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[caption id="attachment_5599" caption="Australia\'s Julian Huxley is tackled by Canada\'s Dth van der Merwe, left, and Colin Yukes, right, during the Rugby World Cup Group…
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[caption id="attachment_5599" caption="Australia\'s Julian Huxley is tackled by Canada\'s Dth van der Merwe, left, and Colin Yukes, right, during the Rugby World Cup Group…
[caption id="attachment_34070" width="300" caption="Paul Briggs is counted out after just 29 seconds. (AAP Image/Tony McDonough)"][/caption] Paul Briggs was something of a childhood hero of…
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[caption id="attachment_22059" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Australian rugby union backs Quade Cooper, Adam Ashley-Cooper, James O\'Connor, Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell remove the tape they used…
[caption id="attachment_15124" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="England\'s Phil Vickery, center, tries to muscle his way through the Italian defence during the Six Nations rugby union international…
[caption id="attachment_21819" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Brisbane Broncos rugby league player Karmichael Hunt kicks an AFL football during a Brisbane Broncos training session at Red Hill…
[caption id="attachment_1444" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Wallaby superstar, Berrick Barnes. AAP Images"][/caption] There was something exhilarating about watching Berrick Barnes wearing the Queensland jersey. In the…
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During the rapid rise of the Wallabies over the last couple of weeks, a lot has been made of Robbie Deans' mantra, "play what's…
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Incremental, progressive change is good. Wholesale, idealistic change is seldom so. Regardless of your opinions on the relative value of the 13 ELVs approved…
After Danny Cipriani’s mature and masterly debut in the English number ten jersey against Ireland on Saturday, is there a place in an English…
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Stillmissit,
Fair comment. I am sure that I too would be impressed by meeting Deans personally and he obviously deserves the loyalty a lot of people show to him. I think you are seeing an attack on the man that isn’t there, not in this article.
Coaches are defined, their legacies established, by the results of their teams and the way their teams play.
It is possible for good men to leave bad legacies.
Your suggestion of what would constitute a better article is excellent. Are you commissioning me?
Deans will leave a legacy of unprofessionalism at the Wallabies
Frank and Sheek,
wonderful stuff. Very interesting re Alan jones, it has always seemed to simplistic an answer that he was ‘just a motivator’.
Wallabies coaches since 1962: Part II
“How does one root like a captain?”
OMEmu,
this could be the single most important question that has ever been asked on this or any other forum.
Leadership, captaincy and lack thereof for Wallabies
yep – i wish i had written that line. best sentence on the page.
Leadership, captaincy and lack thereof for Wallabies
I will genuinely miss Vinay’s wonderfully earnest and spirited encouragement and regret that I never had the chance to thank him in person for it. He reminded me that the best writing comes from a place free of prejudice.
What a vivacious, articulate, humble and passionate gentleman.
I second Sheek’s call for the introduction of the Vinay Verma award on the Roar. If it only serves to remind us all how much enthusiasm life can be lived with then it will be well worth it.
Here’s a poem of Vinay’s.
New Migrant
It was not escape and it was not freedom
the pouch of stemcells unnoticed at customs
my currency of negotiation.
I was oppressed and an oppressor
tetrapack crumpled emotions
dustbinned and years later
recycled I no longer bartered
my expertise for reward;
my morality was not tax deductible and
my love had no caveats
undirected and scattered on soil that was not mapped
unexpecting and receiving
more than I deserved I finally
learnt to measure in sensations.
Vale Vinay Verma: a titan among cricket writers
Vinay,
thank you for your very kind comments.
Perhaps you will understand this but in the foreword to Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh wrote something about not ever having tried to understand and describe too deeply the philosophy of the world and human interaction but merely enjoying the beautiful use of the english language. That is not a quote but it went something like that and the idea, if not the exact words, stuck with me. Waugh figured that using the perfect words to describe a certain feeling could be more revealing than digging into technical analysis and the lies hidden in statistics.
I want to write more like this, using sport as an excuse to melt some words together, and are therefore very glad to see that someone else is enjoying it. The Roar is probably the only forum that would publish it.
So we surrendered in the Ashes. Now what?
Scott,
Very sad to see you go as I valued your contributions highly. Sadly it is too often true that the most enduring writers are the ones that refuse to stop beating the same old drum.
You do realise that this makes you the Mark Ella of rugby writers.
Regards
Garth
FAREWELL ROAR: Bickering a symptom of troubled times