Every week, England 7s star Mathew Drew Turner takes on the role of brazen, if not cheeky, reporter for RWU. Left, he negotiates Cape Town International.
Last week I thought I would be writing this piece from a not-so-sunny spring in England but that was all changed as I arrived at the airport on Sunday night. I was packed and ready to leave not only Cape Town, but mentally prepared to leave everyone special in my life behind again… That was all changed when the lovely man behind the bag-drop section said “Sorry sir, but we are 10% over-booked on this flight and you’re not going to be able to get on this plane.” After trying to be as serious as I can be – which isn’t very serious – I couldn’t get on any planes to London that night. For compensation, as they like to say, I was given a free ticket to anywhere in the world. (Can’t complain about that at all).
So, instead of writing this in England I’m writing this 30,000 feet up in the sky, in order to make my RWU deadline… haha. The pressure is on, but who doesn’t like a little pressure in their lives. But enough about my hard life…
Let’s talk rugby and let’s start off with the Super 15. It is that time of the season where injuries start effecting teams and as usual, it’s the Australian teams who have been hit by the most injuries. James O’Connor has lacerated (a fancy way of saying ‘cut’) his liver and damaged his ribs after Berrick Barnes “accidentally” kneed him in the ribs. I smell a little position-hating going on there – after all, the are Wallabies teammates. Another four injuries are the Fainga’a twins (hooker Saia & centre Anthony), Sammy Lane and let’s not forget Quade Cooper. Remember him?
More news from Super 15 is that Victor Matfield, who has only been retired for about 2 months, has decided he wants to play again. I think that’s because of his lack of ability in the commentary department – there’s only so much you can say about line-outs in a 80 minutes. On the subject of commentary, Bob Skinstad has apologized for throwing out the term “coconut tackle.” To be honest if you saw it, there was no other way to explain it! But that’s probably why I’m not doing commentary… yet. Maybe by the time I’m Declan Yeats’ age and my face has started to really get effected by gravity, I ll be ready for commentary. Declan, there’s a future for you in commentary or radio.
Also I only realised after watching Hitman that Matt McCarthy is the main actor! Don’t know how I missed that.
Now, it’s straight back into training for me this week and I can’t put into words how excited I am to congratulate James Rodwell on his engagement and to catch up with all the boys (mainly because they owe me money). I’d bet money on Dan Norton having an excuse for not having my money.
Till next week, ciao…