It is too early, after just eight Tests as captain, for James Horwill to have that bouquet unreservedly but he is well on his way after being the inspirational heart of the Wallabies storming back into an epic rugby series against the British and Irish Lions.The primal, clenched-fist scream that James Horwill unleashed in Melbourne on full-time last Saturday night when his team somehow found a way to win came from the very core of Australian rugby.
The "Big Kev'' nickname sprung from his youth when he was compared to the excitable TV salesman with that moniker. The mood was back in Melbourne in that one celebratory moment before his mind quickly switched to Saturday's series decider in Sydney.The closed-roof venue in Melbourne made the night more like a rock concert than a rugby Test. Horwill was on lead guitar bullocking ahead, urging, cleaning out.
That Saturday's shot at history could tonight be ripped away from him by the International Rugby Board scuttling their own judicial process to re-try him on a trampling charge is without precedent.Crushing. A call on his intregrity when he said it was an accident? Absolutely.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is another with a make-up like chiselled cement. His experience of being deprived of a milestone 35 years in the making in 2004 is a glimpse at how Horwill may be feeling on Saturday night unless the second hearing clears him as well.Numbness, tears and elation...Ponting felt them all in the dressing room in Nagpur when Australia clinched a series win in India for the first time since 1969-70.
"Missing those first three Tests in India was the hardest thing I had to do in my career,'' Ponting once said.It was a broken thumb that caused Ponting's deep sense of loss even in victory. He was part of it but not part of it because sportsmen only get the true fulfillment being in the battle.
In an era where too many alcohol-fuelled or late night dining footballers don't get it, indoor positioning system. It is one of the reasons that Wallaby great John Eales rates Horwill so highly.Horwill has played just 36 of the 73 Tests of the Robbie Deans reign since 2008 which means he has spent as much time ploughing into rehab at the Reds and Wallabies for major injuries as he has playing.
It has never been idle time. He has contributed at Queensland Rugby Union board level, he has sold the rugby message at countless speaking engagements and he's got to understand rugby's commerical and media world. He's devoted time to know the game from top to bottom.
The one-time firebrand has also absorbed wise lessons in risk-taking as a captain.Eales predicted before the series that Horwill's Reds' background of knowing when to roll the dice by waving away a penalty goal attempt to press for a try could be pivotal in the series. It happened on cue with the scrum he called rather than go for three points with 10 minutes to play.
It was a great captaincy call in the try build-up.This series has been a marvellous event, not the least because of the carnival pulse that the travelling Lions fans give it.There is fun but needle at the same time.At 3pm last Saturday, Lions fans were lampooning Kurtley Beale at full volume in song in a riverside bar in central Melbourne.
"He kicked, he slipped and now he's on the piss...Kurtley Beale, Kurtley Beale,'' went the roaring verse in repetition.By 10pm, the Lions fans were silent but the voice will be back for Sydney.Whether the Lions can pull themselves back together from the jolting loss is another thing. The whole momentum of this series has changed because no longer are they serenely sailing along.
Selection changes, self doubt, massive pressure to breakthrough for their first series victory since 1997 and keeping the now holidaying players in the squad on the straight and narrow at their Noosa camp this week are all major challenges.
"One measly kick. One desperate lunge for glory. One last chance for redemption. Poor Leigh Halfpenny. At least Kurtley Beale could curse the turf or his moulded studs...It was a long, long effort - more than 50 metres and on the angle. The only man who will blame Halfpenny is Halfpenny himself. He hung his head in despair as the kick fell short. Will Genia gathered and booted it joyfully into the stands. Halfpenny could barely look anyone in the eye as they tried to console him and the opposition preferred hands. He was a man apart in his misery. Rugby the ultimate team game? Not for everyone. The loneliness of the long-distance kicker."
"If you took this storyline to a Hollywood producer you'd be thrown out on your ear for stretching credibility way beyond breaking point. As entertainment this was appalling, as edge-of-the-seat, nerve-shredding drama it was utterly compelling...Needs must, as the old saying has it and, needing a win to take the series to Sydney, the Wallabies went to their well of sporting resilience and mustered the victory that they so badly needed. The crowd roared their approval at the death and skipper James Horwill, with that disciplinary cloud hanging over him, raised twin fists at the Lions, the critics and anyone else who wanted a piece of him."
"Whatever the result of next Saturday's deciding Test in Sydney, North will return to the British Isles this summer with his name etched into Lions folklore...When North gathered an up-and-under near the Lions' 22-metre line and he saw Israel Folau charging towards him he looked to be up the creek without a paddle...Rather than getting himself in the best position to present the ball for the seemingly inevitable maul to follow, North used Folau's iron-tight grip to his own advantage, scooping the 6ft 5in, 15st 6lb wing up in the air and over his shoulder with gobsmacking ease. With a global audience watching in awe North then pumped his legs, taking Folau with him as he gained significant ground - even using the Wallaby as a shield for would-be tacklers."
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