1/09/2004
Bubba Here There and Everywhere

What can I say missed the Olympics, missed the Dream with Roy and HG and missed most of the Tri-Nations. But that’s what happens when you are immersed in your own sport here in Asia. We had pretty good Olympic Coverage here in Singapore but Indonesia had none and it was not flash in Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia you only get the Tri-Nations on delayed coverage 2 days after the event. I have been getting around to all the above places over the last couple of months for 7’s tournaments etc. so I have missed heaps.

Kept up with all the news on Rugby Heaven and the Sydney Morning Herald website. I can’t wait to get Roy and HG’s boxed collection of DVD’s for Christmas, they would have gone absolutely berserk over the female rower who stopped 500m before the end of the race. Roy Slaven being a former Olympic trialist in the double sculls would simply have been frothing at the mouth, HG Nelson would have had to subdue him with a swift knock of a souvlaki to back of the head.

I watched the Test against the All Blacks in Sydney and it was simply a magnificent game. The pace, power and continuity on display really shows how far the game has come. If I was playing even at my peak I would have been calling for a taxi to the next scrum after the first 10 minutes. The All Blacks phase play defence was good but it lead to them being penalised and yellow carded on one occasion. They have certainly taken phase play defence up a notch, they form a dead straight line at the back of the ruck/maul and then the whole line sprints off the mark and tears into the opposition.

The Wallabies had great tactics to combat this, Larkham took the ball to the tackle line then threw a 10 to 20 meter long ball which took the ball carrier to the line a long way from the ruck/maul zone. This lead to some good line breaks and tries. The Wallabies set pieces were also surprisingly strong; the AB’s lineout was very poor which is unusual for them.

You will notice on my message board that I picked the Boks to beat both the All Blacks and the Wallabies in South Africa. How true was my prediction the De Boke belted the All Blacks and narrowly beat the Wallabies. My prediction was based on the form of the Boks in their 2 games away, I have not seen them play such good football away from home for many years. Put their good form together with their insane home crowds and of course they got up and beat the All Blacks and Wallabies. I heard the Wallaby forwards went missing in action with my hero Os Du Randt in mighty form. Who can not worship a 140kg scrummaging machine like Os. I packed against him when he was playing for Orange Free State and it was certainly a hard afternoon in the office.

With 7’s Coach Tom Browne I have been busy preparing the Singapore 7’s team for the World Cup Qualifiers in Sri Lanka. In the last 2 weeks we have played in tournaments in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. We made the semi-final in Kuala Lumpur and the final in Bangkok. We seem to be on track for Sri Lanka with some very good personnel in the team. Our Captain Rong Jing Xiang is a funny character, he is a great player but he has this compulsion to drag the whole squad to his favourite nightclub in Bangkok called “Obsessions”. Luckily I have never been in the place but the boys tell me that the girls in there have deep voices and large hands, they can’t get out of there quick enough. Perhaps Ossie being a man of the world can explain this strange nightclub for us.

Email Matt Ryan at bubbaemu@hotmail.com

Regards
Matt (Bubba) Ryan

Photo`s courtesy of Dr Tom Browne
The mullet is alive and well in Singapore	Bangkok Hotel Porter	All the lads in Bangkok	Canal at the back of our hotel, canals in Bangkok have 3 colours Black, Deep sapce Black and Black