Another from "Grumbles Growden"

[travelling_gerry]

Pipe down, Peter

This week's Give Yourself a Rap award goes to Western Force boss Peter O'Meara, for certain loony comments during his "State of the Union" address in Perth this week. State of the Union address? Yes, we are serious. O'Meara, who obviously loves being a big fish in a little pond, went on about how the perception on the eastern seaboard was that rugby was struggling, whereas in WA it was actually flourishing. He then said that "Perhaps because of the team's success, the Force had been the subject of an attack by a Sydney newspaper" over player contracting. Delusions of grandeur or what!


http://www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/ar...833690325.html



I dont know Grumbles.....I think the delusions of grandeur are yours

[brokendown gunfighter]

Growden should stick to what he does best
eating pies

[The EnForcer]

Firstly I would love to find out who the dick weed was that reported that back to Growden.

Are reporters the only ones allowed to say anything? Growden, you are an idiot and a one eyed powder blue puff!

[travelling_gerry]

TEF...?? Your report on O'mearas report??

[shasta]

He's a real positive type of bloke, eh?

But even a class a knob can get some things right.

Dear John …
Memo John O'Neill. Will you stop the pathetic on-field singing of Waltzing Matilda before home Test matches. It is so tedious. A major time-waster and basically ruins the Test build-up.

[frontrow]

I looked up wanker in the dictionary, and there it was, a life size picture of Growden...

[travelling_gerry]

do you have one of those LARGE format dictionarys???

[James]

It's pretty rich of Growden to be saying Peter O'Meara has dellusions of grandeur! Growden, aka knobhead, refers to himself as 'Chief Rugby Correspondent' in most of his articles. I don't actually know anyone who doesn't think he is a constantly-negative, egocentric toss pot.

[frontrow]

Actually, i looked that up in the dictionary too, and guess what, the same photo...




IN BOLD PRINT

[Darren]

I think he has his head stuck again....

[Burgs]

I'm pretty sure that the term "State of the Union" has been used by RugbyWA previously and certainly has been used by plenty of others elsewhere.
It would seem it is all just part of the general "SMH got the shits with O'Meara and Firepower" saga that they apparently aren't mature enough to put behind them.

[.X.]

I am sure that pre-SANZAR the ARU used to promote the NSW v QLD matches as "State of the Union" as opposed to Mungo's State or Origin which we all know is in between the state of California and the State of Washington.

[Burgs]

You certainly wouldn't want guts ache as your press secretary would you?!
I think Greg may have got a little caught up in the Kiwi excitement rather than analysing the match as an impartial observer...or at least not an anti Australian one.
There will be people whose only eyes of the match will be this article and that is unfortunate.

Kick in the guts for Wallabies

Greg Growden
Sunday, July 22, 2007

New Zealand 26 Australia 12

THE Bledisloe and Tri Nations trophies remain in New Zealand for yet another year after Australia irritated the World Cup favourites but were eventually spat out by the most clinical of All Black performances. (Sure must have looked different at the ground to on TV You didn't miss your Taxi and just taken the Doorman's description did you Greg?)

It was a courageous effort for the Wallabies, who stayed with the All Blacks until midway through the second half, but they failed to have the required kicking game in the wet to seriously upset the home team.

There was no one in the Wallabies who was as accurate as All Blacks five-eighth Dan Carter, whose kicking at goal was near perfect and midfield bombs were outstanding. (Except Mortlock and Giteau who both kicked 100%)

The turning point came in the 54th minute when All Blacks replacement halfback Brendon Leonard showed up Wallabies veteran George Gregan. (The replay would indicate that Leonard was up to two meters off-side) From the back of a scrum, Gregan retreated to take a pass from his No.8 Stephen Hoiles. Leonard seized on Australia's indecision and grabbed the ball in mid-air. While Gregan was left looking silly, Leonard charged off, taking play to the Australian tryline. (It's ok Greg, not long to go til he retires and you can find someone else. No mention of any of the exceptional first half that he had?)

From the ensuing scrum, which was repeatedly re-set because Australia kept dropping it, (Absolutely 100% the fault of Australia?) the All Blacks went wide, enabling their loosehead prop Tony Woodcock to burrow just inside the corner flag for the first try of the match. (Which was inconclusive and given without a clear view by the TMO.)

And for the Wallabies, it was goodbye Bledisloe Cup for another year. As Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock said: "They had a lot more territory and we had no territory at all in the second half. The All Blacks were too good." (Yet over 80 minutes the Wallabies had more ball and more territory, so there was some good things too Greg. Lucky there was a quote for you though, saves you looking biased.)

Several Wallabies did stand up under the pressure of trying to win their first Test match at Eden Park in 21 years, in particular Mortlock. George Smith was destructive at the breakdown, but overall the All Blacks had too much panache in too many important positions.

The ground was drenched by a torrential storm just before the kick-off, but the Wallabies kept their composure in the opening stanza, succeeded in holding the ball for lengthy periods, and won enough of the territorial battle to keep the points flowing through kicks.

The handling by both sides was surprisingly good considering the conditions, and at times the Wallabies seriously threatened the All Blacks' defence.

The best kick of the first half was also the ugliest when Wallabies inside centre Matt Giteau attempted a field goal from near the halfway line in the 25th minute. It spat off the boot and floated all over the place, before creeping over the crossbar. Welsh referee Nigel Owen had to call on the video referee to determine whether it was worth three points or not.

The All Blacks applied pressure on new Wallabies fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper, who at times looked all at sea, especially when Carter repeatedly had him running this way and that retrieving high balls. (But at other times did some pretty good things, a little balance please Greg)

Winger Drew Mitchell was also targeted, with most of the play based on his side of the field, which saw him often smashed and twisted in tackles. (...yet retaining the ball more often than not...) Shortly after the break, Mitchell was replaced by Chris Latham, who moved to fullback, enabling Ashley-Cooper to go to the left wing.

The Wallabies were able to nullify the 18kg All Blacks advantage in the scrums, holding their own and even once driving through their pack. But as the game went on, the All Blacks became to dominate up front, giving them the basis to control proceedings during the final quarter.

NEW ZEALAND 26 (Tony Woodcock try; Daniel Carter 7 pens) bt AUSTRALIA 12 (Stirling Mortlock 3 pens; Matt Giteau drop goal) at Eden Park, Auckland. Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales). Crowd: 47,000.

By no means do I think everything is rosey for Australia however, there was a lot of good to come out of that match for us and I feel that the above is a totally inaccurate portrayal of the match.

[The EnForcer]

I think the best thing to do about Growden is to ignore the idiot.

[shasta]

Confirms my impression of what a positive type he is.

All things considered I thought it was a pretty fair effort. Some things didn't go their way and same for the AB's, but on balance I thought the Aussies were harder done by in a few more critical calls, as Burgs pointed out. They were closer than ever to the AB scrum, on shifting ground too. That was pretty close to their best line-up. Not so Australia.

The choke's still on.