Political scene her loyal subjects will vote for her in droves. I have just finished the most enjoyable 2 days of coaching I have ever done. I coached the Bali Legends Team we played the combines Forbes Rugby Club and Coogee Dolphins team last night in a Bali Memorial Charity match at North Sydney Oval. Our game was the curtain raiser to the main game between the Barbarians and the Bali Legends XV. My team was comprised of ex-pats from various Asian Clubs who had an involvement with that horrible night in Bali. There is an untold story from the Bali Bombing which people in Australia have not heard about. On the day of the Bali Bombing there was a Rugby Union 10-a side tournament being held in Bali the “Bali Tens”. Consequently the Sari Club was full of Rugby Players when the bombs went off. In total 27 players died from these Asian Clubs, the Honk Kong Football Club lost their entire team a contingent of 11 players and supporters. The ISCI Club of Djakarta lost 6 of their players. These players were ex-pat Poms, Kiwis and Aussies all playing Rugby in Asia for the pure enjoyment of the game. All the guys in my team were either in Bali on that terrible day or had friends who died there. Some of the ISCI boys told a harrowing tale of being in a taxi just metres from the blast zone when the bombs went off. They were great blokes with some real characters amongst them. I was very worried after our first training session because it looked like half the squad had never hit a hit shield. They were falling over, hitting the bag head first and generally doing everything else except hitting the bag properly. The following rucking session was a nightmare with 3 players going to Hospital requiring stitches. The boys really surprised me because they got up for the game and played well. It was very emotional before the game with the players writing the names of their lost friends on their arms. The Forbes/Coogee Dolphins team wrote the playing numbers of the their lost friends on both arms. The match was played in good spirits and the after match function at the Empire Hotel in Kings Cross was also great. I really felt privileged to be a part of such a wonderful event and I made some good friends as well. Finally this weekend sees the Semi Finals of the World Cup commencing. On form the French and All Blacks should win. I predicted in my first couple of articles that the Wallaby Trophy cabinet will be empty by the end of the season and I stand by this. I agree with Sean Fitzpatrick that player for player the All Blacks are better across the whole team. The scrums should be even with both teams not possessing attacking scrums. The All Black lineout should shade the wallaby lineout though both teams have had troubles in this department. In terms of the back row Jerry Collins is worth 2 men and our George Smith is also playing well. The Wallabies do lose a lineout jumper by playing both Smith and Waugh. The All Black backline does appear to be much more potent then the Wallaby backline with King Carlos really directing traffic well for the All Blacks. Howlett and Rokocoko have also been performing a lot better than their Wallaby counterparts. On form the All Blacks should win by 20 points, everyone is hoping that the Wallabies will again perform like champions and win. I doubt it but you live in hope so I hope Eddie Jones boys can do something special on Saturday night. The French should beat England on Saturday night they are really the form side of the World Cup. The efficiency of the French forwards is unbelievable with the power they are generating at scrum time second to none. The England forwards went missing in action when the Boks belted them, the Boks gave them a real touch up at scrum time. Luckily the Poms had Johnny and his boot to keep them in the game or they would have been in real trouble. The French have the best back row a great backline and some real grunt up front they will be very hard to beat. Bubba’s Broadside is predicting a World Cup Final between the All Blacks and the Frogs. Regards |
