It's July Again!

It’s that time of year again.
Where all the boys from the southern hemisphere ditch their surf boards & don their favorite stripes to wrestle in the mud all night long, it’s rugby season again.

Been the ardent Wallaby Fan for the past 14 years I must admit that 2002 seems light ages away. It was the last time we held the Bledisloe cup, that little beauty that signifies trans-Tasman rugby superiority. Still remember that victory, 2002. The Eales era.

Being surrounded by arrogant All Black fans in Colombo does'nt help my cause. It ain’t easy, made fun of for the past 6 years. And like every July for the past 6 years, I’m on with that ol tune again. We’re gonna belt you blacks this year!

Waruna, a former Thomian rugby player who donned the Salmon pink & brown is the only other Wallaby fan I’ve met in Colombo. The 18Th July is gonna be special, bumping into my rugby season buddies who I only bump into during rugby season at cheers. Fish and chips, Fried platter combos, Chicken Buttys & beer will accompany the buzzed madness of watching (Hopefully) wallaby after wallaby gyrating over the all black try line.

I’m impressed with the three’s this year. We’ve got Luke Burgess at Half Back, gentle unassuming dude who has improved his service from last year. Got Matty Gits at First Five, the controller & Kamikaze Sterling at second five to bash people up & Berrick Barnes at outside center to man the most difficult of defensive positions in the game, add to this the electric speed of Lachie turner on the right wing with the more than capable Peter Hynes & Drew Mitchell slugging it out to start on the left wing leaves room for optimism. By biggest worry was always at Full Back, since the departure of our buddy from the gold coast Chris Latham we’ve never had a world class last line of defense. But AA Cooper’s got things covered going by his performance against les bleus.

Come 18th July I’d be singing ‘’Advanced Australia Fair & Waltzing Matilda’’ with much fever as any fan at the ETIHAD stadium in shitty winter weather.

Not that a lotta people care, but when ur into these things you really are. I mean, I was 9 when I was hit with depression when the Wallabies crashed out of RWC 1995. I was 13 when John Eales lifted RWC 1999. I was 12 when we clean swept the Blacks in 98. I was 17 when we defied our critics & made it to RWC 2003 finals & I was drunk & depressed in 2007 when we lost to England. I’ve grown up watching the wallabies, trying to look like Berrick barnes on the pitch & telling my best mate to Fuck off outta here when being teased about the wallabies.

To heck with it. It’s rugby season & it’s gonna be good!Rugby is quite a bit like sex they say… When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.