WOEFUL WALLABIES
All Blacks 34 defeated Wallabies 24
Saturday September 3rd, Auckland
Make sure you check out
the link above to Bubba’s Sporting Memorabilia, the latest bid is
AUD$400 for a Steve Waugh signed photomontage.
When I toured
Ireland/Wales with the 1992 Wallabies
the
UK press dubbed the Saturday Test Team the Rolls Royce’s and the
mid-week team the Lada’s, after that woeful Eastern Block car that ran
on charcoal and had the power of a sewing machine. I was a proud
member of the mid-week team and we were woeful losing to Munster and
Swansea. The Saturday Test Team were superb as usual in this era
beating Ireland, Wales and the Barbarians. After Saturday’s Test loss
in Auckland we again see the Wallabies with the team divided into Roll
Royce’s and Ladas, the backline is world class and the tight five
woeful with hearts the size of Lada motors.
Very hard to compete at
this level with the current tight five we are fielding. The scrum was
really stitched up in the first half;
John
Drake the former All Black prop did not think so. I don’t know what
game Drake was watching; Carl Hayman threw Bill Young around in nearly
every scrum. Bill Young was turned in and collapsed, pushed out and
collapsed, wheeled at a rate of knots and generally pushed around the
park. A the 5 mins 30 secs into the second half a 5-metre scrum was
packed with the Wallabies defending their line and an All Black put
in. I honestly thought the Wallabies could not
stop a pushover their scrummaging was so bad. But surprise, surprise
not only did they resist they actually stood up the All Black front
row. Then not long after the worst replacement was made in Test Match
History, Matt Dunning the pin up boy for the Flying Pieman was brought
on. Dunning gave away 9 points in penalties and if the scrum was in
trouble before, it was absolutely monstered when he came on.
I think Gregan did
enough to hang on to the Captaincy, his service was slick and he and
Rogers combined well. Smith, Gregan and Rogers all worked well at the
base of a badly beaten scrum, negating this massive All Black strength
to some degree. I was not impressed with Sharpe’s little smile to
during the Haka. If you are going to show disrespect to a country’s
cultural icon then back it up on the field. Sam Scott Young used to
accept the challenge of the Haka by walking up close and staring at
the All Blacks. Sam then went out and axe murdered a few of the
opposition, Sharpe should have done the same.
If
Eddy
hangs on I hope he puts the broom through the playing ranks, there is
really a lot of dead wood hanging around. There is perfect chance on
the upcoming European Tour to try out some young guns. I think Eddy
should leave a couple of young props behind in France to play some
club rugby. I played a season there and it is a fantastic proving
ground, you learn how to scrummage, fight like a fiend and generally
behave like props are supposed to. You can see it in the French
National Team they continually roll out world-class front rows because
of their tough and very high standard club competition.
The only shining lights
from the Auckland loss were Rogers and Mark Gerrard. Gerrard was
sensational and his two tries simply superb, he will spend a few more
years in a Wallaby jumper. The Wallaby coaching staff had obviously
seen a hole in the All Black line at the end of the lineout, perhaps
overeagerness to get to the Wallaby 10. Gerrard hit this hole like a
runaway train and scored twice, not easy tries he broke through a fair
number of tackles. Rogers was also very good at 10 for the Wallabies,
finally Eddy has another option beside Larkham to use in the future.
Don’t the press love the Woeful Wallabies headline, thought I would
give it another run on the Broadside. We got branded with it after
just one Test loss on the last full tour of New Zealand in 1990. It is
now history that highly successful Eales, Horan, Little etc. era began
with the Third Test win in Wellington at the end of this tour. I don’t
know when the next successful era for the Wallabies is going to kick
off again. Need some rock apes in the front row to start with.
The Singapore 7’s Team
are off to Sri Lanka this weekend for the Asian 7’s Tournament. I will
be travelling with the team to assist Coach Tom Browne. Will send
through a full report in the next Broadside edition.
Reading the message
board
Bruce
and Dave
seem surprisingly stable after the 5th Test Loss in a row, they must
be getting used to it by now. I was planning to get the suicide
counsellors ready for an intervention with these two Wallaby die-hard
supporters but they seem Ok. I now have a number of spies online in
Coff’s Harbour to report on the goings on with Stormin Norman, hello
to William and Dan. They report that Norman’s 51st Birthday was a real
success the only hiccup being a very hurried explanation on the guest
list from last year, which included mysterious Wollongong
gatecrashers. This is a very in-joke for the gang from Coff’s so I am
sure they all know what it means.
My good mate Peter Fab’s Fenton is re-releasing his two great Rugby
films.
The Running game ( 1981) and The African Campaign ( 1992) are the only
two documentaries ever made on Wallaby Rugby tours. Made by feature
film makers with a great love of the game they are exceptional social
documents. Much more than a series of interviews and television
highlights, these films put the viewer ‘on tour.’
THE RUNNING GAME
The long tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland was the ultimate Rugby
experience, featuring internationals against all four home nations.
For three months The Seventh Wallabies of 1981/2, who had made
sacrifices to participate which can hardly be understood today, were
sustained by comradeship and hospitality as they travelled through
Britain’s worst winter this century. The Running Game, a classic
account of their experiences on and off the field, was a revelation.
For the first time cameras were allowed into a Wallaby test match
dressing room prior to and after the match. The use of previously
unused camera techniques and slow motion montages, complemented by
especially composed music and verse, provides a moving and exciting
tribute to some of the great players of a bygone era. The
uncompromising captain Tony Shaw, the inimitable Mark Loane, the new
genius Mark Ella and stoic, veteran halfback John Hipwell are just a
few of yesterday’s heroes who will thrill younger viewers and take
older ones back to a glorious time.
THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGN
This intense and personal observation of the 1992 tour of South Africa
documents the first by the Wallabies since 1969. With the apartheid
restrictions lifted, the World Cup winners put their reputation on the
line against the Springboks who had not been able to participate in
the event held the previous year. “You are not the world champions
until you beat us,” they were told. Three lead up games, in
Potchefstroom, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria, preceded a record breaking
win by the Wallabies at Newlands Stadium. This was one of Australia’s
finest teams with Kearns, Eales, Ofahengaue, Farr-Jones, Lynagh,
Horan, Little and Campese, whose fiftieth test try sealed the game.
Yet as interesting and exciting as the matches were a meeting with
Nelson Mandela, a fun-filled but very emotional training clinic with
youngsters in the black township outside Port Elizabeth and a
performance by South Africa’s leading black choir, the Matthews
Singers, staged especially for the Wallabies. Like its predecessor,
The Running Game, this film puts you ‘on tour’ with a great sporting
team.
So if your interested in ordering these films contact Haydn Keenan at
Smart Street Films
at
smartstreet@optusnet.com.au
The African Campaign is a great documentary, as I was one of the stars
Ha Ha. You can see me running around in my prime here against the big
Dutchmen of Western Traansvaal and Eastern Province. I will have to
order
one of the new DVD releases, as my VHS version is cactus. Fabs
tells me he is flogging them for $30 each, an absolute bargain.
