Rugby hits and Miss Namibia

Namibia wing Russell Van Wyk, who will play against Tonga in Exeter on Tuesday, has no chance trying to claim he is the best-looking sibling in the family. His sister Steffi (pictured above), was crowned Miss Namibia 2015 at a ceremony in Windhoek in August.

Steffi is a former national-level hurdler and aims to act as an advocate for access to sport in Namibia during her reign. Russell also represented Namibia in age-group athletics, and while his focus remains on RWC 2015, Steffi next goes forward to the Miss Universe final in January 2016.

Namibia's Michelle McLean won the Miss Universe title in 1992, but the Welwitschias have never won a match at the Rugby World Cup finals, so in that sense, Steffi Van Wyk hopes history will soon be repeating itself whereas brother Russell is out to create some on Tuesday in Devon.

Just for kicks

The weekend action showcased some variable kicking styles. Check out the video below to compare Owen Farrell (England), Dan Biggar (Wales), AJ MacGinty (USA) and Quade Cooper (Australia).

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Cupid and Bowe

Romanian replacement scrum-half Florin Surugiu made sure he lapped up every bit of his proposal to girlfriend Alexandra on Sunday evening following his side’s 44-10 defeat to Ireland at Wembley.

Following the team’s deserved lap of honour, the Romanian side walked back out on to the field, by which time the stadium was mostly empty, and formed a semi-circle as Surugiu went down on one knee.

After the resulting cheers and backslapping, Surugiu also made his way into the Ireland changing room where he was congratulated by all and sundry.

A wide smile enveloped Tommy Bowe's (IRE) face when From The Touchline asked for his reaction to the romantic Romanian: "If he’d done it on the half-way line before the game, that would have been quite something," the 31-year-old wing said.

Snakes alive, fake or dead

You've got to love Jacques Burger. Watching the Namibian captain hurl himself against a giant All Black wall in the shape of second-row Luke Romano, crash to the ground and immediately bounce back to his feet like the character Black Knight in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' who thinks having his arm sliced off is a mere flesh wound, it dawned once more at London's Olympic Stadium that we were in the presence of rare courage.

"I'm not afraid of anything on the pitch," Burger told reporters, not as a boast but as a simple, blindingly obvious matter of fact.

Then, he had a little pause for thought. "No, but I am afraid of things off the pitch, I promise you that. Snakes for instance. I don't like snakes very much..."

So, memo to the Tongan boys at Sandy Park, Exeter, for Tuesday night's Pool C match: madcap golfing great Lee Trevino once pulled a toy rubber snake out of his bag to give great rival Jack Nicklaus a rare old fright at the 1971 US Open. But be careful because Trevino, always the joker, never admitted the snake was fake.

Is this the only way to halt the unstoppable Burger?

Golfer Lee Trevino pictured here wearing a marshall's hat with a hatchet and a rubber snake. Trevino jokingly threw the snake at Jack Nicklaus before their 1971 US Open 18-hole play-off, which Trevino, unsurprisingly, went on to win. Photo: Rusty Kennedy/AP

Sleepless in Cardiff

Wales's magnificent win against England at Twickenham on Saturday has had a massive impact on RWC 2015 but maybe even more for New Zealand despite them being in a different pool.

The Kiwis, due to play their next match against Georgia in Cardiff on Friday, arrived to take up residence at the Hilton Hotel on Saturday afternoon but sleep that night proved a difficult exercise as the team hotel is only a short distance from the Welsh capital's RWC 2015 fanzone.

Chants of "Wales, Wales, Wales" long into the night made it particularly difficult for the New Zealand players to get their desired shut eye, except for lock Sam Whitelock who said he slept through the whole commotion.

However, it means the All Blacks could also be lining up for another long night on Thursday when Wales plays Fiji at Millennium Stadium, right next door to the same Cardiff fanzone that kicked on into the wee hours after the win against England.

Another Wales victory on Thursday and Kiwi sleep patterns are sure to be again severely disturbed - and they say any night’s sleep you lose is one you never get back.

Boots and all

 

 

Important as rugby is, it’s not a matter of life and death. Yet the men whose careers involve life and death will slip on their boots to battle it out for the bragging rights as the greatest Armed Forces rugby team on the planet.

The International Defence Rugby Competition will run throughout October alongside RWC 2015. The semi-finals and finals will be played at The Stoop, Twickenham, during the week of the RWC 2015 final.

The UK will be represented by the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force, and they will play Combined Service teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, Japan, Tonga, Canada, Fiji and Georgia.

And given that they will all be gunning for glory, it is appropriate that there is a photo opportunity with players and coaches on the HMS Victory in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on 5 October.

Quote of the day

"I think he had a rush of blood to the head – fair play to him, he’s a brave man."
- Ireland second-row Donnacha Ryan doesn't seem convinced, but nontheless praises opponent Florin Surugiu's courage for proposing to his girlfirend in front of team-mates on the Wembley pitch after Romania's 44-10 defeat. 

Number of the day

51,201
- the average number of spectators per match at RWC 2015 after 19 completed matches 

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