"You should see the other guy"
Parisse: One Name Sums Up A Nation’s Hopes
Reply
Author Archives: dementedmole
Match Report: Tonga 19 – 14 France
Tonga put a beating on France that wasn’t reflected in the final scoreline. Vincent Clerc dotted down in the last minute of the game to put a bit of a gloss on what was a horrific defeat for a French team utterly lacking in heart and direction. Continue reading
Marge, You Made Me Miss Joe Theismann
The great Dan Carter is in doubt for the quarter-finals
Frans Steyn is apparently out of the World Cup. Steyn’s return to the No12 jersey during this World Cup was a revelation. It’d be obviously incorrect to say that the centre partnership of de Villiers and Fourie lacks physicality, but the strength that Steyn brings to the role, the amount of go-forward ball he generated and the unorthodoxy of his ridiculous gamut of skills gave the Springbok midfield something the Mole didn’t even realise it was lacking. Continue reading
So long, Samoa
SA & Samoa share a contemplative moment
This was a belter of a game in what has been a very good World Cup. Samoa arrived to North Harbour needing to win to have any hope of going through to the quarter finals. South Africa has stuttered against Wales but PdV seemed to have settled on his strongest team and selected it for the match against the Islanders. Continue reading
Guess Who’s Back?
Comeback Kid Gamblor can write another chapter in the latest edition of his autobiography after winning selection for Ireland’s final pool game against Italy on Sunday. Paired alongside him is new arrival Conor Murray. Continue reading
Match Preview: England v Scotland
Scotland face into their final pool game with only the slimmest of hopes of eliminating England from the tournament and progressing to the quarter-final themselves. To do they will have to beat England and score more bonus points than them or simply win by more than 41 points, so unless Chris Paterson can find his Monsieur Cent Pour Cent form from the 2007 World Cup and England are penalised off the park, you would think that one would preclude the other. Continue reading
Match Preview: Samoa vs South Africa
Bismarck Back for Boks. Bish Bash Bosh*?
Crazy Piet has made a few headlines over the years with his post match comments. You know the kind. As with many appointments in post-Apartheid South Africa, there was some consternation that he had been appointed partly because of his colour rather than his ability. However, PdV is no fool. Continue reading
It’s a Knockout
Excuse me, can you tell me the way to final please? Oh no, it's OK, I remember now.
Scotland v Argentina marked the beginning of cup match rugby is this year’s World Cup. The laws and the balls are still the same but the game changes from here on in. The stakes are higher and the drops are steeper. Games become less attractive from a try scoring point of view but far more compelling. Continue reading
The Team That Never Travelled: Part Nine, Fullback
The Mole: arch-conservative or reactionary? Both, probably – even though it’s a long-accepted fact that all reactionaries are paper tigers. The case in point? Fullback. The Mole’s take is that it’s a specific position which requires different talents and a wholly different skillset than a winger. Not a fan of the interchangeable back three. Not at all. I’ve seen Ugo Monye play in the No15 jersey. Continue reading
The Wallabies Are In Danger Of Growing Stale. I’m Taking Them Into Strange New Places …
Dingo Deans, his choices strangled by injury problems, has selected a matchday squad that includes three hookers, three scrum-halves and a 35-year old No8 on the wing. This must be the ‘experimental’ fourth album … Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 