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 Notebook Wales chastened after Western Samoa loss
Posted: Wednesday October 20, 1999 06:04 PM
LONDON (AP) -- The Welsh rugby union team believes that its almost customary loss at home to Samoa might have been the warning it needed before it takes on Australia in the World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday. After a run of 10 victories in a row, the Welsh tumbled 38-31 to the Samoans in a repeat of their World Cup loss in 1991 and that led to a verbal roasting from their Kiwi coach, Graham Henry. "A lot of us in the side have had a lifeline this week because I know Graham was very unhappy with the way some of us played," said center Scott Gibbs. "A lot of us let ourselves down and we know we've got to deliver on Saturday, not only to keep our World Cup chances alive but for the future as well. "We lost against Samoa because we didn't play the right game but we've got a chance on Saturday even if it's against the best side in the world," Gibbs said. "I can't see us making half as many errors as we did last week. We played too much as individuals and not as a team. "This is going to be the acid test for us. We're at home and we have the public on our side. But if Australia are on-song, it takes a solid side to stop them. Let's hope they have a bad day."
Hotel ireIreland's rugby team was battling boredom ahead of its playoff against Argentina, after being stuck out in an airport hotel in Lille, France.Forward Malcolm O'Kelly, who writes a World Cup diary for the Irish Times, made it clear what the players thought of the "drab" Novotel which is bang in the middle of an industrial estate. But there was one plus. "We thankfully didn't have to contend with the customary hole in the ground French toilets," wrote O'Kelly. There were complaints about the television, it was chiefly in French of course, while the famous local cuisine also did little for the Irish. "Most of us had a steak tonight, which came almost raw," reported O'Kelly. "I'm pretty easy going about my food but not this. A lot of ham and brie rolls are being ordered to the rooms."
Impressed WallabiesAustralia's rugby team has seen the highs and lows of rugby stadiums over the past few months and rates the controversial Millenium Stadium up with the best of the them.In the Wallabies' final match before the World Cup they played New Zealand in front of a world record 107,000 fans at Sydney's new Olympic Stadium. Fom there it was to Belfast's basic but atmospheric Ravenhill, Dublin's Dickensian Lansdowne Road and then Limerick's Thomand Park, which previously hosted a test 101 years ago. The Wallabies were impressed by their first look at the new 120 million pound (US$200 million) stadium where they'll meet hosts Wales in Saturday's opening quarterfinal. "Very impressive -- what an amazing piece of infrastructure," said prop Richard Harry. "On Saturday this is going to be full of 72,000 angry Welshmen who want to see us lose. This is going to be great." Captain John Eales expects the buzz to match that of the Bledisloe Cup test against New Zealand at Stadium Australia in August, and of the Wallabies' first visit to the Stade de France, last November for a test against France. "It was great to be at Stade de France, where the soccer World Cup final was held last year," Eales said. "And it's going to be great to be one of the first sides to play here at Millennium Stadium. It's a piece of history."
Stolen ticketsComputers can't be blamed for the Welsh Rugby Union's (WRU) latest ticket problems. The WRU has alerted South Wales police to the alleged theft of 48 tickets for Saturday's quarterfinal between Wales and Australia at Millennium Stadium.The WRU, which suspended its ticket manager pending an inquiry after a series of allocation problems for the World Cup opener on Oct. 1, said the tickets were stolen from the Union's premises in Cardiff on Tuesday. A WRU spokesman said the batch of tickets, all in a block, had been canceled and would not be valid for Saturday's game.
Color coordinationForced to abandon their traditional blue shirts because of a color clash with Samoa, Scotland wore a striking shade of mandarin at Murrayfield on Wednesday and will do the same against the All Blacks in the quarterfinal.Because their dark blue shirts might clash with the New Zealand's traditional black, the Scots are repaying a favor dating back to the first World Cup in 1987. Twelve years ago the All Blacks made the rare move of playing in white shirts so that the Scots could wear their own dark blue.
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