I met him as a 7 year-old kid determined to be an All Black. That’s a real kiwi kid right there – you have got to admire how close he went.

Kenikenipat – You might be right about the Review, but not about Sharpey. He would eat you alive, you pillow.

All – on the “Where Are They Now?” requests, I have just posted a review of last weekends Silver Foxes vs Pokolbin Reds game in the Hunter Valley. If anyone wants to know where any of these players are and what they are up to, let me know, I’ll get back to you. It should be up tomorrow.

Cheers…

Andrew, thank you. I recall his arrival at Irish and I was always under the impression that he simply couldn’t cut the mustard at that level. Quite a few SH props have gone to Irish and then bit the dust. The player turnover under Smith must have been enormous. I do recall the debate about Fitter ‘scrum v 80 min’ and his few Wallaby caps but he just seemed to peeter out. Maybe Deans should give him a call. The older the better and all that.

Chin up mate, I’ve watch all the Reviews. If you want more people to watch it, you’ll probably just have to make it good.

I’d just like to say, there are some All Blacks nights where I do walk the streets in the hope of coming up against Sharpey.

I think he was unlucky to not play more Tests, but his work around the park obviously counted against him during the Jones regime. I recall a club game, University vs Gordon, when Fitts came back from S14 duty and started on the bench in second grade due to lack of training with the club. Up to about minute 60 the Gordon pack had been gaining the ascendancy, but Fitter demolished them singlehandedly when he came on. There was one scrum near the sideline where the Gordon pack threw most of its weight to the tighthead side to try to take him on – but to no avail. It was a pretty impressive display – although obviously it is a long way from 2nds club footy to the Test arena.

If you have time, I would be interested in your analysis of opening up Super 14 positions to foreign players – my dream is for the Brumbies to poach that amazing US Zimbawean-born winger who made Bryan Habana look like Matt Dunning.

Tiaan Strauss is now back in South Africa and is selling/exporting South African wines. I had a taste of one of his reds recently and it is comparable to a nice Hunter shiraz, but exporting red wine to Australia must be one of the tougher assignments going around.

Roger,

On Warwick Waugh, he played in the Bangkok Tens this year for an Aussie invitation side called the Beersheba Black Sheep. You can imagine what a stir he caused among the locals when we headed out in Bangkok! It was a little like Gulliver in Lilliput.

Re Bangkok Tens…..for any club contemplating touring, it is a great little undiscovered tournament. Several ex-internationals played the final (Beershaba Black Sheep vs The Jam Boys) – Waugh, David Fitter, Eddie Evans (Canada), Robbie Fleck and Bob Skinstad (SA), Willie L’ose (Tonga). A great contest, and an even better after party, despite the fact that we lost 10-0.

Cheers…

You must speak to Geoff Mutton about his run in with Jules Geurassimoff in a Waratahs Reds gamein the sixties. The short version is that Mutton was playing so well that he was a bigchance of knocking Geurassimoff out ofthe Test team (back in those days the Reds Waratahs games were fair dinkim selection trials of course) until Mutton was knocked out in shall we say suspicious circumstances.

On the topic of second rowers – Brad Thorn. What an amazing footballer. To make the shift back and forth is impressive in itself,but for such a specialised position with all the set piece work involved, and technique at the breakdown etc makes the shift even more imressive. I dont think enough credit has been paid to Thorn and what he has achieved. He does risk being turfed out of the second rowers union however; I heard that he has not had a drop of alcohol for 8 years.

Locks:
Chapman 1.97m 110kg
Chisholm 1.97m 115kg
Kimlin 1.98m 114kg
Hand 1.96m 114kg
Timani 2.02m 119kg

Front row:
Henderson Prop 1.86m 117kg
Alexander Prop 1.89m 120kg
Shepherdson Prop 1.87m 119kg
Ma’afu Prop 1.84m 126kg
Moore, Hooker 1.86m 112kg
Ulugia Prop/Hooker 1.80m 113g
Edmonds Hooker 1.83m 103kg

Flankers:
Mackay, Shawn 1.96m 102kg
Hoiles, Stephen 1.90m 102kg
Salvi, Julian 1.87m 100kg
Smith, George 1.80m 104kg

There has been a bit of a clear out at the Brumbies. They’ll have the biggest mobile forward pack any Australian Super Rugby team has had for sometime. (If ever) lets hope they also have the skills to do the task effectively…and give their backs some go forward next season.

Its great to know that ex Brumbies/Wallabies players Owen Finegan and Bill Young have returned to the Brumbies coaching the forwards and developing their set piece…

Not sure of their weights, but good tall timber for second rowers!

Just a thought!

He retired after the GF loss to Sunnybank and is now solely coaching.

It gave people like me a bit of a look into the Australian rugby community, something I’d otherwise be oblivious to. Hope the rest of the site is faring well.

Friday arvo – marvelous read.

2 big dogs jacking up the row certainly makes a difference.

Genetics are still pretty hard to beat.

I can, and have, imagined Buddy Franklin wearing a 4 on his back as well….

having those two guys on tour would have cost the Fiji Rugby Union a fortune in the food bill!

Those two propped together for Fiji a fair few times in the mid to late 90′s. That must surely have been the biggest front row ever – it’d be well over 300kg before the hooker had even stepped on the scales!

I think the guy you are referring to is either Bill Cavubati or Big Bill Veitayaki – aka the Fridge…the man who ensured KFC kept a presence in Fiji.

I do agree with what you say and I think that the size ‘spurt’ began in the mid to late 80s, there were certainly quite a few players from that era who would even be on the large side today… Tom Lawton, Steve Cutler, Ben Clarke etc. I think the difference now is that the backs are larger across the board, although I also think that a lot of conditioners are looking toward players slimming down, not just because of the ELVs but due to a general, incrimental rise in the pace of the game year on year and the role of first generation professional conditioning. Huge players like Bastiat are equally as rare now as they were in the 70s simply because there is no room for the man mountain like Craig Quinnell or that gigantically fat Fijian prop whose name eludes me.

In other positions, the increase in body size would be much more significant. While there are still some players who are regular sized (such as Hynes or Giteau) they are the exception these days and we often see 6 foot plus 100kg backs and many back rowers (eg Juan Smith, Burger or Elsom) probably would have been locks in days gone by.

love the bit about playing against guys who wrestled lions – having played with a four month old cub and struggled at times with their strength and enthusiasm, you appreciate how strong they are, this bloke must have been one tough oke.

If I had the choice of running into a saltie or Nathan Sharpe on a dark knight, I’d take Sharpe any day though!