World Cup Wrap Up

Who would have thought that the World Cup would come to be such a big event, as a 20 year old I was in the crowd at Concord Oval in 1987 to watch France beat Australia in a semi final of the first World Cup. Concord Oval though a great Sydney Club ground was certainly not a good venue for a World Cup game, imagine playing a World Cup semi-final today in a ground with only 22,000 capacity. I also better change that song on my homepage titled “No World Cup, No Cry” because the Wallabies with some very good performances this year have quietly come back into contention for the World Cup. The whole of New Zealand must have the jitters because year after year the team has flown off for the World Cup being red hot favourites only to choke at the last hurdle.

I was in Fiji recently and though not there to do any coaching my good friend Ratu Rabici Ganilau asked me to coach the Rabi team who were competing in the Island Zone Competition. This was rugby at it’s purest and best, I turned up at the ground in Nabua to see the Rabi boy’s ready for training in bare feet and wearing everything from beanies to singlet’s and just old shorts. But talk about keen to learn and get stuck into training the Rabi boy’s were as good as any team I have coached. We had a very good session and at the sevu sevu (presentation) after I was very surprised to be presented with 7kg of the finest Rabi Kava, it was pure Waka (High grade kava). The Rabi team wants me to go over to their island at Christmas to do some more coaching; they have promised even better Kava so I might make the trip.

In Australia there is plenty of happening with AFL and League heading into the finals and of course all the off field drama in the ARL. In Fiji the whole country is completely fixated with the Rugby World Cup, it dominates all the press. To give an example my two mates in Nadi, Jerry and Navula have set themselves up very well for the World Cup. They have a big screen, good supply of Kava and other refreshments and look ready to shut down completely for the 6 weeks of the World Cup, I just hope they don’t go on any Golden Mile Tours when they are full cut. The Fiji press are funny they honestly think Fiji are going to waltz into the Quarter Finals, I don’t think they have done their homework on Wales in their pool. Fiji still remembers Samoa beating Wales in the 1991 World Cup and think they are a good chance.

As I mentioned previously I must change that song on my homepage as the Wallabies have really come back into contention for the World Cup. You need some world class players to win a World Cup and the Wallabies have those players in Latham, Mortlock, Gregan, Larkham, Sharp and Vickerman. We are still lacking up front though greatly improved on previous seasons, it would be great to have a world class tighthead prop but unfortunately we just don’t have one. The winner of the World Cup will come from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and France. The Kiwi’s are again favourites but I can see the Wallabies and also France able to beat them on their day.

My tips for the first pool games of the World Cup are:

Pool A
ENG v USA winner ENG
RSA v Samoa winner RSA
USA v Tonga winner Tonga

Pool B
AUS v JAP winner AUS
WAL v CAN winner WAL
JAP v FIJI winner FIJI

POOL C
NZ v ITA winner NZ
SCO v POR winner SCO
ITA v ROM winner ITA

POOL D
FRA v ARG winner FRA
IRE v NAM winner IRE
ARG v GEO winner ARG

Chance in Melbourne

If we are going to beat the All Blacks this year then it will be in Melbourne tonight. The All Blacks have travelled from a tough match in South Africa. Take my word for it, you get some serious jet lag when you fly back this way from South Africa. The Wallabies are rested after having last weekend off, the Wallabies would also like the current situation they are in with the press and public actually saying nice things about them for once. The Wallabies have also had a serious step up in form after their very good showing in Capetown.

So it is all set tonight for a great match, we have a rested, confident Wallaby team playing a home match against the All Blacks. As we all know it has been a few seasons since the Wallabies have faced the All Blacks with such a positive outlook.

As Nick Farr Jones was saying during the week, it is a very important match. If the Wallabies win, it will give them a huge lift going into the World Cup. If the All Blacks win then the current status quo remains, they continue onto the World Cup as red hot favourites.

Room Full of Mirrors

After living in Roy and HG's room full of mirrors for a few years the Wallabies finally had a go on the weekend and gave the Boks a real go. We saw a hint of a much improved Wallaby forward pack in the second Test against Wales. It was like stepping back in time on the weekend, for so long we have seen the Wallaby scrum get shunted around the field, it was a shock to see them rock solid against a very good Bok pack.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the forwards really getting stuck in and having a go in defence, cleanimg out etc. Vickerman and Sharpe were sensational, I thought Vickerman in particular put in a performance that is the best of any international lock this season.

So you see I can certainly stick the knife in when the Wallabies lose, but they lost on the weekend and like everyone I really enjoyed the match the committment was sensational.
Just watching on the weekend I was thinking hang on, if the Wallabies play like this they will give the All Blacks a go and also come back into reckoning for the World Cup.

My mate Stormin Norman in Coff's is a mad All Black's supporter and he was a bit quite after the weekend. He watched the All Blacks stutter a bit against Canada and then watching the Wallabies he may have been having flashbacks to 1991 and 2003 World Cups when the Wallabies knocked out the All Blacks who were unbackable favourites in both matches.

7's Heaven

Just back from Fiji yesterday 9th April and what a time to be in Fiji, two weekends of 7's Heaven. We had the Hong Kong 7's last week which saw Fiji lose the final 27 - 22 to Samoa. As I have mentioned before every match of the Hong Kong 7's is shown live and the whole country shuts down to watch it. You should have read the press in Fiji after the loss in Hong Kong talk about the knives being out, Serevi's back must have been sore all week as ex-players, officials and just about everyone in the country tore into Serevi and the team.

It was quite funny to read as not once was it mentioned why the team actually lost the final. Samoa simply did their homework, they stacked the centre of the field for the kick offs with 5 players facing 3 Fijian players, they rushed the short kick offs regained the ball and scored 3 times. Samoa were superior at the breakdown retaining their own ball easily and quickly. Fiji had trouble retaining their own ball in the rucks and Samoa invariably slowed it down or turned it over. Fiji are known for being poor at quick ruck ball or turning over the opposition's in 7's, they are the best in the world when the ball is in hand and they have space.

I read in the press every reason for Fiji losing the Hong Kong 7's, the main reason given was the team was not fit enough. One joker an ex-trainer even detailed his fitness components for Rugby and where the Fiji team were lacking. What a laugh when the Fiji 7's team are known for being possibly the fittest team on the IRB 7's circuit. I know this as a fact as I have coached Singapore at the Hong Kong and Singapore 7's. Opposition coaches talk about dominating Fiji in technical terms as Samoa did in Hong Kong, disrupting lineouts, scrums and kick offs and slowing down Fiji's ball in the tackle area. Everyone knows you can never beat Fiji for speed and fitness in 7's, the exception is the public and so called experts back in Fiji.

On to the next weekend where on Easter Sunday 8th April Fiji won the Adelaide 7's beating Samoa 21 - 7 in the Cup Final. Again the whole tournament was shown live on Saturday and Sunday and the whole of Fiji was watching. I was in Fiji to coach the two Fijian IRB Pacific Cup Teams, I spent Monday and Tuesday coaching the Fiji Barbarians Team who had a narrow loss to Upolu Samoa 26-25 in Apia. I then spent the rest of the week with the Fiji Warriors who played Savi'i Samoa on Saturday 7th April in Lautoka, with the Warriors winning 16-11. Unfortunately not a great crowd was at the game as everyone was at home watching the Adelaide 7's.

What a difference a week makes as I was flying out of Nadi airport on Monday morning the headlines used Easter terminology such as Redemption and Resurrection in Adelaide. Full front page photos, it was if Fiji had won the World Cup. Contrast this to Australia when I got the papers in Sydney, where the Adelaide 7's only rated a paragraph in the sports section with no photos. No one even knew it was on and the finals were only shown on pay per view TV, nothing on the TV news at all. Well that is 7's in Fiji it is unique and it is certainly the only country in the world where it holds such a fascination with the sporting public. Well done to Serevi and the team, it will be interesting to read what the critics have to say this week. The Fiji 7's team have a good chance off winning the overall title as their are 2 rounds to go and they are on top by 10 points at 104 with Samoa on 94.

Regards
Bubba

In Crisis

I agree with my mate Bruce Holden from www.15manrugby.com that Rugby in Australia is in a real crisis. I sat and watched a great game of Rugby League on Friday night with the Broncos playing the Cowboys, it was a great game that you would pay money to see. Then I watched the garbage dished up by the Reds and the Waratahs, honestly you would not pay money to watch these games, schoolboy football is more entertaining and skilful.

The Reds are in a terrible position, they will probably get 10,000 or below for their next home game while the Broncos and the Titans will continue to pull 40,000 plus at the same venue. The Reds sponsors will be fuming and you know where their money will be going next year. The Reds unfortunately are locked into Suncorp Stadium and are losing a lot of dough at each match. They must rue the day they left Ballymore as every dollar that came through the gate went straight into their pocket, someone told me that you needed 15,000 plus just to pay for the hire fee for each match at Suncorp.

The Reds are looking at giving Ballymore back to the Queensland Government, giving all Community Rugby to the Australian Rugby Union and just keeping the Reds franchise operating. What a tragedy this would be for Queensand and Australian Rugby. A good friend of mine Captain Ron said that when Terry Doyle former Qld. CEO was ousted in a grimy boardroom deal that Queensland Rugby would be in decline for 10 years. How right he was, it is just over 10 years since Terry Doyle was shafted and the QRU are on the verge of a total collapse.

Even as an ex-player I used to be proud to say I was a former Queensland player, not anymore I am actually embarrassed to mention it. The QRU has been absolutely stuffed by successive inept administrations. Teams used to dread coming to Ballymore we would belt them from pillar to post. Now I watch a team of Reds comprised of fresh faced school boys run around the field and get bullied by the opposition. The Brisbane club competition is a farce and you can read Bruce's website to get an insite into the neglect of Queensland Country Rugby Union.

I just hope that someone with a love of Queensland Rugby actually gets control of the board and ousts all the wankers who are currently destroying the game. Leadership by the ARU is not helping it is also appalling, the 6 million contract given to Lote was a disgrace. Penrith Rugby Club is doing it really tough at the moment, they may not make it through the year. This is Rugby's only toehold in the Greater West of Sydney where a million people reside. The AFL are targetting 20,000 juniors in this area by 2015 and the League already have 15,000. Soccer's numbers are also huge but I don't have them to hand. It would take an injection of just 100K a year to keep Penrith operational. In my last year their coaching first grade in 2002 we had 20 new schools playing rugby with a further 100 to target. This has all fallen over due to lack of funding and the ARU wonder why their stakeholders are absolutey sickened and disgusted by the 6 million contract given to Tuqiri.

6 Million Over the Top

What a joke that 1 player is getting supposedly 6 million bucks over 5 years, the way Lote is playing at the moment he is not worth 5 bucks in my book. The Kiwi wingers will be looking forward to running rings around him, they get paid about 25% of what Lote is on.

I laughed at McKenzies article last week where he was whingeing about the refs not refereeing the offside in the rucks. What a joke, if he got his pack to drive forward instead of coming to a complete halt he might not have to worry about opposition players hanging around the breakdown. I love the way Al Baxter stands to the side of every ruck and "scans" the opposition in the pillar position. This is seen as a positive ruck involvement by the stats, what a joke. No wonder the All Blacks and Boks absolutely belt us in the loose when it comes to test matches, our players are taught that stopping at the ruck and "scanning" is a positive involvement.

Australian Rugby is fast becoming a farce, obviously we don't have the depth to fill four Super 14 franchises. Each of the Australian teams have about 5 players in the 22 who are just not up to the standard required and it is being reflected in the results.

WOBBLIES AWAY

Sorry folks I have been absolutely tardy in updating the website, my apologies. My main excuse is that the awful Rugby the Wallabies have dished up has left me completely unmotivated to write about it. To be honest I have really enjoyed watching Rugby League in the latter half of the year, the Grand Final was great and the first test against the Kiwis was also grand, especially the punch up. Watching the Wallabies has left me cold, you can predict exactly what will happen, forwards smashed in the lineout’s and scrums with a resulting struggling backline. I am absolutely sick and tired of the Wallaby forwards getting belted from pillar to post. In putting the knife in, I will say there were some glimmers of hope in the 29 – 29 draw with Wales on the weekend.
For once the Wallabies had a number of players who really played well on the weekend. Vickerman and Sharpe were the standout in the forwards, they were everywhere; carting the ball up, off loading in the tackle, making tackles and winning the lineout’s. Roy Slaven and HG Nelson have a classic saying for Nathan Sharpe’s performances over the last few years “I have not seen him break a tackle in three seasons”. How true for Sharpey, he was woeful for the Force this year and has been stealing oxygen for the Wallabies over the last few seasons but give him his due he played very well against Wales on the weekend. Giteau was outstanding at halfback, doing stuff that wins games and can’t be coached, his pass was even good. Look out George Gregan the press will be absolutely baying for his blood after this performance by Giteau.
Chris Latham was sensational and really deserved his man of the match award. He is not especially quick but his size, power and sheer passion make him hard to stop. Steve Larkham also had a very good game at inside centre; too bad Rogers had another below par performance at Number 10. Certainly helps the coaching staff when you get most of the team putting their hand up and playing well. Unfortunately we still can’t get the scrum to perform at this level. The last play of the game was a scrum near the Welsh line, if the scrum had just held we would have had a very good chance of scoring. It was roller skates all over again and the Welsh simply monstered us forcing the turnover.
The Wallabies really lost their structure when Giteau had to shuffle out the backline when Larkham got injured. If the backline could have stayed in place, I am sure this would have been a Test win for the Wallabies. The Welsh for some reason did not contest the tackle area; they made the tackle then fanned in defence. The Wallabies must have thought it was Christmas with Wales not contesting the tackle area especially after they had been belted in this area by the Boks and All Blacks all year. The Wallaby scrum was again below par, Blake struggled at tight head as he has all year and Baxter just has not played enough loosehead. There has been some slight improvement as they were not completely demolished; they will struggle again this weekend against a very accomplished Italian front row. Look for the Italians to really have a go at the Wallaby forwards, for many years the Italian tight forward play has been superb. I am predicting a close score line against the Italians this weekend.
The social event of the year was not the Melbourne Cup but Stormin Norman’s wedding two weeks ago in Coff’s Harbour. Stormin Norman will have to curb his bachelor ways and keep his phone on silent; he will also probably have to change his phone number as his number of female admirers is legendary. William “The Snake” of Coff’s reports that Norm’s numerous trips to Wollongong have now ceased and he is reported to have gone straight. So well done to Norm and his lovely wife Frances, I certainly had a great time at the wedding the Kava flowed and Soni and the boys had the Fiji music pumping. It was great to see Soni turn up as he usually moonlights at the Gosford Reptile Park on the weekends.