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 Notebook Eales doubts de Beer
Posted: Thursday October 28, 1999 07:19 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Jannie de Beer kicked a world record five drop goals against England to propel defending champion South Africa into the final four, and is threatening a repeat against Australia in Saturday's semifinal. Australian skipper John Eales said he admired de Beer's achievement but didn't think the Springboks flyhalf could get away with it again. "There is even more pressure and expectation on Jannie because of his performance in Paris," said the Wallaby lock. "All eyes will be trained on him and that suits us fine." Eales said de Beer's 34-point haul was an "incredible kicking display", especially considering drop goals are rare in tests. "Despite all the experience in our squad, nobody has ever scored a drop goal in a test match and that puts his achievement into perspective," he said. "However, we're obviously very aware of his abilities and we do have a game plan for dealing with the threat."
Run Boks runSouth African cricket captain Hansie Cronje says his rugby-playing compatriots can defeat Australia on Saturday if they run at all costs.The Springboks and Australia do battle in the Rugby World Cup semifinal at Twickenham, just four months after the two nations met in the World Cup cricket semifinal. That game ended in a thrilling last-over tie and Australia, which advanced to the final on a technicality, subsequently beat Pakistan to claim cricket's ultimate prize. But Cronje, who watched as the South African cricketers capitulated until the last batsman was run out, says the rugby result will go South Africa's way. "When [the Springboks] get into the game against Australia, if they dominate up front like they did [in the 44-21 quarterfinal win over England] on Sunday, they'll win the game," Cronje told South Africa's Press Association. "I really believe our front eight is stronger than anyone in the world, including Australia and New Zealand."
Beef up supportFrance's rugby team is ignoring the cross-channel beef war, and hopes sport may bring the two countries back together again -- even if just for 80 minutes."I'm sure the Twickenham crowd, or most of them, will be with us," said assistant coach Pierre Villepreux. "We are the only European team left." The French camp, rumored to have even eaten some British beef on arrival in England this week, refuses to be drawn on the issue. "Personally, I'm not interested in the beef dispute," said French skipper Raphael Ibanez. "I'm here to play rugby." And he too is hoping for some goodwill from the London crowd. "If we start the game well I'm sure we'll have Twickenham on our side," he said. Manager Jo Maso hinted he would be prepared to build bridges between the two countries if it means France gets a place in the finals. "If eating British beef means we'll win on Sunday, then we'll go ahead," he muttered as he left a press conference this week.
Kiwis on songHinewehi Mohi has promised to sing the national anthem "God Defend New Zealand" in English at Twickenham on Sunday, so as not to upset the All Blacks before their semifinal against France.The Maori singer created a stir earlier in the tournament when she performed the song in her native tongue before a game, sparking complaints from New Zealanders who couldn't sing along. Mohi, who said singing the anthem in Maori seemed like "the natural thing to do," said she'd offered to teach the All Blacks the words in Maori but understood they had other things on their mind at this stage of the campaign. "I have to make a commitment to players so they feel good about going into the game," she told TV New Zealand. "Most of them didn't know the words in Maori and weren't able to sing confidently, that's why I made the decision [to sing in English]," she said. The New Zealand Rugby Football Union has reportedly agreed that Mohi should sing the anthem in English and in Maori if the All Blacks reach the final in Cardiff on November 6.
Southern comfortOf the Five Nations team, only France has managed to reach the last four of the World Cup -- a result that couldn't be much worse for Northern Hemisphere teams.But South African coach Nick Mallett says the northern countries are just lucky the World Cup wasn't held two years ago. Mallett suggests that the Northern Hemisphere nations wouldn't have just had to deal with failure to qualify if the Cup was held in 1997, but also complete disgrace. "If there had been a World Cup in '97 it would have been a horrendous bloodbath for the Five Nations sides," Mallett said Thursday. "You had the All Blacks touring and beating Ireland by 60 points ... we beat England by 20 points and England did a lap of honor!" Mallett said that in the past two years there had been "a massive improvement in Northern Hemisphere rugby, to the extent it's been a very competitive World Cup." Mallett seems to be forgetting just how bad the start of 1998 was for northern teams as well. In two record results within a fortnight Australia beat England 76-0 and South Africa beat Wales 96-13. Mallett said the increased competitiveness of the northern countries made him even more proud of his team's achievement in reaching the semifinals. "It says a lot for the southern teams that notwithstanding the fact it's being played in Europe, or the improvements in players and coaches here, that the three of us are still here at the sharp end of the tournament," Mallett said.
Chart topperThe official 1999 Rugby World Cup album, "Land of My Fathers", has gone gold with almost 200,000 copies sold in the last three weeks.Tracks from the album, which features anthems and songs from competing nations, have boosted the album to top spot in the British compilation charts and made it No. 1 in the New Zealand album charts.
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