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16th August, 2003 As the title suggests you don’t have to be Einstein to work out that the All Blacks will beat the Wallabies in Auckland tonight. What is hard about the exercise is picking what the margin will be. I have been getting the results right every week but I have been way off in picking the margin. I think NSW Tab Sports have it right by quoting the All Blacks at $1.85 to beat the Wallabies by 14.5 points. As I said in a previous article if the Wallabies were going to aim up this year they should have done it in Sydney, it won’t happen in Auckland tonight. There was an interesting article in the press this week saying that for a team to maintain form or improve they have to turn over 20% of their playing staff each year. The article then went on to say that the All Blacks have had a deliberate policy of introducing new blood and though painful, dropping tried and true veteran performers. Evidence of this was the All Black tour of Europe last year where John Mitchell selected a very inexperienced team with the majority of the team being uncapped. In contrast Eddie Jones took a mainly experienced squad and selected very few new players. Mitchell is certainly reaping the rewards of his policy he has virtually two Test strength teams to pick from. Mitchell has also been dropping veteran performers before they play a bad game. He copped some flak for dropping Cullen, Randell and Mehrtens but everyone is applauding his selections now. Eddie Jones has stuck by his veteran players and even persisted with them when they have been out of form. Matt Burke should have been moved aside before he had that shocker in Sydney. Tonight another veteran performer Glen Panoho plays at tight heads prop against the All Blacks. Eddie Jones knows Panaho cannot perform at this level yet he has picked him in front of NSW up and comer Al Baxter. I watched Al Baxter destroy Manly’s scrum last week and believe he should have been given a chance against the All Blacks, at least you will know if he can aim up in the World Cup. A big hello to Donny and Chris (aka Brazilian Anaconda) in Japan. Donnny and Chris have spent the last week up in the mountains outside of Tokyo with their Rugby teams. Donny is your typical Kiwi and with sheep not available he found some large mouthed carp, you don’t have to be Einstein to work out what he did to them. Chris as usual scoured the hills for something alcoholic to drink, he eventually pinched a bottle of Metho from a farmers shed and chilled it in a mountain stream, he told me it tasted like champagne. I have been getting emails from Captain Ron in India, he is visiting the Taj Mahal and other sights there. I warned Ron not to take any strangers back to his hotel room or he would wake in his bath minus his kidneys. As you know organ trafficking is huge in India so I hope he heeds my advice. Keep posting those messages on my board, I reply to everyone. Regards |
