Still haven't caught up? Here's our guide.
Getty Images
A is for abstinence. And asinine.
B is for the big beasts of the high veldt – Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield and John Smit – who hope to bow out with a second World Cup triumph. Will it be a glorious finale or a bridge too far?
C is for cold war. Stand by for a resumption when Russia meets the US in New Plymouth.
D is for drop goals. When we get to sudden death, they’ll be coming from everywhere.
E is for experience. According to conventional wisdom, you can’t win without truckloads of it. Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will be trying to turn that wisdom on its head. Not for the first time: he and John Mitchell tried – unsuccessfully – with the All Blacks in 2003.
F is for the foreign legion, aka the England rugby team.
G is for Will Genia, the Aussie halfback who’s proving even more of a menace than his illustrious predecessor George Gregan. New Zealanders won’t be the only ones keeping their fingers crossed that key players avoid injury.
H is for Juan Martin Hernandez, the brilliant Argentine flyhalf/fullback and most notable of the injured absentees.
aimRenderAd(300, 250, '300X250','ContentRect','/POS=POS2'); if(!$.browser.msie){ ContentRect_frame = $("#ContentRect")[0]; ContentRect_frame.src = ContentRect_frame.src; }I is for injuries. They’ve already taken a bite, and chances are they’ll take more. This is where luck enters the equation.
J is for Martin Johnson, the honorary New Zealander – he played for King Country and the New Zealand Colts and is married to a Kiwi – who now coaches England, having captained them to the 2003 World Cup. If we’re such poachers, how come we let him get away?
K is for Davit Kubriashvili, the Georgian who keeps former All Black Carl Hayman, the world’s highest paid prop, out of French club Toulon’s starting line-up. Georgia’s national sport is wrestling, which is apparently why they’re so good at scrummaging.
L is for Courtney Lawes, the young England lock who supposedly has Matfield’s aerial skills, Brad Thorn’s grunt and Jerry Collins’s hitting power. We shall see.
M is for Italian coach Nick Mallett, one of three coaches at the tournament who can boast a win over the All Blacks in New Zealand. (He did it with the Springboks in 1998.) The others are that much-maligned duo Peter de Villiers (South Africa) and Marc Lièvremont (France).
N is for neutrals. This is none of your business.
O is for Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll whose injury during the 2005 British and Irish Lions series was inflated into a near-death experience and a crime against humanity.
P is for the panic that will grip the commentators calling games involving Georgia. When it comes to names, Kubriashvili is the Georgian equivalent of “Smith”.
Q is for Quade Cooper, a Maori boy from Tokoroa who crossed the Tasman and became New Zealand’s public enemy No 1.
R is for referees. Don’t spoil it. Please.
S is for Martin Snedden, RWC 2011 boss. Well done that man.
Chris Corwin/cc-by-sa-2.0
T is for Tanqueray, a superior brand of gin. If British rugby administrators drink even half as much gin as our media would have us believe, container-loads of the stuff have just reached our shores.
U is for upsets. Every tournament needs some, but we’ve been on the receiving end of more than our fair share, okay? It’s someone else’s turn.
V is for Victor Vito. A month ago he was barely in the frame; now he’s in the starting line-up. He’s good enough, but is he hard-nosed enough?
W is for Sonny Bill Williams. A few months ago he looked likely to be one of the tournament’s biggest stars; now he’s in danger of being the dampest of squibs.
X is for X factor, a mysterious attribute possessed by players who are brilliant one minute and flaky the next.
Y is for yen, the Japanese currency. Some in the international rugby community, including our “mates” across the Tasman, pushed very hard for this tournament to be staged in Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment