As long as we beat New Zealand.
It’s on again tonight at Lang Park Suncorp Stadium. Australia will take on New Zealand in a one-off test match in the greatest game of all – Rugby League. Rugby League is simply the best because Tina Turner said so. So there can be no argument!
Make no mistake, national pride is on the line tonight.
New Zealand is very competitive in a limited number of sports. More often than not they beat us in Rugby Union:
They have a real dig in netball:
But in Rugby League we are meant to show then a clean pair of heals:
The only problem is that the above picture comes from the final of the World Cup last year. It was supposed to be Australia first and daylight second, but they beat us 34-20 in the final.
Coming to think of it in the tri-nations final in 2005 they beat us 25-0.
In between we’ve administered a few thrashings. So tonight will normal service be restored, or, as Lockyer said, if the Kiwis win they will be undisputed numero uno?
One of the interesting match-ups will be Israel Folau against Manu Vatuvei (“The Beast”). Folau is 195cm and 103kg, about Jonathon Brown size, but more athletic. Vatuvei is only 189cm but a whopping 112kg. At speed, hard to handle.
Then there is Jonathon Thurston v Benji Marshall. Thurston at his best is great, but frankly for mine Scott Prince should have been the first man selected. And Warren Ryan reckons Marshall is shaping up as one of the all-time greats – with the tricks and skills of “Alfie” Langer and “Joey” Johns but faster across the turf.
Of course we will run some big men at Marshall to tire him out, but that is routine tactics these days. Coach Tim Sheens, who is Marshall’s club coach, reckons it is a mistake to target one player as it distorts your tactics.
Another feature of the selection is the predominance of Queenslanders – 10 out of 17, but 10 out of the 13-man run-on side and an entire Queensland backline. This is a reward for winning three straight state of origin series, but I’m expecting NSW to win this year, so selection that was based strictly on form might be a bit different.
Warren Ryan suggested Newcastle’s James McManus on the wing instead of Darius Boyd on the basis that big wingers are an advantage. Fair point.
Darren Lockyer will play his 46th test, equalling Mal Meninga’s record.
Anyway, there is more at stake than whether the Australians are going to face up to the Kiwis during the haka:
Hey that’s Benji, isn’t it? He’s the Keebra Park boy from the Gold Coast, who played for the Australian Schoolboys. What’s he doing playing for the other mob?
It highlights the fact that, like State of Origin, it’s mate against mate in spite of the hype and apparent aggression. I wonder what Tim Sheens will think when an Australian player shoulder charges his club captain Benji Marshall or basically tries to break him in half.
Should be a good game.
More interested in City v Country, tbh. Wish it was on live somewhere.
Always a good match too, MA.
Aotearoa
Brien, you seem to hev omutted a sport un whuch we consustently take you Aussies to the cleaners. I hev sungle-hendidly (or, perheps, sungle-hoofidly) sired more Milbourne Cup wunners, Caulfield Cup wunners, Cox Plate wunners end Austreluyen Derby wunners then all the sully Austreluyen stellions put togither.
Ah, but who won the Melbourne Cup last year? I did, so cop that ya lanky old streak of pelican shit!
Suspending the Kiwi hooker was a mistake and in so many ways.
Sorry, Paul, I’m a bit of sports nut and if there was a tiddly winks world cup in town, I’d probably follow it with interest. But horse racing for some reason, as well as motor racing, is not on my horizon. I think my interest relates to the human body in motion, or extreme dexterity and skill. Did you know that the world record for the Rubik’s cube was about 7 seconds?
No I didn’t. One wonders how much time the record-holder spent practicing to get up to that speed, and what kind of social life s/he had.
wpd @ 6, I can only agree. We want to see the best team on the paddock in these matches. I didn’t see the incident, but you’d think they could make it the next NRL match if he deserved a suspension.
Also NZ teams seem to play on emotion a fair bit and it’s best not to stir them up!
Er no they can’t do that. Every team thinks their next match is the most important game ever. It would make the judiciary’s already tough job almost impossible. I did see the incident, and he takes his elbow to a tackler’s face. Not borderline at all.
Yep, city v country is the more interesting game.
The trouble with the Australian side is that they have been picked simply to redeem themselves. Quite a few a struggling with form and of that group, only one or two capable of transcending poor form and rising to the occasion. That could hurt Australia.
I’d also rather the test matches be played at the end of the season. The regular comp and the Origin matches would mean that form was the dominant factor in selection. Not reputation.
I would like to see NZ win,just to kick the nongs that run the ARL bit of the NRL drop the ball again,cant wait for State of Origin,if 9 deigns to show it in Perth.
They wont show the international till after midnight,and these fools are supposed to be RL friends bollocks
Benji also played for Australia at the Touch World Cup in 2003.
Totally off the subject but a very subdued Mathew Johns fronting The Footy Show last night. I hold no brief for the guy but I am intrigued that the ABC is running with a story seven years old for which there were no charges. Note the Ch 9 news ran with Mathew being ‘cleared’ which is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it’s time the NRL/ARL established a victim compensation fund drawn from inflated player payments to somehow recompense these long term trauma vistims.
Well, the 38-10 result had a more usual look about it. So, Shaun, who exactly was it that didn’t/couldn’t rise to the occasion?
Hodges was always penetrating and scored two tries, but man of the match with 10 runs and 4 tackles was a bit of a surprise. I thought it should have been Lockyer.
I noted down instances of dumb play by the Australians, like Slater yet again passing over the sideline and kicking when he should have kept the ball in hand. Although both the ABC and Channel Nine comentary praised Glenn Stewart, and fair enough, for his general play, I had him for three dumb plays, including the dropped ball that invited the Kiwis in for their first try.
Their second followed a penalty for Gidley putting his hand on the ball, also dumb. Petero got pinged for the same earlier, but luckily it didn’t cost.
Video ref Bill Harrigan told Warren Ryan that his Kiwi colleague ruled the shepherd no-try to Billy Slater in the 61st minute, which was also dumb.
Anyway after the score got to 26-6 I started to feel sorry for the Kiwis.
I took some comfort out of it for Queensland’s SOO chances. Generally the NSW players did well and this year they seem to have plenty of talent to pick from. They’ll have to put it together for 80 mins as a team though.
I have to say that it surprised me that people south of the border would prefer to watch City v Country. We tend to see it as NSW doing us a favour by bashing each other up before SOO.
Ka mate, ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
Ā, upane! ka upane!
Ā, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!
Onya Ambi!
I hate to say why, but I know the haka off by heart.
At school in Brisbane the 1950s our football coach had spent some time teaching in New Zealand. All schools in our competition had a war cry. Ours was some obscure Maori war chant he’d picked up on the way.
We were still using it in my senior year in 1959. I’ve often wondered how long that practice lasted.
In the paper this morning the most interesting comments were from Darren Lockyer. He pointed out that the Australian team had only three training sessions together, so there was a limit to what Tim Sheens could do. He did say, however, that the different coaching staff brought some different ideas. But possibly there was an Australian advantage in combinations developed at SOO level.
He said that Sheens made them watch the tape of the final of the World Cup last year and pointed out their crap defence. Very likely the fact that Australia repelled four successive sets with the Kiwis storming their line about 15 minutes in was a turning point in the game. The commenters pointed out that the Kiwis were running on empty towards the end of the first half and the Australian tries then and immediately on resumption were killers.
I think all the nine tries in the match were scored by going through or around the opposition, which is unusual. Australia’s better lateral defence was noticeable. The NSW back row and bench made important contributions there.
Obviously not Thurston, Lockyer and Slater, Brian. Just a bit of…errr…reverse psychology. Yeah, that’s it.
The difference between the two sides were how the Aussie limited their mistakes. New Zealand seemed to either drop the ball or give away a penalty at critical times during the game. Also the NZ attack seemed to be playing flat and not hitting the line at speed. And with the entire NZ attack based around Marshall, he was well targeted and that shut NZ down pretty well.
Regarding SOO, the key will be whether NSW selectors decide to pick a side that will try to win the series or instead pick a side that will try not to lose the series.
Shaun, I’ve been trying to follow as many games as I can because my wife is in a tipping competition as a fundraising project for the school. I don’t know all the possible players, but NSW seem to have plenty of options. A couple of years ago they were struggling to find a half-back but now they have at least 4 who could do the job.
In Qld’s case apart from Lockyer, Price and Civoniceva, the oldest who played were Thurston and Hodges at 26. NSW have plenty of backs, but possibly not as settled in their combinations, so it’s going to be interesting.
ta Brian
In my case because my pakeha mum taught it to us kids when we were young, and we loved chanting it!
Largest bet here was $10,000: Australia to win, margin: more than 12 points.
Based on immediate past form it seemed an .. er.. quite bold wager (for a worker).
Could see well before the end of the match that I’d require the chequebook.