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Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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Some wisdom here from one of Australia's great mythical 'sporting' characters; 'The truth is deafening, no matter how softly it is spoken.'
'Rugby is a nonsense, but a very serious nonsense.'
His simple philosophy for sporting success; 'Winning Starts on Monday.'
On the eve of Pontypool v New Zealand in 1989, i jotted down the simple philosophy of how Pontypool coach John Perkins wanted his team to mentally approach their big upcoming game; 'Boys, you've to live it, eat it, sleep it and shit it if you want to win!'
"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.' (from the film 'Bull Durham')
'...to win by one is enough.'
'Always avoid prophesying on things beforehand; it's a much better policy to prophesy after the event has taken place.'
'If winning isn't everything why bother to keep the score?'
'As your reputation gets bigger, the gaps and chances to go through them get smaller.'
'A rugby tour is like sex. When its good it's great, and when it's bad - hey! It's still pretty good!'
'I'd rather spend half an hour in the company of a top carpenter, than three hours in the company of an average brain surgeon'
...when thinking about retirement; 'When your eyes go, and your legs go, and your fans go; then it's time for you to go too.'
'Often when a team is at the bottom, there's something wrong at the top.'
'In Ireland the inevitable never happens but the unexpected constantly does.'
Talking about the 1988 World Cup rugby league final on Eden Park in Auckland; 'When the Kiwis ran onto the field we could see the poor bastards were shitting themselves.' Sydney Morning Herald 24 November 1992.
On this day he captained the AB test team for the 52nd time, thus passing Sean Fitzpatrick's old record of 51. NZ beat Australia by 23-22 in Sydney
GAGE, DAVEY
Wellington and New Zealand
A tough New Zealand utility back in the years before international matches were played, Davey Gage performed an astonishing feat of endurance on the 1888–89 New Zealand Natives world tour when he played in 68 of 74 matches in Britain – twice as many as some of his fellow team members. He was nicknamed ‘Pony’ because of his small size but enormous work-rate on that tour. In all games on tour (counting games in Australia and New Zealand) he appeared 82 times.
Gage toured Australia with the New Zealand team of 1893 and was captain of his country against Queensland at Wellington in 1896. None of the matches played was considered a ‘test’ match.
Gage is remembered for another role during the Natives tour. The team adopted ‘On The Ball’ as its team song and he gained a reputation all over Britain as being the player who would stand up, climb on a table and lead its singing. The song, written in New Zealand, became a hit all across the country and is a rugby song that has endured ever since.
Who were the players who first took successfully kicked test match penalties past the 6,7,8, and 9 World Record Marks?
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