the sonny bill williams effect

this is when something decidedly average (ie sonny bill williams) being made to look incredibly talented and good at something (ie rugby) by the company that they are keeping (ie japan or tonga).

so, in summary, when sonny bill williams plays against a rugby team such as japan or tonga he actually looks like he can play the game quite well...one might even say at an above average level. however, when he is up against a much better quality team such as australia he looks decidedly average.

an example of the sonny bill williams effect was how good france looked in their quarter final against england.

and just in case you're wondering, it's now on the internet so it must be true.

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quarter finals time

it's quarter finals time (as my title says). i'm a bit excited now. i have enjoyed the round robin games. i'm ok with us getting an opposition that ...shall we say... we may (read that should) beat this time round. though i'm thinking if we got the french this time round we'd probably beat them too.

dc has given us an excuse if we lose. he has strained his willy (well that's what we call it in my family) and judging by the way he was writhing around on the ground it pained him. personally i don't see the big deal (:P).

so at the risk of being made a fool, and that's something that happens almost daily, my picks are:
wales over ireland, france over england, us over argentina. the last semi i'm finding hard to pick. and it's all the irish team's fault. they beat the aussies and threw the whole draw into chaos. i want the aussies to win. i think we have a better chance of beating them. but i think south africa will win.

i also see that i am not alone in my conspiracy theory that, in fact, robbie 'dingo' deans is on the all black's payroll and is deliberately training the aussies so they are shite.

and one more conspiracy theory. israel dagg, richard kahui and zac guildford all out 'injured' for the quarter final. one that we should win in a canter if one was going by the form book (but as we all know, for the all blacks the rugby world cup is a vicious and unsatisfying beast). all this so mils can have his 100th test? and so that SBW gets a sympathy game? he will not get a start for the important games. despite all his 'skill' the better teams make him look very, very average. he looks superb against teams that are the next tier down (such as tonga and japan etc.)

for nostalgia's sake i'm hoping for an all black's france final. but i think i would equally enjoy an all blacks wales one. in another two and a bit weeks all will be revealed.

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