THE WELSH team are not so much knocking lumps out of the opposition as out of one another - and there is a double agent in their ranks in the shape of Sonny Parker, the Welsh-qualified centre born in New Zealand.
It looks as though he is unwittingly giving his native country a helping hand in the build-up to Sunday's final group match.
Four members of the Wales squad have got bumps, bruises or worse, all fully or partly caused by teammates and with Parker the main culprit.
Ceri Sweeney said this morning he was knocked out during the Italy match and didn't know where he was for ten minutes.
Who had caused the problem? Parker was the answer.
Kevin Morgan suffered separate leg injuries in the first half and had to leave the field after colliding with - yes you've guessed it. Parker.
Then there was the unfortunate Duncan Jones with a broken bone in a leg suffered in part after Parker was tackled and fell across him, though no-one is laughing at that incident.
And Martyn Williams is still sporting a black eye caused by a clash of heads, no not with Parker, nor with an Italian but Colin Charvis.
If Wales can do as much damage to the opposition as they are to themselves, they could be in business against the All Blacks.
* Rhodri Morgan, First Minister at the Welsh Assembly, is making waves out here. He is in Australia to try to attract more tourists and business to Wales and yesterday in Sydney he attacked the Welsh Rugby Union (nothing wrong with that) during a speech.
He maintained it didn't have the proper structure to ensure success, and he called it obscene that Wales had about 500 professional players while New Zealand had around 150.
Nothing wrong with that either, but isn't it also obscene that Rhodri should be here at our expense on a visit which just happens to coincide with the Wales-New Zealand game? Presumably he could have come at any time of the year.
* Vandalism is as much a problem here as in the UK, even in sedate Canberra, surely the quietest, most traffic free capital city in the world.
Vandals went on a destructive rampage in the city early yesterday, damaging 33 cars, including three deliberately torched. The damage is expected to run into tens of thousands of dollars.
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