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
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