Tightheads & Loose Balls
● Tightheads this week was quite alarmed to discover that South Africa was the country that displayed the second highest interest in the union of a bloke named Harry and his friend from the other side of the pond. We were less surprised that the United Kingdom did not occupy the No 1 spot. If Tightheads had any doubt about the heightened local interest, our friends in the Last Outpost soon erased them. The Sharks on Friday informed the media that the royal wedding would be screened on the outer fields of Kings Park ahead of the Sharks’ clash against the Chiefs. We know attendances in Durban have been poor but slipping in a royal wedding as a curtainraiser is a bit sneaky.
● To mark International Museum Day the Lions this week held their team announcement inside the Ellis Park museum. Tightheads had barely pointed out that museum curator Swys Joubert (former Transvaal centre) must have been nervous having finger food and drinks served among his precious items when the unmistakable sound of shattering glass disturbed the silence. It seems a journalist, who may or may not be based in Sauer Street, broke a glass that may or may not have contained apple juice.
● Joubert has quite a collection. The museum boasts more than 7 000 items, the oldest a scrum cap dating back to 1892. “That was from the first Lions tour here,” Joubert said proudly. The item, however, most viewed by the media was a picture of topless Twickenham streaker Erica Roe from 1982. It depicts her smiling broadly while being apprehended by the local constabulary with one bobby desperately trying to cover (with his helmet) what he deemed should remain unseen. Joubert dutifully pointed out that the helmet is also on display in the museum. Incidentally, Ms Roe relocated to Portugal where she and her husband became organic farmers of sweet potatoes.
● Tightheads, for obvious reasons, may be a bit biased in what we believe was the most exhilarating build-up to a try in this weekend’s Super Rugby action. It was undoubtedly Reds tighthead Taniela Tupou’s audacious run that led to a try for Jordan Petaia. Tupou, or “Tongan Thor”, as he is widely known, unceremoniously palmed off Nehe Milner-Skudder, jumped through the tackle of TJ Perenara before offloading to Petaia for the try. That was great work for a tighthead and went one better than Richard Bands, who left only one All Black in 2003.
● Land Rover has ditched Wallaby star Israel Folau following his repeated antigay comments on social media. The car was part of an A$850 000 (R8.13m) deal with Rugby Australia. Folau has ironically been in fine form but if he wasn’t as effortless on his high horse as he is under the high ball, he might still have had wheels that could take him into less bigoted terrain.