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October 24 Archives

LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS... (posted 24th October 2003)
Last night Fiji finally found the rugby form that we've come to expect from them when they trounced Japan in Townsville 41-13. The first half was pretty close with the half time score 16-13 in favour of Fiji, but the second half saw the Fijians bung on another 25 points while the Cherry Blossoms scored zip for the last 40 minutes. The win gives Fiji a shot at Scotland next week for a berth in the quarter finals. Full match report here.

Happy Birthday to Italy's Matteo Mazzantini who'll be blowing out 27 candles on his cake today - hope his team mates don't give him 27 birthday punches each though - ouch!

RWC officials have announced that drug testing of players will - as of yesterday - include testing for THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) the latest designer anabolic steroid whose detection in US track athletes has kicked up a huge stink in the sporting world. Testing for the presence of THG in rugby players may also be applied retrospectively according to the RWC officials. Let's hope that none of the rugby players test positive for THG or any other illegal performance enhancing substances - it would indeed be a sad day for the game!

In the Wallaby camp, there's still a lot of muttering about player selection and disharmony. Giffin - who's been out with injury after knocking himself out and damaging his shoulder during the first match will be sitting on the bench this Saturday when Chris Witaker leads the Wallabies against Namibia. With Gregan out of the game for injury, to be honest, I would have thought that one of the Vice Captains would step up to take Gregan's place. Isn't that what succession planning is all about? And, why have Vice Captains if they're not going to get to BE captain if something should happen to the Captain? With Giffin unlikely to play much of a role in the game - the logical choice for Eddie Jones would have to have been Elton Flately, the other Vice Captain. You can't help but feel that Flats has been gipped! One of my favourite players Chris Latham is also feeling despondent - and who can blame him? Our brilliant Queensland Reds warrior who plays himself to a stand still every game and is responsible for all manner of play making during games is only just 'now' going to get a run on the field for Australia. For Latham it must surely seem as if he's in the Queensland B side, a huge disappointment for such an awesome and committed player. Best thing Latham can do on Saturday is come out and have a blinder of a game - now he has an opportunity, play his way back into the run on side. Show us some Latham magic this Saturday! As for media reports that all is happy in the Queensland camp - well I hate to state the bleeding obvious but what the hell ELSE do you think players and management are going to say? The managerial staff certainly aren't going to let on if there's a problem or two, and the players wouldn't be game to speak up for fear that they'd be bench warming for the remainder of the tournament. The Wallabies and Eddie Jones need to be concentrating on playing the game though, not with extraneous drivel.

Toutai Kefu, another one of my favourite Queensland Reds, is out for the tournament with injury as you probably know. Toutai gave out the Wallaby strips for the first game, and today will give the Tongan team a motivational speech along with their strips for tonight's clash with the Kiwis in Brisbane. The pre-game ceremonial dances should be fun to watch - with both the Haka and Sipi Tau to be performed - wonder if they'll scare each other :)) Gotta say Carlos Spencer looks pretty formidable when he leads the Haka :)

While the All Bads are attempting to make mince meat out of the Tongas in Brisbane, South Africa comes up against Georgia in Sydney. The South Africans will probably be out to belt the Georgians around a bit to make themselves feel better about losing to England last week. RAS coach Straueli is sending out his second string team for tonight's game with flanker Joe van Niekerk and their lock Bakkies Botha the only two players remaining from the England/RAS clash last weekend. Come on Georgia - while they're playing around with positions and what not, sneak in a try or two! ;))

Enjoy your Friday and the Rugby tonight! Cheers!