By Darren Walton
June 13th 2009 @ 1:53am
View The Roar's top rugby union writers.
New podcast from RuggaMatrix, with Munster Assistant Coach Laurie Fisher as guest. Listen now.
Love new art, fashion, music? Check out Aussie site which unearths all things cool and creative.
Related coverage
Wallabies to turn up heat on Gower
Forget the big chill in Canberra, Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock was more intent on turning up the heat up on Craig Gower ahead of his eagerly-awaited Test rugby debut on Saturday night.
As the mercury plummeted to minus three degrees on Friday – the coldest June day in the national capital in 43 years – Mortlock [...]
This article is over 2000 days old and has been trimmed.
Going to the Waratahs v Brumbies blockbuster at ANZ Stadium, Saturday 24 April? If you're keen to meet up with other Roarers, register you interest and we'll keep you informed on the place to meet. Register now.
Get Australia's best Rugby opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...


![When Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy announced that Australia were hoping to both host and win the 2018 FIFA World Cup you could almost hear the sniggers echoing around the globe.
The Socceroos squad that made such great inroads in Germany 2006 might have been filled with players of European quality like Viduka, Kewell and [...] Davidde Corran: Socceroos 2018 aspirations to begin in Egypt](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/socceroos-2018-egypt-blatter-lowy-th.jpg)
![FIFA uses the Confederations Cup as a warm-up for the World Cup, which is good given the problems that have already sprung up. But the off-field issues don’t concern me as much as the on-field ones do.
Egypt is furious after Brazil was awarded a penalty on the basis of a video replay that was screened [...] David Wiseman: FIFA turns a blind eye when it comes to new technology](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/fife-turns-blind-eye-th.jpg)
![Speaking for the Sir Colin Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on Wednesday, Adam Gilchrist called for a dramatic reduction in the number of Tests in a move he believes will preserve the five-day format in the face of the Twenty20 challenge.
“To preserve [Test cricket's] future, which we must – less is in fact more – [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: Gilly’s suggestion of cutting Test cricket is a no-no](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/gilchrist-suggestion-th.jpg)
![This time of year is always my favourite. There are the Christmas and New Year festivities, the fantastic weather, and the love/hate relationship that comes along with the beginning of pre-season training. And of course the international cricket season kicks off here in Australia.
As much as I love to watch the cricket, what has [...] Natalie Medhurst: Why can the guys strip down, but not the girls?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/calendar.jpg)
![Expansion hasn’t been the golden ticket to significantly better crowd figures with a below 10,000 average crowd for the last round highlighting the complexities of drawing punters at this time of the year. But rather than being the ticket to better crowds, expansion is partly the reason for the deplorable crowds in Brisbane.
Brisbane came into [...] Adrian Musolino: FFA needs to reconsider expansion plans for 2010/11](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ffa-needs-reconsider-th.jpg)
![The United Arab Emirates is on the verge of becoming the world’s most powerful sporting hub. If Australia doesn’t get the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022, we may well be fighting against the UAE into the future. And I don’t like our chances.
While our country is struggling with global downturn, the UAE is [...] Benjamin Conkey: United Arab Emirates is the future hub of world sports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/united-arab-emirates-sheikh-zayed-stadium-th.jpg)
![You might not have felt it, but there was a definite shift in the AFL this week. It might have been a minor one, but it was unquestionably there: the beginning of the end for what is known as the outside player. The omission of Nick Stevens rammed it home.
Stevens had, of course, put in [...] Paddy Higgs: No place for one dimensional players in the AFL](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/no-place-afl-nick-stevens-th.jpg)
![Ricky Ponting did an interview before the Ashes series for the BBC. It covered the usual subjects such as player form, predictions, what the Ashes means etc and near the end of the conversation, Ponting was asked what he thought about the England team’s over the top celebrations following their 2005 series victory.
Ponting didn’t rise [...] Alec Swann: Ponting shouldn’t take the fall for Ashes defeat](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ashes-loss-th.jpg)
![“Be Afridi, Very Afridi”, read a poster at Lord’s during the World Twenty20 final on Sunday. And the in-form Sri Lankans understood its full demonic meaning as Pakistan’s dynamic all-rounder Shahid Afridi slammed 54 not out, leading Pakistan to an easy eight wicket win to lift the Trophy.
He was the Man of the Final [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: Why are rule changes always unfair to bowlers?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/why-rule-changes-unfair-bowlers-th.jpg)



