From the Touchline
A lighter look at what is happening at Rugby World Cup 2011.
The numbers
1 - New Zealand have named Andy Ellis in their 22-man squad to face Japan this weekend. The Brave Blossoms have picked Shaun Webb. If the latter comes on as a substitute, we could see the first instance in RWC history in which a Webb takes the field to face an Ellis.
13 - By losing to Samoa on Wednesday, Namibia recorded their 13th successive World Cup defeat, equalling the competition record set by Japan (1995-2007).
49 - Seconds it took Samoa's Kahn Fotuali'i in the Namibia match to record the fastest try at RWC 2011.
He said it ...
"Remember rugby is a team game - all 14 of you pass the ball to Jonah!"
- an anonymous fan's advice to the All Blacks in 1995.
Sail-ing back down memory lane
The excellent photo exhibition, Union: the Heart of Rugby, running at the Auckland Town Hall throughout RWC 2011, had a special visitor at the weekend.
Timothy Sail was just three when he was snapped reaching through the wire fence to touch hands with All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu at a training session in Auckland in 2001.
Sail, now 13 and showing promise as a prop in Auckland junior competition, was among the patrons taking in the collection of superb rugby images captured by some of the world's leading snappers.
The accompanying text has been written by award-winning New Zealand fiction writer Paul Thomas, based on his original interviews with John Kirwan, Nick Farr-Jones, Joel Stransky, Martin Johnson and Philippe Sella.
The exhibit and book of the same name have the support of legendary Sports Illustrated photographer, Neil Leifer, whose shot of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out in 1965, is now one of sport’s most iconic images.
Leifer has chosen his top 20 shots from the exhibition, including one of an airborne Bryan Habana scoring a try in France four years ago, and can be seen on one of the accompanying documentaries discussing his selections and his craft along with some of the other featured photographers.
Head for action
Some of rugby's great mysteries are there for all to see on a regular basis.
A back inexplicably letting an attacking wing charge past him; a centre hesitating and offloading poorly when a sprint to the line was the obvious option.
What's the solution? Simple. Stick a video camera on the players’ heads.
Based on an idea by All Blacks coaches, TACTIC (also known as ‘Carter Cam’) was launched in Dunedin on Wednesday after it was trialled by the ITM Cup team, Otago Razorbacks.
“It gives players real insight into how to read the game in front of them,” says developer Hayden Croft. "Coaches have also said they learn how elite players are making decisions. It’s going to revolutionise coaching.”
Divine intervention
You would think he should love everyone equally, but a large sign outside a church in downtown Wellington reads, JESUS LOVES THE ALL BLACKS.
Maybe it is something to do with a shared ability to walk on water?
Juan row to avoid
Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe's first task as acting Argentina captain on Tuesday was to play peacemaker in the media scrum.
The number 8 was being interviewed by a couple of English-speaking reporters, who were among a sea of Argentine journalists after the team announcement in Dunedin.
When a South American's animated pleas to wrap up the interview finally put one of the reporters off his shorthand stroke, Anglo-Saxon reserve took a back seat as he snapped at his Latin counterpart.
"Let's not fight, guys," said the towering veteran Lobbe, who quickly had the scribes toeing the line.
Chip off the old block
Samoa full back Paul Williams may be the son of All Blacks legend Bryan, but that doesn’t mean he’s always willing to soak up his father’s advice.
“Whenever I’m willing to listen, he’ll provide advice,” the full back said with a cheeky grin.
Wing Bryan, who was renowned for his brilliant sidestepping, scored 10 tries in 38 Tests for New Zealand but, unlike his son, never had the chance to play in a World Cup as he retired from international rugby in 1978.
“He’ll be making his best efforts to get to our games,” Paul said about his dad. “He’ll fit that around the All Blacks schedule. Dad’s pretty proud.”
Boks at home
They could have been at home - except for the weather. There was green and gold everywhere and the sweet harmonies of the popular South African folk song Shosholoza when the Springboks team bus arrived for training in Wellington on Tuesday morning.
There to meet them at their open training session were the green and gold uniformed pupils from the South Wellington Intermediate School who joined the singing students from the Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna at Seatoun.
The crowd favourite was wing Bryan Habana, who had the children chanting his name and two teenage girls squealing when he signed their shirts, handbag and even a mobile phone.
O'Dear
Irish full back Geordan Murphy clearly knows one too many Australians called O’Connor.
In discussing the attacking threats in the Wallabies back line, Murphy mentioned "Matt O’Connor", raising a murmur from the assembled press.
Realising he had referred to the 40-year-old Aussie coach of his club side Leicester rather than wing James O’Connor, one of the most dangerous Wallaby backs, Murphy lamented that he wished it was the older version he was facing at Eden Park on Saturday.
Gaffney's water meter
Refusing to look at the long-range weather forecasts for his side’s match against the Wallabies on Saturday, Ireland’s backs coach Alan Gaffney is instead putting his faith in local taxi drivers.
"I talked to a cab driver last night and he told me that it looked like the weather will be OK on the weekend,” he said. “And they're generally pretty right.”
Hair today, gone tomorrow
Is South Africa full back Frans Steyn a cut above the rest?
Steyne returned from a stint in France with Racing Metro to play in the Tri-Nations tournament sporting a beard and fashionably long hair - well, perhaps fashionable in France.
By the time he arrived in New Zealand he'd had a trim and when he ran out against Wales in Wellington on Sunday he was clean shaven, with a short back and sides, or as one of his teammates described it, “a good Free State cut".
Asked who had cut his hair, he replied: "I did it myself.”
But in his profile in the team media guide, Steyn lists as his toughest opponent: "My hairdresser".
Mission impossible
Reporters attending the South Africa training session in Wellington and wondering how easy it would be for a rival camp to video closed training sessions from the heavily wooded hillside overlooking the ground soon got their answer.
After they caught a flash of orange high up on the slope, behind a tree, it emerged that organisers were already one step ahead of the spies.
It was a security guard in an orange flouro vest ensuring the Springboks' security wasn't breached by prying eyes.
Blonds go in boots 'n' all
Fans at the Northland Events Centre can be excused from thinking they are seeing double when centre DTH van der Merwe and wing Phil Mackenzie line-up in Canada's back line.
Not only do Canada's two most prolific try-scorers in the past month have the same bright orange boots, they have both bleached their hair blond. And unlike Canada's 'Beardos', who say it was a happy accident they ended up with the same facial hair, Mackenzie said their hairdos were very much a combined effort.
"We decided together that we would get our hair done,” Mackenzie said. “I've never bleached my hair before so I didn't know what to expect and this is what I got stuck with.
"DTH was pretty keen on it. I was teetering on the edge and one day we went for a coffee and walked past a place and got it done."
But Mackenzie said they didn't plan the rest. "The boots were just a coincidence and we both wear our socks down," he said.
"So we were saying today, it will look like we do a lot of work out on the field. They will probably think we are one person."
Big Mac and a chip
Mackenzie has touched down in each of Canada's past four games - in two Tests against the USA, a showdown with the Australian Barbarians, and Wednesday's epic 25-20 win over Tonga - but it's the way he scores that is earning him attention.
"I've managed to score a few opportunistic tries lately, using my foot, which is pretty funny," Mackenzie said.
Basically, the chip and chase is his best friend, best illustrated by his try
against the Australian Barbarians.
Mackenzie chipped and chased, toe-poked the ball in front of him twice, before diving on it over the line.
Canucks captain Pat Riordan quipped: "Three tries, never touched the ball once."
That's not white
An All Black-supporting parent watching Romania’s training session in Queenstown revealed that his son, a pupil at Arrowtown Primary School, was left lost for words when he was told to wear white when the England team visited on Thursday.
“No chance of that,” the kid said. “I’ll be wearing my All Blacks jersey.”