Longing for the day ...

well, that's sport.

Well done, the Kiwis, Wales and West Indies. Both Rugby results and the excellent fightback in the cricket are the result of great performances from great competitors.

I must say it was astonishing to see the League result: 24-0 and that was flattering. In the Kangaroos' defence, I can only say that despite a reasonably solid start, NOTHING went the Kangaroos' way in the first 20 minutes and very little did afer that. No close calls, no bounces of the ball, nothing.

Still, games unfold that way sometimes and you have to be good enough and smart enough to recover from it. The Kiwis put huge pressure on and the Aussies tried too hard - with the inevitable result. I have noticed, however, that Wayne Bennet-coached sides don't handle early adversity well. I have no idea why but it's a trait I have noticed in the Broncos and also in the Qld sides of a few years ago. One from the vaults.

The cricket could still go either way, but the Windies have shown a fighting spirit that the Aussies seem to have missed in the past few days - until the tail wagged. Once again, the middle order has seriously gone missing (mostly). Well done, Mike Hussey, and come on boys, finish the job!

Finally, the Rugby. Well, that result has been coming for a while. Despite Eddie Jones claiming constantly that things were improving, he's the only one I know who agreed. The most frustrating thing is that I can't comment too much on it because I haven't seen the game - Channel Seven changed its advertised schedule and did not replay it at 6am. I had an idea we might have gone poorly when that happened ...

Still, Jones can cling to his mantra about the game statistics as much as he likes. We won all the statistics except the scoreboard - again. Statistics can be misleading depending on how they're defined and when the final whistle goes, there's only one statistic that counts.

I fail to see why if, as Jones claims in this morning's papers, he's so keen to develop the youngsters, this game wasn't handed to the Australia A players as a reward for waiting so patiently on tour. They couldn't have been any worse and would have gained some valuable experience ...

Next time.