Dollar Mixture.

What a week!

We’ve had guys peddling around some hills in France wearing clothing that should never be allowed out in public, the last few pre Olympic warm up games in just about every sport as people apply their finishing touches, F1 in Germany.  The Open, the New Zealand Cricket team continue to get thumped in the West Indies, while the Saffas continue to rodger the Poms, and we’ve just had the first round of playoffs in Super Rugby.  And that’s just the stuff that I care about.  Oh and plus the Magic wont the trans-tasman Netball comp, well done ladies.

It's what came up when I googled Olympic village parties,.  Honest!

The athletes are pouring into their private village now in London.  No cameras or reporters are allowed in and it seems to be a pretty special place.  The athletes have been comparing it to Sydney, which is widely recognised as the best all round Olympics thus far.  That is apart from the beds are too short for the sprinters, 4 bedroom apartments seem to generally only have one toilet and the food is pretty average, that’s despite there being about 1500 different dishes available.   And I’m sure that most beds are a bit small when you’re pushing 6ft 6inches tall, but life could be worse.  But I get the toilet thing, that must be a bit of a killer.  15000 odd athletes and 200000 odd condoms, sounds like it will be a pretty good two weeks for all involved.  You can understand these guys and girls letting their hair down after their events.  Chances are they have dedicated their entire life up until this point for the chance to compete in one event, and in some cases it doesn’t even last 10 seconds!  They deserve every bit of partying they can manage; I don’t think anyone can hold that against them.

I have to talk about the rugby in the weekend.  The first playoff games of Super Rugby got underway and they were two intriguing games.  The Bulls Crusaders game had promised so much but never really got going.  Firstly the Crusdaers didn’t really allow the Bulls into the game and secondly the Bulls never turned up.  They didn’t exhibit any of the traits that have made them such a formidable force over the last 4 or 5 years.  They were limp, lifeless and inaccurate in basically everything they did!  Their senior players Morne Steyn and Pierre Spies etc who have always led from the front were nowhere to be seen.    The Crusaders to their credit though refused to sink down to the Bulls level and played with a great deal of composure.  Their muted reaction to their victory surely points to the fact that these lads know what is in front of them and they must now be considered the favourite for the title.  Especially given the fact that the three other teams that are in the semi’s have never gone on and won the trophy before.

The Sharks Reds game was eerily similar in a lot of ways.  It was the Reds though, with the home advantage also, who didn’t turn up to play.  The Sharks completely outplayed and dominated the Reds, particularly in the first half.  The Reds were blown away in every facet of play.  Everything the Sharks threw stuck, every tackle forced the Reds backwards, the scrum buckled them back over their heels and the lineout was towering.  Such was their dominance they must be backing themselves to head back to the Republic, put their feet up for the week and crush the Stormers in Cape Town who don’t possess the all round game that the Sharks can produce.  The problem for the Sharks (aside from the travel) has been the ability to maintain these types of performances week in and week out.  They have definitely improved that in the second half of this season but the question remains whether or not they will be able to deliver when it really counts, at playoff time.

Serious questions have to be asked of Ewen McKenzie, who is normally so tactically sound and probably the best coach in Australia.  Why on earth he shifted Will Genia out to 1^st 5 when Ben Lucas became injured instead of playing Mike Harris (a flyhalf).  In playoff rugby you need your best players playing in their best positions, especially when he happens to be the best in the world in that position.  Genia’s control and influence on the game was severely reduced once he had been shifted out one place and the back up halfback was so slow in his decision-making and delivery it was atrocious.   McKenzie must surely be ruing his decision as the Reds were never really in the contest once this change was made and they only dug themselves deeper and deeper as the game progressed.

So we are guaranteed a SA vs NZ final.  Which is fitting if we are honest.  The Aussie Conference has been a joke all season, and whilst their administrators and anybody connected with the game can’t publicly say so, deep down they must have concerns about the success and state of the game in Australia.  Realistically NZ and South Africa deserved to have three teams in the finals each and not one team from Australia should have made it.  But hey, they only lasted 80 minutes anyway I guess.  Sharks vs Crusaders for the final and Crusaders to win it overall?

The F1 in Germany today, and how good is it to see Ferrari at the top of the charts and old mate Schumacher there or thereabouts again as well, even if it is in a Mercedes.  In his third season back at the top he has yet to record a win, but this season he looks as though he is getting back into his groove.  It would be a big call to rule out the 41 year old getting back on top of the podium this season, especially given the roating door policy of race winners this year.  My fingers are definitely crossed.  As for this afternoon Alonso held off spirited challenges from both Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel but in the end he and his prancing horse proved to good for the rest of the field.  Button was controversially overtaken by Vettel in the closing laps, with Vettel having his car completely off the track as he passed Button.  Post race; and Button was clearly upset and an appeal had been lodged with the FIA.  The rules clearly state that you cannot pass a car with all four wheels off the track so hopefully Vettel is punished harshly.  Drivers using more of the tarmac than they are supposed to have become a blight on the sport and measures need to be taken to discourage such antics.  Perhaps a return to corner markers that do damage to the cars when struck are called for.  Let the pace continue to be set by Alonso and his Ferrari team, please can it continue.

It’s been a cracker weekend for the Saffas given their complete dominance over England in the cricket and it has been topped off just moments ago by ‘The Big Easy’ closing out The Open, the British Golf major for those of you who weren’t sure.  Ernie Els held his nerve with a birdie on the 18^th while the Aussie Adam Scott capitulated with four consecutive bogeys in his final round.  Well done Sir, it’s been a long time since Ernie was in the winners circle and it’ s nice to see one of the elder statesmen get another shot in the limelight at the oldest event in Golf.

That’s all from me team, keep your eye on the ball.