USA-Russia: The Cold War Revisited in New Plymouth

On Thursday's Rugby World Cup fixture list, the USA Eagles will take on the Bears from Russia. The Russians are making their first-ever appearance at a Rugby World Cup, and with Ireland, Australia and Italy in the group, the Russians have to have this match circled as the one that they can win. It's a pretty safe bet that Eagles Head Coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, has also circled this fixture as the one that HE thinks he has a shot at winning.

The USA and the former Soviet Union have had some memorable meetings in the past, with sport being the back drop to Cold War Politics-particualrly in the 60's and 70's. The meetings have gone from the controversial men's basketball final at the Munich Olympics in 1972 to the iconic photo of Mike Eurozione scoring the winning goal as the USA shocked the formidable Soviet ice hockey team at the 1980 Olympics.

Thursday's preliminary round rugby game will probably be a tight contest, but in rugby, these two nuclear and geo-political heavyweights are going to be classified as minnows. The USA's lone spot in the rugby spotlight was winning gold medals at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, when they beat France in the finals. With the advent of professionalism in rugby, the gulf between USA Rugby and the top rugby nations only continues to grow, in fact, teams like Japan and Georgia have passed the US by in the world rankings, with the vastly improving Russians looking to pass the Americans by, as well.

The Americans showed a great deal of heart in their loss to Ireland in the first game, in game that was also played out with the memories and emotions of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 maybe helping the Yanks keep the score down against a much more talented Irish side. For the Russians, Thursday's match will be t heir first match in ANY Rugby World Cup. Look for them to come out fast. It seems like a lot of the underdog teams played with a lot of heart in their first matches: Namibia, Japan and Romania gave fits to Fiji, France and Scotland, respectively. The Amricans have won their last 3 matches against the Russians-but all 3 matches were very close, and were played on American soil.

Thursday's match may not have the marquee value of athletic contests in the past between the former Soviet Union and the USA, but for two nations fighting for respect and wins on the rugby pitch, the game at New Plymouth should have a lot of hard-hitting and passion from both sides.

Wallabies Go From Fiat to Lamborghini Against Italy

For their opening match in World Cup 2011, the Wallabies got to kick things off against Nick Mallet's Italian Squad. Not as much marquee value as England-Argentina, or South Africa-Wales, but Italy's formidable front row was going to be a stern test for Robbie Deans' Wallaby front row in Auckland.

The first half saw the Italians play with a great deal of heart and physicality. They were tackling hard and Quade Cooper and Wil Genia were not getting the time to work their magic. The halftime score was a very suprising 6-6. The neutral Kiwis in the crowd had to be wondering if the Italians could add a Wallaby pelt to the French scalp that they took in Rome back in the Six Nations. The Wallabies looked like a Fiat stuck in mud in the first half.

In the second half, the Wallabies looked like they were driving a Lamborhini opening it up on an open road in West Australia. Italy was just not going to be able to match the wicked pace the Australians posessed in the second half.

As tough as the Italians could be in the scrum, the Wallabies reigned supreme in the line outs. Secondly, when Deans brough in young James O'Connor, that injected some more speed to what the Wallaby back line already posessed. Thirdly, Quade Cooper got his mojo working at fly half.

O'Connor, it should be noted, started the game on the bench. He was in the doghouse for oversleeping the photo shoot and press conference back in Australia as it was to be the Wallaby send-off. O'Connor did not whine to the press, he knew he messed up in a big, big way and took his punishment like a man. He would end up scoring a try and hitting 3 conversions for the Wallabies.

Quade Cooper's impeccable timing on 3 different passes set up 3 Wallaby tries. Ben Alexander did us props proud by touching down after some nice work by the Wallaby forwards. In the end, the 32-6 bonus point win was a nice warm up for the Aussies as their next match will be against the Irish, who will be looking to improve upon their game against the USA Eagles. I think the Wallabies have to be the second favorites in this tournament after the hosts. Their forwards are quick, their 3rd row has the physicality to match with the All Blacks at the breakdown to cause headaches for almost any time in the tournament-Pocock and Elsom were a major pain for Sergio Parisse and his mates in the second half.

The good news for Austrlia is that their two toughest games will be done first, so they can rest people as needed against the Russians and Americans to finish up group play.

England-Argentina: Winning in SPITE OF Johnny...

I had a chance to watch England-Argentina's tense opening match for RWC 2011 last night. OK, it was on a 4 hour time delay, but at least the WIN Network showed it in Australia, and I did not have to watch it at 330AM if I had been back home in the States.

Right off the opening whistle, It was apparent that this was going to be a really physical, tense match. The Pumas sublime fly half, Felipe Contempomi was an early casualty. He was in the game long enough to score the first points for the Pumas, but his beat-up ribs just did not permit him to continue. You have to wonder how many games the former Leinster star is going to miss.

The crowd at the New Otago Stadium in Dunedin were protected from the elements in New Zealand's first covered rugby stadium. You would have thought that the pristine conditions would have favored kicks at goal from the likes of Johnny Wilkinson and Martin Rodriguez-and you would have been mistaken, as both sides were missing  their targets like a 14 year old on his first hunting trip.

Argentina will have to rue the fact that they could not punish England's multiple transgressions in the first half to cash in on points-particularly with England playing a man down for 10 minutes. I think Argentina had a chance to really put England in a hole by going for posts instead of going for the line out at the end of the first half-opting for another missed penalty. In the end, the Argentines were able to only put 3 points on the board with a man advantage.

When Ben Youngs was brought into the game at fly half, that was the spark that Martin Johnsson's men needed. He would score the key try under the posts that Wilko convervted for a 10-9 lead. He would also score on a penalty late in the game that meant that the Pumas would need to score a try to win.

After some very, very tense moments, England hung on to win a game in which I felt they were outplayed for vast stretches. I think that if you are an England fan, you have to take heart in beating a very good opponent without your A game. Both teams will have tense games with Scotland-who huffed and puffed to a difficult win over Romania on Saturday.

This game had a playoff round feel to it-indeed, whoever finishes second in this group,  will more than likely have to face the All Blacks in the Quarterfinals, with the group winner likely to face France

WTF Australia? NO Live Rugby World Cup Coverage??

As an American Rugby fan here in Australia before going to New Zealand on September, 19th,I would have thought that I would be able to catch lots of live rugby action this opening weekend.

 I have discovered, much to my horror, that on today, the opening day of  Rugby World Cup 2011, that I am going to have to catch the All Blacks-Tonga game...on a 3 hour delay. The WIN Network had advertised that they were going to be Australia's "Network of Rugby World Cup 2011". What the advertisement failed to mention is that games were going to be tape delayed-if shown at all. There are 3 games scheduled for Saturday. The only game that WIN will show on Saturday is Argentina-England...again, with a 3 hour delay.

As I write this,  I should be watching the All Blacks put Tonga to the sword...instead, I can watch an NRL playoff game. If there is any doubt on where rugby union ranks with the Australian sports fan, this weekend is becoming a very painful lesson to this American rugby fan.

For my compatriots back in the states, looking at spending a small fortune in either pay-per-view costs or bar tabs watching RWC games at bars showing matches, I can tell you that if you were here in Australia, the only difference is that you can at least get a little more print coverage in The Sydney Morning News or the Australian. American Newspapers will have next to nothing about the Rugby World Cup.

I have been having a wonderful time here in Australia, but I have to confess that the lack of live coverage of the Rugby World Cup on Aussie TV has been a major dissapointment.

Victoria, Australia: Great Wine, Beer, But NOT Much Rugby Union...

My wife and I made it to Australia. Our flights took us from Dallas, to San Francisco(where my wife and I enjoyed a nice long layover to see the city) Auckland, and then Melbourne. We had a great flight on Air New Zealand. Normally I cannot sleep on planes, but I slept a good 8 hours on the flight.

My Aunt lives in Myrtleford, Victoria-about 3 hours by car from Melbourne. I did not realize that I was going to be landing in the middle of "Foody Central": Vineyards, olive trees, orchards, specialty food shops, and micro-breweries.(In this case, Bright Beer-they make a great stout) The topography and attention to fine food reminds me a lot of the area between Lyon and Aix-en-Provence in France. My French friends will be pleased to know that I am eating and drinking just about as well as I did 4 years ago when my family and I were in France for the Rugby World Cup.

With less than two weeks away from the kick-off of Rugby World Cup 2011, and home to the new Tri-Nations champs, the Wallabies, you would think that people in Victoria would be talking about the upcoming World Cup and the chances of their boys in Green and Gold in New Zealand....At least here in Victoria, you would be wrong. I had to look through 3 different news vendors to even find a World Cup Guide. The local papers have a lot of coverage of Cricket, Aussie Rules Football, and some Rugby League Coverage. The only paper  I have found with any Rugby World Cup coverage was "The Australian", and even that coverage was scant. I could almost swear that  I was back in the USA with the lack of mainstream rugby coverage. If there is any doubt where Rugby Union stands for the Aussie sports fan, it would seem that Rugby ranks behind Cricket, Footby, Rugby League, and even the US Open Tennis has had more coverage with a lot of attention to Samantha Stosur.

At least there will be a lot of live TV coverage, which is more than we can say back in the US. http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/rugby-world-cup/

At any rate, I am enjoying discovering a new area of Australia-when I was here 5 years ago, I was in Darwin-and it is even better to be away from the heat in Texas. Now if I can just find some rugby coverage in the Australian press....

Happy Trails To You, Dallas

It's hard to believe that my travel nurse job is almost over here in Dallas. I finish on the 26th, and my wife and I leave for Australia and New Zealand on 8/28. When we get back to the USA on October 1st, I will pick up 4 more shifts here in Dallas, then my wife and I (With Buddha the Bulldog in tow) will drive the 1,500 miles from Dallas to Wilmington, Delaware, in the Mid-Atlantic area of the US-almost exactly halfway between Washington DC and New York City.

It's been tough work, at times on the Spinal Cord Unit here at the Dallas VA Medical Center, but I will miss my co-workers on the night shift, and I will really miss the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I found the people in this area to be very friendly. There is just an unbelievable amount of good places to eat and drink in this place. For people looking for a place to visit during their stay in the US, I would give this area high marks.(But you have to visit my native Minnesota in the summer and fall, first!) This summer has been memorable in North Texas with an almost biblical drought and heat wave. (We had 41 straight days of 100 degree weather-37.7 degrees C) It's actually going to feel good to go from the heat of Dallas to the Southern Hemisphere winter and spring. (Bringing lots of layers-Under Armour is NOT just for rugby)

My wife and I have very much enjoyed our stay here in Dallas. But we are ready for the next adventures, as we take on another "trip of a lifetime" and look forward to discovering another area of the US.

Happy Trails, Dallas. It's been fun.

Leaving for Australia/New Zealand Two Weeks for Today...

It is hard to believe after all of the saving and planning that my wife and I leave for Australia and New Zealand two weeks from today. In honor of that, I found this clip from Australian Aboriginal group Yothu Yindi....