Argentina looking good for tight contest

ben c you have summed up my feelings about South Africa and England and given me a reason to support SA. I am a reluctant starter in this but 'jarra yo bluksum' bokkies to win, cant spell it but it's sounds like this. Not totally sure what it means either, I think I hung around too many south african rugby players in my time.

Ben I will admit I don't like the Springboks. Something about their attitude annoys me. I am sure there are plenty of South Africans who think the same about Australia. I dislike England as well but not any more or less than South Africa. Nevertheless I will be backing the Springboks this weekend. Not because of any North-South divide but because the Springboks are capable of grinding rugby like the English but also capable of exhilarating 15-man running rugby. (Well 14 man running rugby, Percy is a great kicker but he doesn't like heavy traffic). A win by the English would send all the wrong signals about the type of rugby that should be played. Hopefully South Africa can show that even against the best grinding rugby team in the world, a team can still implement attractive running rugby and win. Well done England for picking the right strategy for their team and implementing it well but that strategy is still a guaranteed way to send fans into a stupor. Alas, it will be 'Go Springboks' this weekend.

Stillmissit It is understandable that it is difficult for Aussies and Kiwis to support the Springboks but now it truly North vs South. It will be great to have our SANZAR partners on board for this clash. Come on boys, keep the Cup in the south!

Fatpete It would be hard to see too many Aussies supporting the Pommies, although I think the game today was the best game I have seen them play in 30 years. They actually used their backs effectively. It would also be a big struggle to support South Africa if they get through. Argentina to win it - Go the Puma's

I'd love to see Argentina win the World Cup ! What a fantastic result it would be for the development of the game in Argentina, and what an impact it would have on world rugby for the under recognised & unrespected Pumas to sit on the top of the peck order of world rugby - might shake the arrogance of the traditional rugby nations?? Perhaps prick the conscience of "the powers that be" when vested interest seemed to prevail over the development of world rugby, when they ignored Japan & awarded the 2011 Cup to NZ !! Good luck Pumars, I hope you can do it !

Topo - in my heart I'm with you and an Argie win, semi's and against the frogs in the final. In my tipping comp I'm afraid it's a different matter.

TO ALL & SUNDRY: Personally I don't know which way "the cookie" will crumble, whether: a) E. (T) Rodriguez becomes the Head of a National Scrum School/Academy; or b) Be one of the pieces of it contributing with several other names; or c) None of the above. Since 1996 I become used to anything happening favourable or untoward me. Furthermore, I have been educating & coaching for many years in Rugby, also Leadeship and Teamwork, and in recent times am involved in Mental Health, there are a few very important concepts that I feel must be re-floated or re-ignited. We may say that the below points are by-products of the professional rugby era and PROFESSIONAL RUGBY ADMINISTRATION. 1) The scrum is played by 8 players. Therefore, PLEASE PLEASE stop talking about front-rowers only. The responsibility, credit or otherwise in the scrum is of the WHOLE pack! 2) Rugby in Australia NEEDS to become an INCLUSIVE sport as vs. EXCLUSIVE. Enough of these privileged circles of pre-destination, and early ear-marking of the cattle. Whether that comes from GPS or CAS or CHS or whatever.........! 3) From the start of the professional era, ALL paid personnel have had great tenability of contracts and longevity of career attached to it. I believe that If you get the substantial $$$, then accountability and performance examination should occurr on a regular basis. Too many people have been hidding behind the organisations and teams and not enough people have been given opportunities to show "their wares". This point implies a huge CULTURE CHANGE, but not impossible! Jack Welch, the well known GE CEO, used to invariably shed at the end of the year 5% of his staff (I'd call it: "natural renovation") you perhaps will call it attrition rate. 4) There is absolutely NOTHING WRONG with holding young players back and to encourage them to complete a tertiary study, trade, etc. before they engage (or get contracted) in professional rugby. If a young guy or girl get badly hurt in rugby or other sport (i.e. spinal injuries/quadriplegia) they become a huge burden for the family and an on-going cost high cost for society, and the injured person's self esteem also beomes horribly dented due to the inability to become productive or to hold a job. 5) All ex-props and ex-coaches and current coaches are needed to re-dress this deficiency in Scrummaging in Australia. that started exactly at the end of 2001 when we believed that we where still the WORLD CHAMPION TEAM in beating the LIONS in the last 5 minutes of the 3 test series, when in realty we lost it for 235 minutes! The same arrogance that we had for the last 6 years is the same arrogance that NZ had for the last 4 years (albeit with better coaches and better players in many positions) Finally, I am currently very happily engaged as Executive Director & Founder of: Topo Foundation for Education Limited. At TF4E we provide EDUCATION, AWARENESS & DE-STIGMATISATION of Mental Illness (Bipolar, Depression, etc.) for Schools, Sporting Clubs and Community Groups. Today it is estimated that 20% (1 in 5) of the population is affected by Mental Illnesses. Kind regards and............. Argentina by 3 points!!!!!! tOPO

All previous contributors are correct in supporting the involvement of the great Topo in identifying and developing elite level front rowers. The only other name I haven't seen mentioned as having something to contribute is the great Jake Howard, who has form, knowledge and experience second to none - why has his expertise been lost to Australian rugby? While Rod Mcqueen was coaching the Brumbies and then Australia, Jake was heavily invoved, but not so much since Rod retired. I suspect that Rod would not have regarded himself as a guru on front row play/coaching, as he was a backrower in his playing days, and therefore he felt comfortable in having that area covered by an expert. Perhaps his successors Eddie Jones and Knuckles Connolly (ex hooker and prop respectively) felt they could cover that area themselves, or alternatively maybe they were worried that Jake might show them up!

Topo - if for nothing other than your passion you're there, your ability and knowledge right now would just be pure bonus country. Go you good thing!

Garth: You absolutely correct on this, doing the same thing over and over again. I wont: repeat it ! Where is the people that believes in Argentina: Are they: Connolly, Folley, Evans and Blades???????????(the Whole lot were coaching the Australian scrum in early 2007. (the same tOPO that belt the crap out of the Kiwis in 1986 or any other year) t.

Stillmissit, Hear, hear! (Especially if Topo's answers were in Spanish mixed with beer & red wine!).

Topo I think herein lies the hub of the problem with Australian rugby. I think the idea goes a bit like this "We dont need any fancy machine guns we have plenty of bows and arrows". This approach also explains Sheeks view that we are successful in cycles that take a while to come around, what I call the YOYO effect. We have to hit the bottom hard before we clean the place out of self serving political bastards and start again. If the administrators are convinced that they are right and hold all the knowledge for success then they are bound to fail sooner or later. Life and Rugby are too complex and psychological for one person or a small group of administrators to have all the answers. Why wouldnt the coaches ask for advice from you? You were clearly the best prop that ever played for Australia. Topo the sad thing is there is nobody in the country that could set an exam for you. They wouldn't understand the answers you gave anyway.

France don't have the pack to match the Boks or the Pumas? They seemed to do allright against the ABs last weekend...

GARTH "neither France, Ireland or Scotland have a pack to match the Pumas or the Boks." You sure the French dont? "South Africa also have some of rugby’s greatest broken play runners in their backs". I'm afraid my list stopped after Brian "The Interceptor" Habana. Actually, we dont need world class scrummagers, just a couple than can manage not to collapse or go backwards too qukckly, giving away penalties. Like the Fijians against SA, or the Scots vs. Argentina. Contrary to what some have said, it wasnt bad scrum ball that let us down and took the wind out of the loosies. Its just that the scrums kept leaking penalties and 3 of the 4 England goals came either directly from or immediately after scrum penalties. The only other likely England avenue for scoring was that other refuge of the skill-less - the rolling maul.

SHEEK, I can only say now............go to bed! Me 2, t.

Topo, 4 times I've tried to post an article on Roar proclaiming you for Director of 'National Academy for Scrum Aspirants'. NASA for short - ha, ha, ha, ha (sorry, I like my little jokes sometimes). But each time the post was truncated or lost. I will try one more time because you deserve it. Stay tuned. Topo, with your other commitments, assistant coach of the Wallabies is out for you. But with your phenomenal accumulated knowledge, heading up a National Scrum Academy is right up your alley.

Topo, Thank Christ I didn't pick the Pumas to lose or you would have had a real go at me :) The expression ‘scrummaging supermarket’, a stodgy alliteration at best I'll admit, was used to illustrate what I believe to be Australian rugby’s view of Argentina. That is a great source of quality scrummagers but, and this is the point, not a country we should ensure we play regularly. We point to the great impact yourself and Patricio Noriega made whilst wearing Australia's colours but somehow don’t think that we should give something back to Argentina. The Wallabies have played Argentina 17 times. This is roughly the same number of games we've had against the New Zealand Maori (16) and they aren't even a national team. The sad thing is that the only other major team to have played Argentina more times is France (40). Australia has benefited from the inclusion of Argentinean born players but what has Argentina got out of Australia? Have our rugby administrators pushed hard enough for Argentina’s inclusion in the Tri-Nations or Super rugby? Have we allowed foreign players to play for our Super 14 teams like the Northern Hemisphere teams have? No. Australian rugby has used Argentina in much the same way Australia and New Zealand have used the Pacific Islands (the relatively recent Pacific Nations Cup is a step in the right direction). In this way Australia has treated Argentina not as a rugby nation deserving our respect but as a ‘supermarket’. This reflects badly on Australia and not on Argentina and was in no way intended as a slight on any Argentine player. Argentina’s rise, despite such neglect, has been remarkable. On the topic of scrum schools there can surely be no better time than now to get this idea off the ground. As my wife constantly reminds me, the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Dear Stillmissit, You are absolutely correct in your suspicions! THEY heard me for faar too long and paid no attention to my plight! No amount of begging would have swayed them though! because Australian Administrators are TOO arrogant and self serving! to admit their are NOT CORRECT! Mate, 1st go in 1996, 2nd go in 1998, 3rd go in 2005!!!!?????? Mate I played the game for 22 years. Did I learn something about it? Frigging lots! Never got the chance to show the bastards how good I was? or how much I know!????? If you are a Doctor and study for 10 years for it, you want to practice wouldn't you? I'm sick and tired of this shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After 22 years as a player, who do I have to give exam about it??????????????????????????????????? tOPO tOPO

Thank you Sheek, You ae reading your book very well! tOPO

Stu - prepare yourself to be dissapointed son.