AMERICAN SAMOA – We’re a bit behind today because we botched-up our New Year’s Eve by coming to the wrong Samoa. We thought the Dateline shift was from American Samoa over, not Samoa and over. So instead of being a day early, we’re a day late. We resolve to be more time-conscious in Twenty Twelve… That said, here are some Rugby Resolutions for the new year:
Keep Sam Warburton Healthy: The next Rugby World Cup seems like an eternity away, what with the style of play this brute plays. We can only hope that he can stay healthy so that he gets a shot at redemption in 2016.
Help The Referees: We hate to admit it, but Alain Rolland had no choice – by rule of law – but to ruin the 2011 RWCby tossing the aforementioned Warburton. What we want the IRB to allow for is some type of Referee Discretion. Allow him/her to make the judgement based on the overall scope of the incident, not by rigid rule. In this instance, Rolland should have had the flexibility to give Sin Bin Sam a Yellow Card. Instead, the IRB was left RED in the face.
Find Fountain Of Youth: Again, our sites are on the 2015 RWC. We want Todd Clever, Team USA‘s star, back for another run. We’d also like to see his mates Paul Emerick and Mike MacDonald sipping from that fountain. They are entertaining to watch.
Find Stomach/Groin Muscle-Pull Cure: The game cannot afford to lose the likes of a Dan Carter to a training injury again! Granted, we got to witness as tense a RWC Final as we could have hoped for – but because of the wrong reasons.
Implement Mat Turner’s Hemisphere Championship: If you missed last Tuesday’s column, England 7s star Mathew Drew Turner smartly suggested that the Heineken Cup champion face off against the Super 15 – or whatever it’s now called – champ. This would A) Be exciting. B) End all speculation about which is the better league.
Initiate the NARU: Here’s our plan to give global rugby a shot in the arm; start the fan-sponsored North American Rugby Union or NARU. With three teams in Canada (Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver) and three in the USA (New York, Chicago & Los Angeles), we can have professional rugby in North America. With the power of the internet, we fund it through fans. Send in $10 and you now own a piece of the league. If the league isn’t formed, you get your money back. If 100,000 fans sent in ten bucks, we’d have $1,000,000.00. That would make real money types and advertisers take notice. We’ve drawn up the plans. Stay tuned…
Get Graham Henry To Smile: Now that the All Black monkey is off his back, we want Coach Henry to have, as Charles Dickens said through Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas everyday. In fact, we’ll be living it daily ourselves. Thank you in advance for the generous gifts you’ll be sending!
Tomorrow, Mathew Drew Turner is back with his first report of 2012.
