WHY I'M NOT A GAMBLING MAN!

The reason that I don’t gamble for a living is that I would starve. Here is what I wrote on my blog in mid-January: The Rebels will be a force to be reckoned with and won’t finish in the red. The Brumbies will come home in a canter and the Waratahs will whither on the vine, as usual!

The Reds will play vintage rugby, but not at full bottle; the force will be with someone else and, again, the Brumbies will chase every hurdle!

I couldn’t have got it more wrong.

What a topsy-turvy season it has been; I was sure Rod MacQueen would pull a rabbit out of a hat and I was sure that the Brumbies would finally earn their “Real Madrid” tag. Instead, they became a friendless society.

The Force showed only glimpses and the Reds surpassed all expectations, showing what a canny coach Ewen Mackenzie really is.

I hope that Robbie stays a bit longer with the Wallabies, Link hangs around at the Reds and all will be well with Aussie Rugby.

As for the Wallabies, watch this space for more.

Actually, every RWC, my theme is usually “we’ll slip into Camp quietly, let all the other teams hype it up, and bight the big boys on the bum!!..”

I do think that we can still do that – technically, if you gave the Super 15 teams points for where they finished (eg 15 for 1st place and 1 for last) , despite the Reds and Waratahs finishing strongly, we (the Aussie conference) still came third, I think. But I think that that belies the depth of the Wallaby squad and the fact that Robbie has blooded young guys.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the first Wallaby camp, because I reckon the enthusiasm will be infectious.

Whether or not that translates to lasting the distance is another story – because in the RWC, just about every game is a final!!

…so don’t take my word for it, on past experience!!

However, if you want me to put the mockers on someone, I’d say “Go the AB’s”!!