Sunday, July 31, 2005
Weekend
Spent a quiet w/e after last week’s blowout.

Norths U7 Whites won again, this time at home to Caboolture. Again it was all a little easy for the good runners in the team, but we played well and defended superbly, especially young Jack, Luke, Tyrone and Will, all who are gaining an understanding of staying in position in defence.

James got another brace of tries and also played a blinder in defence in the ‘ruck’ (to use rugby league speak). For a six-year-old, his level of commitment and enthusiasm for tackling is astonishing. In my non-biased opinion as coach, my son has clearly been player of the season!

There are two games left, both of which we should win. After that, they go on without me, as I drop down to bring Matthew up through the U6s. It is with some regret, as some of this current team are going to be seriously good players.

Saturday afternoon we headed down to the park; doesn’t sound very exciting, but Brisbane’s parks are famous. So awash with cash is the Council, that it can afford to spend $750,000 on revamping what was already an impressive Kalinga Park.

This will be the venue for our post-season celebration.

Sunday: did very little; and it was wonderful. I had planned to build a path up the side of the house. But it seems that my enthusiasm had decided to take the weekend off.

We have booked a cottage for Christmas in Tambourine Mountain. It should be a Christmas to remember.

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Saturday, July 30, 2005
The trouble with the modern game
The Wallabies got rolled again by South Africa, in another pretty gutless display. After doing all the hard work in the first half, they retreated to some pretty slap-dash, casual and unimaginative play in the second.

Jones had made four changes, which suggested that last week’s game was a serious affair and simply the first round of poker game. But the big difference this week was the tactical game deployed by Larkham and Gitteau in the first half.

By mixing it up, the South Africans (when they were not off-side again) were eventually forced back, neither on the front foot nor drift defending across. The Wallabies began to cut them to pieces.

Vickerman and Dunning shored things up in the set piece and everything looked pretty peachy. About 15 minutes into the second half, it seemed inevitable that the Wallabies would scored again and seal the win.

Alas it didn’t come and somehow the game was swung back the other way; lineouts were lost, turnovers bounced back to the Springboks and some pretty casual work by Larkham saw a change in mood. Sailor and Vickerman were also replaced, despite playing well.

To make matters worse, there was a Springbok try out of nothing – a first phase line-break from halfway line.

The game was eventually won by a penalty that should have gone the other way. Sour grapes? Maybe, but the incident epitomises a bind that the game currently finds itself in.

That rucking grey area

The modern game of rugby is played at such frightening pace that you cannot blame the referee for interpreting incidents in different ways. Coupled with this, on the pitch there are 30 players who are doing everything they can to hide the ball from their opponents, and the poor ref.

When you watch the TV replays in slow-motion, it is arguable that an infringement occurs at pretty much every breakdown, particularly with hands in the ruck, cleaning out and holding on to the ball in the tackle.

Sure, the referee penalises the ones he sees; and in many cases, slowing the ball down (hands in the ruck) is penalised pretty harshly. But the tackle occurs so fast that a grey area emerges between the time the tackled player goes down and fairly sets the ball back and the first defender in making a grab for the ball, prior to a ruck being formed. At the same time, both are either legitimately holding the ball, or are committing an offence.

So, back to the incident in question, which resulted in the penalty that effectively won the match: A South African player was tackled, turned to fall and set the ball back on his own side. George Smith (who played a blinder) was clearly on his feet, there was no ruck (ie no opposition players bound to him) and he made a grab for the ball, but for one reason (see below) he couldn’t bring the ball round to his own side.

Probably half a second later, SA players arrived to clean-out, bound onto Smith who was then correctly adjudged to have used his hands in the ruck.

However, the real infringement had surely already happened. George Smith would have been away with the ball, had the tackled South African player not been holding on to the ball, on the ground, illegally.

The 50-50 restart

The game’s administrators have tended to give the attacking side the benefit of the doubt and often tackled players are holding on for 2-3 seconds ‘setting the ball back’, but are really simply and pretty cynically ensuring that the opposition players cannot fairly take the ball and are delayed long enough for a ruck to form.

This policy is also reflected in the number of times attacking teams recycle the ball in a ruck using their hands, illegally, but seemingly with the complicity of the referee, just that the game is freed-up.
The importance of this issue is heightened by its frequency of occurrence and the sanction imposed for transgressing, which of course, is a penalty.

Where either three points, or 50 metres lost ground, are imposed in the penalisation of a grey area of the game, the referee will always be in line for criticism and analysis. In affect, the talking point of the game becomes the referee’s interpretation of the play, rather than the players or the game themselves. In close games, the losers (in this case, Australia) will always argue that they were hard done by, doing little to improve the spirit of the game already facing up to the pressures of turning professional.

Therefore for a 'grey area' of infringement, we need a 'grey area' of restart. Scrums and lineouts no longer provide this (to a greater or lesser extent), so we need an alternative.

In Australia we don’t have to look far to find this. In AFL (one of) the referee(s) bounces the ball high and the players have a 50-50 chance of leaping to win possession and restart play. Surely this is fairer than seemingly tossing a coin to decide who gets penalised in the tackle area to ruck transformation?

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Thursday, July 28, 2005
"The impact of oil depletion in Australia: A crucial factor for the transport sector"
A lecture by Bruce Robinson
Andrew Buckwell



Bruce Robinson (of the Sustainable Transport Coalition, Perth WA), argues that global oil extraction will start its final decline sometime in the next five to ten years . He bases his assertions on data from a variety of sources, and no doubt from the fact that Brent Crude looks high and stable at $60 pb .

We are thus nearing 'peak oil'. At that moment the planet will not have run out of oil; far from it. But it does signal the beginning of the end. Peak oil is defined by the passing of peak production. Supply will begin a steady downward drift and continued high demand will send its price soaring. This is the 'big roll over'.

Read full article >>

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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh makes a welcome return in a second series on BBC TV. I hope we won't have to wait long until it is screen here.

The first series was an absolute gem; every bit as genre-creating as The Office.

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Weekend away
North Brisbane Junior Barbarians U7 White recovered from last week’s defeat at Brothers to thrash Redcliffe 11 tries to 6. The likes of Jesse-Finnau, Tyrone and Will just found it all too easy. Even three of their tries were scored by our lads, filling in for their short numbers. Three games left; it would be nice to win them all.

After the game we headed up to Twin Waters to stay overniht; acting as a halfway house to a planned walk in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

It was OK; but I do find hotel accommodation inevitably stifling. Regimented regimes, too many people doing stuff for you etc. Still, managed to leave the kids in the hotel room when we headed out for a beer. James was confident that he could use the telephone.

Also went to Underwater World in Mooloolaba. It was impressive as far as 'underwater worlds' go, but to be honest, I am a bit over this kind of thing; having experienced the real thing every Friday when living in Jeddah on the Red Sea, I am quite keen to go and re-live that experience on the Great Barrier Reef this September,

Sunday morning we headed west up and over the Blackall Range (including a hairy drive down a winding, single lane dirt track, clinging to the side of a mountain; my knuckles weer white by the time we got to the bottom) and down into the Mary River Valley. The unnamed mountain (for the sake of argument called Mount Gheerulla by the “Sunshine Coast Peak Baggers Guide” is approx 80km inland at Kenilworth.

Unfortunately, after all the effort and the expense getting here, the walking was pretty ordinary. I originally marked this one up out of the photocopied Peak Bagger’s Guide, as it offered a range of experiences, from walking to scrambling up gorges to navigating through forest at the top of the mountain.

Since the Peak Bagger’s publication, the mountain now forms part of a major circuit route and a well-formed path has been cut up to the top. In addition, I had given away, lost, subsequently found, spilt coffee over and finally thrown out, the photocopied map, so we set out only with a few vague memories from reading. Therefore, it proved impossible to identify the original route described by the book and we had to make do with the track.

The scenery was pleasant enough – dry scherolpyll forest and stands of grass trees – but it lacked any magnificent features such as waterfall, gorge or cliffs to signify it as a ‘great walk’. Despite that, there was a decent view from the top, taking in the nearby Conondale and Blackall Ranges, but you could also see a sand blow in Great Sandy National Park on the Cooloola Coast, north of Noosa.

Had a late lunch next to the Mary River, then headed home for 4pm.

1. Teaching the next Matt Gitteau how to kick
2. Extinct sharks jaws
3. Rare siting of Aussie wildlife
4. Grass tree, close-up
5. Typical terrain at Mount Gheerulla
6. Pine River esturary
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Monday, July 25, 2005
But the other Aussie team triumphs....
Not content with just securing his 500th test wicket, Glen McGrath seemed keen to leave Lords with at least 508 wickets, after being the pick of any of the bowlers on show. Yes, it was “business as usual” in the Ashes.

Though one loss doesn’t decide the series, and England have been one of the top 3 sides over the last year, it seems that there is still a gulf of ability between the two teams.

Even by B. A. D Weather coming at number 6 for England, they will struggle. Strauss has come to realise that test cricket is not as easy as first thought. Trescothick and Vaughan look flaky and Bell simply looks out of his depth. Pieterson has a great eye, but will only make a difference when chasing less than 300. Harmison bowls too short, and will eventually be negated by patience. And Jones, the wicket keeper, is a bit like Michael Jackson... Both wear gloves for no apparent reason...

For this to be a contest, England must play confidently and win the small battles, one session to the next. At Lords they had their chances, and blew all but the first one.

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Wallabies blown away
The Wallabies winning streak came to an end against a passionate Bok’s side at Ellis Park. The Wallabies were essentially tackled to defeat.

It was a frustrating game to watch as for most of the game the Wallabies were on top, but the SA simply refused to concede any tries, even (and more often than not) if it meant simply infringing and stopping play.

Two early, and pretty fortunate, intercept tries meant that Australia were chasing the game from the first 15 minutes. Even half way through the first half, Australia had to kick for the corners and a try, rather than kick for goal. But in doing so, the Boks were able to keep them out by illegal means like staying offside, slowing the ball down or tackling high. It was quite the most cynical display of test rugby I have seen.

Listening to the referee’s comments was quite enlightening. After the 5th penalty in a row, the SA captain inquired of the referee which SA player had been offside. The referee replied “The entire back-line’. Later, in the second-half, the same question was asked again and the ref simply shrugged his shoulders and said “well, just about everybody”.

It took the referee far too long to start sending players off, but two went off pretty quickly. From there, the Boks did well, and changed their tactics and wound the clock down till their return by playing the touchlines. At this point the Wallabies nearly fell apart and lost 5 of their own throws in a row. From there, a missed tackle by Gregan, and there was no way back, despite two late tries to more reflect the balance of play.

The Boks did well and played with a level of intensity that would impress the All Blacks. But I am confident that Eddie Jones is not as tactically niave as the Wallaby gameplan from Saturday suggested he is. A number of ploys can negate a rush-up defence, including cutting out the first receiver a few times and to create space wide, quickly. And also we did not see the looped chip kick to the wing (Tuquiri especially) which can put a rush defence in nomansland, neither forward, nor back. None of this was tried, which leads we to think that Jones really came to South Africa to win the Tri-Nations, not the Mandela Cup.

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Friday, July 22, 2005
1 day in; already tired
Only 1 day in to the Ashes series and I am knackered. Don’t know how I am going to last the full 2 months. I am considering writing a letter to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to request he puts the clocks back 3 hours, so the cricket starts at 4pm and you can at least get some sleep.

The first day of the first Ashes series that England stand a chance of winning, since 1991, did not crash and burn, like the pre-match hype can sometimes precipitate. 17 wickets on the first day of a Lords test…. Perhaps not that unusual. In 2001 I remember England being bowled out by McGrath for 77, before the test was washed out.

Despite probably losing the day ‘on points’ England probably got more out of the day than Australia. Whilst we knew McGrath, even at 33, is still the world’s premier bowler and is capable of applying himself with unmeasured precision and discipline, we did not know how vulnerable the Australian batting line-up would be to hostile English bowling. With no Steve Waugh or Allan Border in the side, they need to find another ‘sticker’ to shore up the stroke maker’s cavalier attitude.

Katich could fulfil that role eventually, but even he is susceptible to chasing width balls to try to score at over 4 an over.

This is not the Aussie way. They would prefer to go down attempting to win, than to draw a game, even when it comes down to the crux. But the batting must perform better under fire as the bowling attack is distinctly thin.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Thought for the day......
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Cokey", died peacefully in his sleep at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.

They put his left leg in, and then the trouble started.

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French security threat
As result of heightened global alarm after the terrorist bombings in the London the French government has officially raised its current threat advisory level from “run” to “hide”.

There are only two higher levels of threat in the French system, “surrender” and “collaborate”.

The latest change was a result of a white flag factory burning down in Paris, thus rendering the French military in operative.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2005
School transport modes: the impact of the built environment
A recent study1 carried out in Brisbane looked at the impacts of various factors that influence a child’s ‘school travel modes’; or in plain English, how they get to school.

While it threw up few surprises, that namely child safety (“stranger danger”), child safety on the road, distance and time were the main proximate reasons, it did conclude that the built environment remains an important factor in influencing people’s choices. It also revealed that even now, policy makers are not getting it right and allowing consumer choice to produce perverse outcomes. Full article >>

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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Some people have too much time on their hands..
thank goodness...

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Monday, July 11, 2005
“We were the better side,” says Woodward
In a candid interview following his return from New Zealand, British and Irish Lions coach, Sir Clive Woodward, has defended his decisions and claimed his team was not undone by better opponents.

Despite the Lions losing all three Tests to the All Blacks and a fourth to New Zealand Maori, Woodward still believed his team performed better then their opponents and were unfortunate not to have won.

“I believe we were unjustly beaten,” said Woodward, “in all three Tests.”

“Had Brian [O’Driscoll] not been cynically taken out, Wilkinson been on form and we had defended better and scored some tries I think we would have won the series 3-0. But now we will never know.”

“I think Graham Henry [the All Blacks coach] realises this too,” he added.

“I thought we more than matched them in the physical contest. The tactic of being forced backwards in the tackle behind the gain line was a definitive ploy to draw in loose forwards to open space out wide.”

“Given more preparation, this strategy no doubt would have paid off,” said Woodward.

“I was also disappointed with the southern hemisphere refereeing. I don’t know why, but they just don’t seem to play my rules. In Europe a player can legitimately slow the ball down, without fear of being penalised.”

Many pundits questioned Woodward’s tour management, citing a number of decisions which contributed to the ‘black-wash’.

Woodward on the staff

Woodward was also roundly criticised for taking on tour the largest contingent of non-playing staff ever. This included chefs and fitness instructors and former Blair media adviser, Alistair Campbell.

“In the modern game, the sheer physical intensity of the matches and the intense scrutiny of the media mean that players’ interests must be well catered for,” said Woodward.

“Having the appropriate staff on hand means that the players are well-prepared and the media is well briefed.”

“It was imperative to have personal fitness trainers, medical staff and someone to leave those little chocolates with ribbon round them on the players’ pillows each night at turn-down. It is those small personal touches which makes the players’ experience just that bit more memorable,” said Woodward.

...on Campbell

Many were suspicious of the role Alistair Campbell would play, but Woodward remains unrepentant. “It is a shame that the media didn’t trust Alistair enough to utilise his inside knowledge.”

“Alistair prepared numerous press releases, but sadly the media were rarely interested – they seemed more intent on making their own judgements. This was a shame, as if they had printed what we told them, it would have been a much more successful tour, results-wise,” said Woodward.

Woodward was criticised for setting up a photo opportunity with Welsh inside centre, Gavin Henson, without his knowledge, on the day the player was told he had not made the team sheet for the second test. This, despite a widespread belief that he should have.

“It was Alistair’s suggestion that we push that photo out into the media to maintain a consistent public image of harmony and solidarity. The moment the media suspects discontent, the more critical they get of divisions.”

“Gavin was immediately paged and asked to stay ‘on-message’.”

“I still believe that Alistair kept the true spirit of the Lions’ tour alive,” said Woodward.

…on the squad

“No, I don’t think I took too many players. If I was to do it all over again, I would probably take an even bigger squad; perhaps even the entire team from each home nation, especially England,” said Woodward.

“And except maybe Scotland,” he added.

…and on Wilkinson

“In Jonny I have created a very special talent. I am proud to have trained him up into the best flyhalf in rugby history, ever, in the world. It was a shame that he was short of form, did not play well and eventually got injured,” said Woodward.

“I believe I was still right to pick him, as that was part of the contractual agreement with the tour sponsors,” he said.

Sir Clive Woodward now leaves Rugby Union to take up a senior coaching role at English soccer club, Southampton, recently relegated from the Premiership.

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Sunday, July 10, 2005
Weekend
James’s rugby season’s recommenced Saturday, a home game against Brothers, which was duly won in a scrappy game, with a better second half. James once more made it on the score board. This makes us W9, D3 and L1 in the season. Next week is the crunch game, against another Brothers side which thrashed us 40-20 earlier this season.

The Wallabies saw off South Africa in a pretty dominating display. Possession dried up a little in the second half as the Springbok pack got on top in the set piece, but once again, it was explosive support play, rather than intricate backline moves, which scored the four tries for Aus.

Sadly it appeared to turn into something of a boxing match. Whilst I am sure that the Wallabies were not totally innocent, more than a few times there appeared to be a few acts of revenge. Sharpe physically lifted Berger (no mean feat) up and out the top of a maul to throw him down again amongst the cleaning down feet of the Wallaby pack and once again Larkham ran in from 15 yards away to tear into a South African, seemingly up to no good.

Both finished the match with bruised faces. Of course, Eddie Jones will not say anything, but the referee might have to do some serious study of the video to pick up the mischief that he missed first time.

The Wallabies will be happy to have finished the game with a clean (try) sheet; late pressure was relieved by an intercept by Rogers (cracking game) and try by Mitchell of Qld Reds. That old Red, Wendell Sailor, after months of criticism (of being crap) is now on fire; even out-shining Lote Tuquiri.

In two weeks the Wallabies travel to SA for two games. First up is the decider for the Mandela shield then the real business of the 3Nations starts up. SA will be a much tougher foe away from home.

Prediction is still, down to points, all teams winning their home games

B&ILs lost again, but at least with some dignity this time. And they did do the rest of the world a favour too and proved that the All Blacks – contrary to recent popular belief – are still mere mortals.

While some people are panicking over the cricket and England are relishing this summer as their best chance to win back the Ashes in ages, Australia’s calmly thumped England at Lords. It feels like it has been a disastrous tour for the Australian’s so far, but I guess the facts are this:

In the ODI Tri-Series against Bangladesh and England, they shared the trophy after the final slipped through their fingers and overall on tour, against England, in ODIs they have W2, L2 and T1.

That this could be deemed a disaster, says much for the team. The batsmen are now slowly finding form and it is really only Gillespie who is now struggling. But Kasprowitz and Lee are now in the best form for a while and McGrath and Warne are still two of the best in the business.

The weather

Saturday afternoon was spent in shorts and tee shirts in the forest at Mount Coot-tha with Debbie and Ady having a BBQ. It was a glorious winter’s day: warm and dry.

Sunday, out working at a community consultation event, it was biting cold. The sun may have been shining, but a fresh wind was blasting in from the South West, off the Darling Downs.

Kids were wondering around in coats, hats and scarves. It could have been November in Northern Europe. Call this sub-tropical living???

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Thursday, July 07, 2005
Bargaining away your holiday
The labour movement is on the verge of all-out war with John Howard’s Commonwealth government, as the prime minister’s intentions regarding labour law reform become clearer.

Currently, if you are covered under an existing ‘Enterprise Bargaining Agreement’ (EBA), your terms and conditions of employment are guaranteed to be as per agreement. EBAs are agreements between employers and employees (most often represented by a trades union).

John Howard proposals seek to require an all contracts to be negotiated on individually, thus finally crushing the union movement. There is little doubt that any individual contract signed will not be able to secure the same bundle of employee rights and responsibilities as that negotiated collectively.

It is also expected that John Howard will move to have unfair dismissal laws relaxed to exempt small to medium sized enterprises (<100 staff). To realise his ambition, Howard must centralise labour relations law, wresting it from the responsibility of the States (currently all Labor controlled) and granting it to the Commonwealth (conservative controlled).

So far as prime minister, Howard has been prevented from doing so as his conservative Coalition has never had control of the Senate. This changed in July, following early elections in February,

Since then, Labor has imploded, sacking its ‘shoot-from-the-hip’, ‘fighting-talk’ leader, Mark Latham and installing old ‘stand-for-nothing conservative’ war horse, Kim Beazley. ALP support plummeted. It seemed the Coalition was indomitable.

But recently John Howard has taken a pasting in polls, seeing his approval rating drop by 10% in the last few weeks. This is on the back of significant trades union rallies all across Australia (including 300,000 people in Perth) and an extensive and very targeted TV advertising campaign drawing attention to the changes.

Although the Coalition now holds a Senate majority, Parliament will not sit again to make laws until September. The Howard government therefore has time and does not need to go on the offensive. It can merely drip feed a range of proposals to test the ‘market’ before releasing draft legislation in a couple of months.

The latest policy snippet, spoon-fed to the outside world, is a proposal to allow employees to bargain away their annual leave.

The way this message is delivered will be all-important. Howard will draw on his conservative principles, championing employee choice and the right of that employee to bargain away their holiday as they see fit. The result: aspirational workers will be rewarded by individual contracts and they will hold all the cards, as employers attempt to negotiate the best deal to secure the services of the harder and smarter working employee (which may include more or less annual leave).

The changes will also provide more employer certainty as big chunks of accrued leave can bought-off, saving costs on back-filling long term, earned absences. And finally, if Australia has a more competitive commercial sector, we will encourage more job creation and opportunities for the more motivated employee. This legislation is good for business and therefore good for Australia.

This rhetoric is so far removed from reality to be not even funny.

Paid leave for a non-contract employees is now considered an entitlement. This is a right that has been steadily gained over the years by the labour movement. Howard’s proposals is an attempt to roll back years of gains for working people.

It is simply the thin end of a wedge that will be fully exposed when the draft legislation is published. Unless a loud and clear message is sent Howard now, the mechanism to allow employers to bargain away their employees’ holiday will be enshrined in law.

The current regime ensures that the Chief Executive of Brisbane City Council is entitled to at least the same pro-rata level of leave as the lowliest non-contract employee. If the mechanism to bargain away your holiday is allowed – who will be the most likely to cash it in? The highest paid, with the larger disposable income, or the poorest paid, with barely enough to make ends meet?

Most people have interpreted this proposal as the first of many steps towards a (US) standard of two weeks paid leave per annum. With workers being forced onto individual contracts, how long will it be before we see the standard contract offering just 2 weeks annual leave?

Annual leave provides time for recharging and engaging with families and communities. It creates opportunities for employees to expand their horizons and experience the world. It also allows them to just vege out and watch the cricket.

As a result of hard bargained deals, Australian employees have benefited from some of the most flexible leave regimes outside Europe. Many offer long service or unpaid leave or double your leave for half pay.

But already Australian working hours are rising again and the culture of working to play is been eroded and transformed into spiralling process of working ever harder.

Indeed, many economists trace most gains in Australia’s productivity (productive capital divided by gross product) being a result of lengthening working hours, rather than more efficient productive capital utilisation.

For the already poorly paid, this legislation will signal the end of significant paid leave, as the conditions of employment will be bid down. Alternatively, for the reasonably paid this will be further ‘encouragement’ for them to work ever longer and harder and become further estranged from their domestic or social life.

This estrangement will be experienced as waste but measured in the economy as growth; GDP growth. An increase in children under the care of the state, more roads from a greater amount of goods being meaninglessly shipped around and perhaps a growth in the prison population (which contributes more to annual GDP than putting a student through university).

The Unions are steeling themselves for a battle. Unfortunately, it is a battle we will probably loose. There is little hope that Coalition Senators will vote to protect the interests of the States rather than support the government’s centralisation program.

Howard is the smoothest of political operators and will use this parliamentary recess time to allow the dust settle on the Union campaign before ramping up his own campaign as the next parliamentary session nears. The Unions may unfortunately have peaked too early, as they were forced to respond to the drip-fed information very early in the process.

Now, the pressure will need to be maintained for longer than what is probably sustainable or affordable, but Howard must be stopped.

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Lang Park
Had a great time at Lang Park, watching the Wallabies take on France.

The French had come off a tough time in South Africa, having lost and drawn two fairly bruising battles. When England came last year, after 2 torrid losses in NZ, they were really not interested in playing Australia and were hence thoroughly humiliated 51-15.

The French, to their credit, were amazingly enthusiastic and tackled all night. This, after they had probably spent much of the night up late watching videos of the Wallabies backline moves.

Despite Larkham's best efforts, the French managed to nullify Australian first phase play and the Australian's tries all came from line breaks rather than spinning it wide in a set plan (Larkham's opening try was the case in point). This is probably a blessing: to beat either SA or the AB away, as they will have to do to win the 3Nations, they will have to be inventive and adaptable, as well as being well-drilled.

Every time the French threatened, the Wallabies scored, topping it off with an amazing flowing move through a dozen hands to finish with Turanui under the posts.

The Wallaby pack managed to nullify any threat from the rolling maul. The French should have been as equally adept at this as the Italians, but little ground was made here. The front row suffered a little at tight head. If Australia is to win the 3Nations, Al Baxter must play the best four games of his life.

Jeremy Paul's throw-ins were pretty much on the spot (one, I think was not straight), but in open play he always manages to find the space. Not only did he score a try, but he set up the move and later created the last try for Turanui with a great fend off, taking out the last two tacklers. He probably has the highest scoring rate of any hooker in the game.

The Wallaby first phase play was very flat, leaving Larkham and Gitteau little time to make decisions. While this modus operendi works well for quick ball and/or making line breaks, when it is not drawing enough defenders in, perhaps resorting to the more fluid deeper running backs (bringing Latham in from deep) would keep defenders thinking.

However, the French running lines sometimes confounded the Australians, especially when they ran from deep. This will need to be looked at and to an extent emulated. After much criticism last year, the ABs can now play either flat or run from deep.

Gitteau missed 6 out of 8 kicks at goal. This is a worry. Though a couple were tricky, a better conversion rate than 25% will be absolutely essential when 3Nations competitions are decided by a few points. Eddie Jones cannot let this situation continue. If Flatley is not going to play (and on merit he probably shouldn't) then the standard of goal kicking between Gitteau, Rogers and Mortlock must improve. If this means an intensive masterclass for one or all of them, so be it.

All in, an absolutely cracking game. When two of the best soccer sides meet, all you get is a dour game of chess, interupted by flashes of genious. When two of the best rugby nations meet, it is a hour and half of dashing, flowing rugby, played at speed with (pretty near) absolute precision.

The British and Irish Lions - not really roaring.....

Across the Tasman, the British and Irish Lions were effortlessly blown away again, thus loosing the series. After making comprehensive team changes from the first loss, Woodward will no doubt make comprehensive changes for the last game. At least that way, most of the 535 players that he took on tour will get a game.

Despite the loss, Wilkinson will probably be picked again. Being good mates with Woodward and all.....

All is shaping up for a great 3Nations. New Zealand, South Africa and Australia all have better teams than last year. My prediction: all teams will win their home games and loose their away games; therefore down to points difference again.

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Live 8 signals end of African poverty
Just as Bob Geldoff and Sting had hoped, lack of awareness of poverty in Africa was yesterday consigned to history, following a series of pop concerts in 10 cities around the globe.

The Live 8 concerts were organised to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland this week. Live 8’s aim was to raise awareness of poverty, unfair trade and AIDs in Africa and put pressure on the G8 to lower tariffs on imports and cease subsidising their own produce sector.

By raising awareness of the tragedies facing Africa, the musicians aimed to tackle poverty once and for all.

“We have raised so much awareness since the concerts, that poverty in Africa as we know it, will soon be at an end,” said the event’s organiser, Sir Bob Geldoff.

“Polling has shown that up to 80% of people have now heard of Africa and 75% of these know that it is a poor country. This is a bloody high level of awareness.”

“The big challenge now is set up the delivery networks to distribute this awareness to where it is most needed,” Geldoff said.

“But you can still register your awareness at the Live 8 website or operators are on standby to take your call. And remember, any awareness contribution you make is totally commitment-free, as long as you download the relevant forms from the tax office,” he added.

In 1985, when 350 singers and musicians took to the stage in London and Philadelphia, little did they know they were going to change the world.

The money Live Aid raised beat the drought in Ethiopia and has brought about a steady decrease in the nasty wars that used to afflict Africa, apart from a few skirmishes in Rwanda, DRC, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Togo, South Africa, Burundi and Cote d’Ivoire.

Now 20 years on, the aging rockers turned their sights on tackling ignorance of poverty and it seems they have finally cracked it. Only a few of the poorest regions have not been in receipt of any awareness at all and only just under half of all Africans polled have not heard of either Bob Geldof, Sting Henry or Danni Minogue.

As well as Geldof and Sting, a long line of pop stars put their name to fight lack of awareness of African poverty.

Richard Ashcroft, of top UK band The Verve, said “By singing at this, err, concert, just maybe, err, I can help change, you know, something, getting people to understand, err, the problems facing, err, you know, Africa.”

On stage in Hyde Park, the Princess of Pop-tastic Hearts, Madonna, urged the crowd to “change history”, clearly referring to the original concert, Live Aid. By changing history, Live Aid can be clearly interpreted as the turning point for Africa.

Unfortunately for event organisers, awareness remains low in Italy. It had been hoped that over a million people would turn out for the Rome concert, which headlined Duran Duran. But due to a combination of lack fine weather and a crap line up, 990,000 less people turned up than expected.

“Rome was disappointing,” said Duran Duran lead singer, Simon Le Bon. “The low numbers demonstrate that even commitment-free concern is sometimes too much to ask of people.”

“It’s not like we were asking them to do anything,” he added.

London event organisers remained more upbeat. With a line-up which included Pink Floyd, Coldplay, U2, Paul McCartney and Bob Geldof, over 200,000 spectators turned out at Hyde Park.

Collection boxes did not overflow – raising just £856.89 and a smattering of old European coins. But awareness and concern of African poverty were demonstrably high.

A number of fans were pleased that this time it wasn’t about charity, but just turning up and lending support. “I’m glad I didn’t have to give any money this time,” said one.

“Although I’m really fed up with all this charity stuff, it’s still really important that we help Africa. It is really poor country, though it’s really cool. But it’s great that I can help, just by being here.”

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Sunday, July 03, 2005
Le weekend: allez les blues
Explain more later...

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