Wallabies prop Ben Alexander says he's ready for Springboks pack

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By Wayne Smith
July 09, 2009 The British and Irish Lions-Springboks series might have left even long-time observers wondering whether rugby collisions can get any harder, but for Wallabies prop Ben Alexander the brutal physicality of the Tri-Nations is simply exciting.
Veteran Lions team doctor James Robson was left musing after the third Test against South Africa whether the game could get any more physically ferocious, but the trend of recent years suggests it inevitably will.
Certainly Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock believes so, predicting the Tri-Nations series that opens with Australia's Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks in Auckland next week will be the most brutal ever.
Never having experienced a Tri-Nations Test, rookie tighthead Alexander sat transfixed watching the Lions series, focusing especially on the Boks side he and the Wallabies will confront in Cape Town on August 8.
"South Africa were near unstoppable when they got their roll on," Alexander said.
"You could just see the intensity and the speed of the game and how brutal it was. It showed the standard of footy that's coming around in the Tri-Nations."
In particular, Alexander marvelled at the way Springboks loosehead Tendai Mtawarira destroyed veteran Lions prop Phil Vickery in the opening Test. But far from being daunted by the prospect of himself having to pack down against 'The Beast', the 24-year-old is thrilled.
"It excites me," he said. "I've played against The Beast (in Super 14) and I've got a lot of respect for him. He gives his best every time he plays. But if we want to be the best, we have to beat the best."
Nor does he have any concerns that he or his Wallabies teammates are underprepared for the physical battering that awaits them, not just from the Springboks but also from a highly motivated, if under-performing All Blacks side.
"I find with the big occasions, the big crowds and the big matches, it's very easy to get yourself into the mindset to put your body on the line. We're concentrating on being up for the physicality of every minute of every game," he said.
The speculation on the other side of the ditch is that the Wallabies will be coming to Eden Park with a far more settled side than the All Blacks, but Alexander does not believe that presents Australia with any real advantage.
"They (the All Blacks) tried some combinations in their (warm-up) Tests as we did in ours. But come Tri-Nations time, especially with the guys they've got coming back -- (Sitiveni) Sivivatu, (Rodney) So'oialo and obviously their captain (Richie McCaw), they're going to be ready."


http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html

[travelling_gerry]

Greg Growden | July 9, 2009

The Wallabies prop is hungry for success, writes Greg Growden.

WHEN rugby and big eaters are concerned, no one beats Jonah Lomu. After all, the celebrated All Blacks winger, during the 1999 World Cup tournament, ate in one sitting at McDonald's: two big Macs, two quarter-pounders, two Filet-o-Fish, two McChickens, 20 McNuggets, large fries and a super-size drink.

Don't believe us? Then ask the Auckland pizza shop owner who a few years later barred Lomu and three of his mates after they went for the $14.95 all-you-can-eat option, and between them ate 30 pizzas.

We're not saying Ben Alexander is the Wallabies' version of Big Jonah, but his enormous appetite is certainly the talk of his teammates. As Wallabies coach Robbie Deans explains: "Ben does like to eat."

During the Test prop's teenage years, his parents put a lock on the pantry door, so he didn't eat them out of house and home. One day, his mother would go shopping. The next, virtually everything was gone, and by 19 he tipped the scales at 129 kilograms.

And his teammates love explaining why he is known as "Colonel Kluck". It stems from one night in 2004 when in Bathurst he was egged on by mates to eat a gigantic chicken burger known as the "Motherclucker". According to Alexander, the "Motherclucker" included an enormous stack of chicken breasts, and if you finished it within 10 minutes, your photograph would appear on the restaurant's wall of fame. Alexander smashed the record, devouring it in eight minutes and 20 seconds.

University days in Canberra weren't exactly a weight watcher's paradise either, as in college he lived opposite five fast-food outlets and a hotel. "That wasn't really conducive to me staying lean," Alexander said yesterday. "But nowadays I'm eating smarter."

That's the fun side. There is also a serious side to the Alexander story, as he knows how to overcome adversity.

In 2005, he snapped his right leg while playing for the Canberra Vikings, which resulted in dire complications. Alexander explained: "I ended up getting an embolus in my lungs from the bone marrow getting into my blood stream, and if it had gone to my brain it could have been pretty serious.

"I couldn't breathe properly. For a few weeks I just sat in hospital, and they couldn't operate on me as they tried to straighten my leg. They tried to put a cast on my leg, and it wouldn't get any better.

"The cast was put on as they didn't want to operate because of the embolus. After a week, I couldn't move. I had bed sores all up and down my back. I couldn't eat. I couldn't go to the bathroom for days on end, because every time I tried to get up the cast was so big it was pulling my leg apart."

Through this agonising three-week period, Alexander lost 18kg. It was only by having a metal pole and screws inserted in his leg that enabled him 13 months later to return to the playing field.

But that involved further pain, especially when he headed to the Bedford Blues in England's National Division.

"In England when the grounds started to harden up, because of the pole in my leg, I would be in so much agony after some training sessions," he said. "I couldn't sleep, because my knee would be aching, and I would be stumbling around the house. I sunk pretty low for a while, and I wasn't in a good state."

This prompted a return to Australia and an operation to get the pole "yanked out" of his leg. That meant two more months on the sideline, before a few games with the Eastwood reserve grade team, and then a chance with the Western Sydney Rams in the short-lived Australian Rugby Championship.

It was from there that he was sighted, and picked up by the Brumbies. The Wallabies were next, and now he is firmly established as an international front-rower.

Lomu and Alexander share another similarity. Both revel in scoring tries. It was Lomu's forte. Even Alexander was animated when he scored against the Barbarians last month, producing a daring dive over the try line.

Deans chipped him for that later. Alexander knew his coach was right, remembering as a schoolboy he once opted for the big show-off leap when scoring, landing on top of the ball, where he suffered the embarrassment of winding himself, and had to go off. He couldn't eat … momentarily.

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