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The Lovefest
August 28 2007 | by Amanda Shalala
As long as there has been rugby, there has been the battle for supremacy amongst backs and forwards. The backs get the point scoring glory, while the forwards do the hard slog up front, with neither tipping their cap to the other. But on the weekend the planets somehow aligned in some strange formation, leading these two different species to, gasp, praise the other. This freakish (probably never to be repeated) occurrence was most evident in the Western Sydney Rams versus the Melbourne Rebels game on Sunday afternoon at Parramatta Stadium.
On face value, the match seemingly went to plan, with Western Sydney’s 18 year old flyhalf Kurtley Beale earning the man of the match award for the second week in a row. But the other two players who polled in the player of the tournament votes were Rams’ prop Ben Alexander, and Melbourne flanker David Croft. Croft seems to pervade the boundaries of positional play, with his intuitive understanding of the game and constant grinding away at the breakdown. He is quickly rising as a cult hero in Melbourne and beyond, and Captain Chrome Dome may yet supplant David Hasslehoff and Chuck Norris with his niche following.
Ben Alexander was as shocked as anyone by his two try feat in the Rams’ impressive win, and in his post match interview he was happy to heap the praise on his side’s electric back line (subsequently earning his expulsion from the exclusive forward’s club). “Thanks to those backs out there, Kurtley and Josh Holmes, Chris Siale, for taking all the pressure.”
Similarly, upon winning man of the match, Beale broke the brotherhood of the backs in his appraisal of the game. “I think you put credit to the forwards. They really dug deep like last week and set a really good platform for the backs to be able to use the ball.”
In the Central Coast Rays’ 44 to 15 thrashing of the East Coast Aces, high profile fullback Peter Hewat was a standout for the Rays, as he netted 19 points in the game. But, it was their captain and lock Cameron Treloar who was swathed in glory, the man mountain reached the summit as man of the match.
It is somewhat unexpected that the game’s bigger men are excelling in the ARC considering the nature of the ELVs. Players have found themselves completely exhausted at the end of the ARC games, because of the faster pace, and the uninterrupted flow of the game. And while there may have been fears the big men wouldn’t be able to keep up in this new environment, they’ve spat in the face of convention, and showed that big is beautiful and brilliant.
Rugby has given us some magic moments over the years, including the once in a generation players (Mark Ella, David Campese), the superhuman feats of strength (George Gregan’s tackle on Jeff Wilson), and the last gasp victories (John Eales’ penalty to win the Bledisloe). But this new found love-in between forwards and backs surely supersedes all, and could signal the start of a new era in Australian rugby.
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All class, Amanda 
CHEERLEADERS ROCK!!! 
