Sneaky sound system swamps Deans' call
Greg Growden | May 22, 2009
RUCK & MAUL
IT WASN'T quite as fruity as a few years ago, when a well-known back-rower gave the then Wallabies coach a "gobful of abuse", believing it was a friend making a crank phone call when he was told he had made the Test team. But new Wallabies prop Pek Cowan had an interesting story to tell yesterday about how he almost missed the call from Robbie Deans explaining he had made the training squad. Cowan was in his car listening to the Jason Mraz song I'm Yours, when his mobile phone rang. "I'd just had a new sound system put into my car, and I was pumping it quite loud," Cowan said yesterday. "I went inside my house, and noticed I had missed a call from someone I didn't know. When walking through my kitchen, I suddenly realised who it was, and stopped. My partner said at that moment I went a bit faint." The return call to Deans brought the news Cowan had been hoping for. He was now a Wallaby.
BBQs galore
Great to see some banter between the Waratahs and Reds again. It's been quiet for too long, but Waratahs winger Lote Tuqiri fired up those north of the Tweed a few weeks ago when he tagged them the barbecue entertainers. "I know I would rather be entertaining the crowd come Super 14 semi-final time than entertaining friends at an end-of-season barbecue," Tuqiri said. When the Waratahs also missed the finals, Reds coach Phil Mooney responded this week with: "I can say that entertaining at barbecues is very nice. I think they [the Waratahs] will experience that as well. I can tell them it's a lot warmer here than at the barbecues they'll be having down south."
Takeover target
Footy politics rears its horrible head in many places - even at the famous Rugby Club at Crane Place, near Circular Quay. R&M has been alerted to a concerted tussle over the direction of the club, with concerns that next week's annual general meeting could see the appointment of several candidates who have intimated they may dramatically change its tone. There are indications they want to reduce the "rugbyness" of the club, even to the extent of removing some of the memorabilia from its walls, and selling it off. No wonder many long-standing members are infuriated. They are pleading for all to get to next Tuesday night's AGM to vote on the positions of president, vice-president, treasurer and director. Proxy voting will not be allowed.
Band of Brothers
The just-released history of the renowned Brothers club in Brisbane was always going to be a rollicking read, with the unofficial king of Queensland, "Whispering" Jim Tucker, writing the text. "Whispering" has unearthed countless great stories, including one about how the Wallabies were once feted by the then prime minister John Howard at The Lodge, where "in true Brothers style, Elton Flatley led the drinking games and had the leader of the nation merrily skoling". Great characters abound, such as former Queensland coach Jim Kenny, who castigated his forwards for not keeping their bodies low in the rucks, with: "You're like kangaroos trying to #$%^ a billiard ball." There are, not surprisingly, several yarns about former Wallabies skipper Tony Shaw, including the time he and teammate David Dunworth "crossed swords at the team hotel" following a Queensland loss to NSW Country in Scone in 1973. A team official recalls: "A huge fight eventuated, with Tony eventually throwing David through a hotel window. The result was the publican appearing with a shotgun to quieten things down." The book, Brothers in Arms, can be purchased through the club website at www.brothersrugby.com
Rumours of the week
* Strong mail that renowned present and past Wallabies No.8s Wycliff Palu and Willie Ofahengaue will be running the barbecue at Manly Oval on Saturday afternoon. Palu, along with Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu and honorary Tongan, Fijian Ratu Nasiganiyavi, turned up at the Waratahs presentation night on Tuesday night wearing traditional Tongan dress. Palu then went on to win the Matt Burke Cup award for the second year in a row.
* The signing of Josh Holmes to NSW has prompted some to call the state team The Warawoodies - such is the overwhelming Eastwood influence, both on and off the field - going as far as the ball boys. Also, after the team missed out on the semi-finals, some at Waratahland are edgy about losing their high-profile jobs.
* Australian provinces pushing for a six-team final in next year's Super 14 but it apparently won't happen until 2011. And where the fifth Australian team will be based, despite a concerted Gold Coast push, is far from certain. Western Sydney is regarded by several heavy-hitters as more than a viable option.
Quote of the week
"It's not like they haven't got the team to play expansive rugby, they just don't know how to do it, or weren't instructed to do it." Glen Ella on the Waratahs.
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