From the Touchline

A lighter look at what is happening at Rugby World Cup 2011.

The numbers

20 - Georgia will be Scotland's 20th opponents at the Rugby World Cup when the teams clash on Wednesday. No other team have faced so many different opponents in the competition. One of the teams who Scotland are yet to face at a RWC are Wales. The others are Canada, Namibia and Russia.
17 - Samoa, who open their Rugby World Cup 2011 campaign on Wednesday, have 17 foreign -born players in their squad, the most of any of the teams at RWC 2011. All 17 were born in New Zealand.
8 - Georgia have won all of their eight matches in 2011 but have not faced an opponent ranked higher than Canada (14 on the IRB World Rankings). Scotland (7) should prove tougher opponents on Wednesday.

He said it

“Get on the piss.''
- Fiji's fly half Nicky Little turns 35 today, although his teammates have been stirring him by suggesting he is really 38. Whatever his age, he had little hesitation in revealing how he plans to celebrate his birthday.

Virtual heroes

Some of the Samoa players have already lifted the Webb Ellis Cup and they have not even started their RWC 2011 campaign.

Confused? Well, the Bay of Plenty-based Pacific Islanders have been playing the latest PlayStation rugby game at the team hotel to settle nerves before their clash with Namibia in Rotorua on Wednesday.

Scrum half Junior Poluleuligaga is one that likes to get on the PlayStation but he says that for commitment you cannot go past scrum half Kahn Fotuali'i.

"There's quite a few fanatics on the PlayStation," Poluleuligaga said. "Kahn Fotuali'i loves to pick himself in the team and make himself the goalkicker. He just loves hearing the commentator say his name all the time."

Coach has a weather eye

Peter de Villiers has proven himself a meteorological guru in the lead-up to Saturday night's Pool D clash between South Africa and Fiji in Wellington.

The ebullient South Africa coach had plenty of reporters scratching their heads at Monday's team press conference when, discussing the local weather, he declared: "Well this is Wellington, where you can get five seasons in one day. Some places you only get four, but here you get five."

As if on a Truman Show-like cue, the fifth de Villiers season arrived just after lunch on Tuesday when a thick blanket of hail and snow fell hit-and-run-style on the aptly named "Coolest Little Capital in the World".

Thirty minutes after the snowstorm the sun came out, then went, then a leaf was seen falling from a tree, then a bird chirped and it got a little warm again. Five seasons. One day. De Villiers IS in tune with the world.

A bit nippy

Most of the South Africa and Fiji players missed the snowstorm in Wellington. "I think a couple of our players may have taken a look outside, but most stayed indoors in the warm," said Fiji team manager and celebrated former representative player, Pio Tikoisuva.

"There are a couple in our team who hadn't seen snow before, except on the television, but most will have seen it from time spent playing in the northern hemisphere."

Tikoisuva recalled his first experience of playing rugby in snow. "It was at Twickenham in England in 1970 and we had no feeling in our hands it was so cold. When we came off after the match we had to get the reserves to unlace our boots. On the table there were bottles of whiskey and you had to have a nip so you could get a bit of heat into you."

Tikoisuva was managerially cautious about the possibility of a dram being enjoyed on Saturday night. "Probably after the game, not before," he laughed.

Pies for England

The owner of the popular Who Ate All The Pies bakery in Dunedin, Englishman Steve Turner, was plying his trade in the normally busy city centre on Saturday night and sold only 11 pies during the England-Argentina clash in nearby Otago Stadium. But that was not his main problem.

“There was no one around to give us the score. They were all inside watching or down at the stadium,'' Turner said. "I had to text my dad, who was in a Scarborough holiday park (in England) on holiday, watching the game live in his caravan mid-morning to get the scores.

“He replied with texts like ‘not so good’, ‘we’re ahead’ and ’England won’. I replied ‘why’, ‘by how much’ and ‘what’s the score?’ I must have spent more money on texts than what I made during the game,” said the former Preston resident, who shifted to Dunedin more than four years ago.

And after England’s 13-9 victory? “The first taxi arrived half an hour after the game and I sold 140 pies in 45 minutes. Cleaned me out.”

Timely reminder

With Jean de Villiers injured, South Africa centre Juan de Jongh could be called up against Fiji on Saturday.

Having been reminded at a media conference that he made his debut in the 34-31 victory over Wales in Cardiff last year, he thought he should discreetly remind the world exactly how that went.

"Yes, I scored a try and whatever ... but I know in my life my time will come so I'm just waiting anxiously for that time."

That brought a wry smile from his fellow interviewee, reserve hooker Bismarck du Plessis, who knows a thing or two about waiting for a call up.

Boot on other foot

Puma prop Martín Scelzo nearly did not make the ground for Argentina’s opening RWC 2011 match against England on Saturday. Not through selection or fitness difficulties but because of his massive size 52 feet (about a size 17 UK).

It seems he left for New Zealand a little too quickly, packed two left-footed boots and was restricted in training to using running shoes as he could not buy boots big enough.

Packing down at 124kg with his 183cm tall frame, the 54-Test veteran prop has disproportionate feet, so the SOS went out to Argentina. A travelling fan collected the boots and personally delivered them to Scelzo in Dunedin just before the match.

Sonny Moose Williams

Canada's players took an opportunity to upstage New Zealand pin-up Sonny Bill Williams on Tuesday.

After posing for an official team photo in their match-day kit, they had to change into training gear on the pitch for their next session.

Then centre Ryan Smith shouted at Chauncey O'Toole: "Hey, you can rival Sonny Bill guys, see if we can get you into the papers."