Weekend Wrap

After a brief absence the Weekend Wrap is back.  Quite a few things have occurred over the weeks but as usual the topics seem to stay the same. Coaches are being sacked or considered for sacking, the officials are making more and more errors and drug cheats are in the headlines.

Lance Armstrong - Is he a drug cheat?

I have always held a question mark over Lance Armstrong when it comes to being a drug cheat. Now that he has all but admitted to being a cheat by deciding to not defend himself has left open a wide door for anyone to label him a drug cheat. He may have been smart in doing so, as now the evidence will never been shown in a court of law and the speculation will remain. Maybe this was his intention or maybe his lawyers advised him to take this action to avoid the humiliation when all the facts were presented or instead they showed him the bill for their services if he went ahead and fought the charges. 

Which ever side you take in this debate, when you look at the history of Lance Armstrong, the accusations and the record of his team in the Tour de France, then you can understand why so many doubt his ability. With many of his fellow team mates being caught and doctors in his team being caught it is hard to believe that he is innocent of any dealing with drugs. Unfortunately if the evidence is not given to the public then this debate will forever rage on.  Yet again the image of cycling has been dealt a harsh blow.

Wallabies or Wannabes

Watching the wallabies go down in a historic loss to the All-Blacks and now going 10 years without holding the Bledisloe Cup it is easy to blame many things. Whilst I will maintain the official in charge of the game did not have a good concept of free flowing rugby and was farcical in some of his decision making, the result purely comes back to one thing. Australia is just not hungry enough. 

Many things are going wrong with rugby and it has been a gradual slide for years. The coach is the first change that needs to happen. If we want our players to have pride in their jersey then we need an Australian telling them why. Robbie Deans was hired and expected to turn our side into a world class team. Since the start of the World Cup it looks like the team is going backwards and the brakes need to be applied. Also it seems strange that the best two sides in our country, the Reds & Brumbies are out numbered by the Warratahs side. If the Reds were so dominant in the Super Rugby competition it seems amiss that only Higginbotham is in the Scrum and the backline is majority Warratahs as well. In all 7 of the starting 15 are from the Warratahs, a team that only won 4 games all season. Surely with the Reds & Brumbies totally dominating the Australian Conference they should have dominated the Australian side as well.  

 Drew Mitchell is a good player but why rush back a player from injury so quickly? It is no surprise that he is out injured again.  Kurtley Beale was rightfully dropped to the bench but maybe he should be taken to a weight loss clinic as it seems very obvious he is trying to bulk up for the forward pack. many will blame the backs but when the forwards are making no inroads and not having an impact, then the backs will never win a game. One of the most dangerous and explosive backs in the game was sitting on the bench. What do te Fainga'a brothers need to do to get a starting position.

When the decision is finally made to replace the coach, I also think that a few other changes need to be made with the selection and managerial positions as well.