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 Notebook Aussie cricket team goes to sleep
Posted: Saturday November 06, 1999 03:26 PM
CARDIFF, Wales (AP) -- Sorry, guys! Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh said his World Cup winning cricket team would be asleep when the Wallabies went for a world championship double in Saturday's decider against France in Cardiff. Waugh, who skippered the Aussies to victory in the cricket tournament earlier this year, said his team was in the middle of a test against Pakistan in Brisbane, where it was early in the morning local time at kickoff. He wished the Wallabies luck and said team management would watch the finale to keep the cricketers posted. The Australian cricket team won the World Cup in 1987 and added a second this season. The Wallabies won the rugby World Cup in 1991 and will be bidding to become the first team to win the rugby World Cup twice. The French had better support from their world champions. Marcel Desailly and Didier Deschamps, both playing or English Premier League team Chelsea, were key players in France's soccer World Cup win last season and visited the rugby players at Twickenham last Sunday before France's epic 43-31 semifinal victory over hot favorite New Zealand. With Chelsea not playing until Sunday, both players had the chance to concentrate on the rugby. Other French world soccer champions based in London who had the day off Saturday to watch the rugby include Frank Leboeuf, also at Chelsea, plus Arsenal trio Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Thierry Henry. Chelsea plays West Ham and Arsenal takes on Tottenham on Sunday. France won the soccer World Cup for the first time in 1998 and Le Bleus will be aiming to become the first northern hemisphere team to clinch the rugby world cup to present France with a unique French double.
Too big, too soonRugby World Cup director Vernon Pugh has admitted the tournament has grown in stature at such a rapid rate that it's even taken the organizers by surprise."If anything has occurred which has left a fairly strong impression on us it is the fact we've grown up so quickly as a tournament that both the public, and viewer, and other's expectations have become so high," Pugh told reporters on the eve of the Saturday's final between France and Australia. "Expectations on us are not just to run the tournament now, but to ensure that we have a big social impact, a broad commercial impact." The inaugural World Cup was staged in New Zealand and Australia in 1987, followed by tournaments in Britain in 1991 and South Africa in 1995. Pugh, also chairman of the sport's governing body the International Rugby Board, said the tournament's organizers had a lot to learn from the 1999 World Cup in terms of scheduling and ticketing. He also said the number of nations competing could be altered from 20, to either 16 or 24, for the 2003 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand add that the number of groups in the pool phase could be reduced from five to four.
Saved by the sunA sunny morning spared World Cup organizers from having to make a decision about closing the Millennium Stadium roof if it rained for Saturday's Australia vs. France decider.World Cup chairman Leo Williams said he was prepared t close the roof in the event of torrential rain. But, with clear skies, there was no need. Welsh Rugby Union secretary Dennis Gethin said the roof was opened Saturday to let the sun shine onto the damp pitch and would remain open for the game. Debate raged earlier in the week after the Wallabies requested the roof be closed in the event of rain to avoid a repeat of their muddy quarterfinal win over Cardiff at the same venue and to promote running rugby. The local media slated the Australians but as torrential rain poured down in Cardiff on Friday, the mood swung towards closing the roof for the first time on an international rugby match. Although attracting praise for being such an eye-catching arena, the Millennium Stadium has hit the headlines repeatedly before and during the championship for the wrong reasons. The 120 million pound (US$200 million) stadium staged the open ceremony as finishing touches were still being applied and there were power problems up to minutes before the opening game. Williams said the pitch had been "battered" during the tournament but would hold up for the last sporting showpiece of the millennium.
Don't mince wordsSpringbok coach Nick Mallett never likes being misquoted. So, to save himself from being misunderstood this week after winning the World Cup third-place playoff against New Zealand, he made sure he spoke to the media in their own language.Mallett was asked a question in French at the post-match press conference and responded in French. When an interpreter started translating for the assembled English speakers, the South African coach interrupted -- in his preferred tongue. "Don't worry, there's no need. I speak English too," he said. Outside the press conference he also answered questions in Afrikaans for the benefit of some of his compatriots
French have a prayerThe French may be underdogs going into Saturday's World Cup final, but they may have some divine help on their side.France's bishops, accompanied by 800 young priests and deacons, were gathering Saturday in Lourdes -- the home of miracles and divine intervention, in southwest France, the heartland of French rugby. The bishops said they'll be rooting for Les Bleus. "Many of us are following the adventures of the French XV," the French Bishops' Conference said in a statement Saturday signed by 13 of them. "You have our best wishes for success in this World Cup final. We're with you." "May the best team win."
Catching onIt took a while for the French rugby team to capture the public's imagination. But, as was the case at the 1998 soccer World Cup, the momentum grew rapidly after France made it to the final.Despite the autumn chill, big screens were transmitting the action in squares across France on Saturday, and thousands were expected to gather at the Hotel de Ville square in central Paris, as they did for France's 3-0 victory over Brazil in the 1998 soccer World Cup final. The French media, which had poured scorn on the French team prior to the tournament, dedicated several pages to the final on Saturday. "One More!" was the headline in France Soir, in reference to France's chance of winning a unique soccer-rugby double. "Enter history!" it said inside. Le Parisien, above a picture of the World Cup trophy, said in a headline: "We Want It." The conservative Le Figaro had a European perspective, with the soberest of headlines: "France: the hope of the Northern Hemisphere."
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