Lions diary, day sixteen
It's actually eerie how quiet Durban has been diary-wise. There's been little in the way of recountable tales. Wednesday will be different.
It's actually eerie how quiet Durban has been diary-wise. There's been two outstanding curries, plenty of relaxed bonhomie, but little in the way of recountable tales.
Wednesday will be different, for I shall be attending a press conference given by none other than Peter de Villiers; the man whose philosophical genius relegates other great sporting philosophers, such as Eric Cantona, to the ranks of the ordinary.
So to warm you up, here's a taster of the best of last year's soundbites from South Africa's main man, for whom the collected South African media here are sharpening knives for Wednesday's 'chat':
“What we try to tell them is when you point your finger into the sky, don't concentrate on the finger because you'll miss all the heavenly glory out there.” – On telling his players to enjoy life.
“So we will be aware of the threats they can pose to us but, then again, it's war and you die.” – On Australia's (slightly over-stated) likely aggression in Perth.
“The laws are there and we are law-abiding citizens of South Africa and we will never over-step anything.” – On the Boks playing to the referee.
“Now we have to go out there and do it ourselves and maybe it is going to be not too good for the two teams if they take the law into their own hands, if it is not being officiated the way that we want it to go.” – Two minutes later, on the referee playing to the Boks.
“Either you can give him the opportunity to play himself into form or he can take the opportunity to play himself out of form because players always want to be the best and they can push themselves too far.” – On…erm… something to do with squad rotation.
“Even if you're playing a game on the moon, if you have the skills and you play well, you will win.” – On choosing the right team for the right time.
We can't wait for Wednesday!
Elsewhere, there will be a lot of hungry rugby journalists in Durban this morning after last night's announcement of the call to arms of Wales' Ryan Jones.
A group of ten of us were about to depart our hotel to head for the evening's eatery – indeed, all had knocked back their last aperitif and some were already outside when the media alert hit all the phones.
It provided perhaps the most comical moment of the tour to date as each and every journalist fell silent while reading the phone, then looked up with a face quietly digesting the news before making his excuses and heading off back to the lonely laptop in his room.
A bad night all round, not least for poor Stephen Ferris. But the room service chaps were happy – apparently it was their best night for tips this year!
Finally, an award for the finest piece of irony and sarcasm this tour so far. Shaun Edwards grabs the first one, after delivering a slightly withering verdict on Wayne Barnes' interpretation of the breakdowns on Saturday, he answered another question about Barnes thus, with an absolute straight delivery:
“I have a lot of respect for Wayne Barnes, he's refereed many a big game and he's a top class referee.” Most in the room fell about laughing – as they did at the end of the briefing when he plaintively insisted he was being serious!
The second award for sarcasm goes, perhaps a little surprisingly, to scrum-half Mike Phillips. Phillips is known to be a character away from the microphone, extremely full of the usual media clichés on it, but when asked if Ronan O'Gara stood differently from Stephen Jones, Phillips replied deadpan: “He's got two legs and two arms… so not really.”
Journal kept by Richard Anderson