Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones’s defection to the Springboks has upset his former protégés but they remain upbeat about their prospects for the World Cup, coach John Connolly said on Tuesday. Connolly and new captain Stirling Mortlock admitted that seeing Jones in a South African tracksuit was an unpleasant surprise.
Australian scientists said on Tuesday they had isolated the substance that gives red wine its peppery aroma, allowing them to modulate the bouquet of one of the country’s most popular varieties. The Australian Wine Research Institute said its scientists spent five years trying to find out what gave Shiraz wine its destinctive black pepper fragrance.
The Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup campaign is under threat of being derailed because of a major rift involving the coaching staff, which has prompted the intervention of Australian Rugby Union officials. Also, many senior players have lost confidence in several members of the Australian team management, writes a columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The world’s biggest Aids conference closed on Wednesday with a call for the development of child-specific drugs to ensure millions of HIV-infected children not only survive to adulthood, but also live without damaging side effects from their treatment.
The Wallabies have been promised a cash bonus of Aus 000 ( 000) per player if they win this year’s World Cup, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) announced on Wednesday. Each of the 30 members of the squad will be given Aus 000 if they make the semifinals.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard had a bad trip on the campaign trail on Tuesday, falling to his hands and knees in front of television cameras shortly after an opinion poll predicted his ouster. Howard, who turns 68 on Thursday, stumbled as he swept into a radio station in the western city of Perth.
A planned -million World Bank fund to encourage developing countries to stop deforestation in return for access to carbon credits has attracted strong international support, a senior official said on Tuesday. Forests are not included under the existing emissions reduction framework, the Kyoto Protocol.
Australian captain Stirling Mortlock said Tuesday that the Wallabies would use their opening Rugby World Cup pool match against Japan as preparation for a key clash with Wales. Mortlock said Australia’s 2-0 Test series win over the Welsh last month would mean nothing when the two sides face off in Cardiff.
HIV-infected babies have a greater chance of survival if they receive treatment before they show signs of illness or a weakened immune system, the International Aids Society was told on Tuesday. A study in Cape Town and Soweto found that 96% of infants given immediate drug treatment were still alive two years later.
Oil prices fell on Monday, on expectations of higher United States refinery production and after remarks by Opec that it is ready to pump more oil if needed. London Brent crude, currently seen as more representative of the world market, slid 36 cents to ,28 a barrel by 4.44am GMT, after easing three cents on Friday.
The biggest challenge in the global fight against HIV/Aids is no longer money for drug research and treatment but the lack of local health services in nations worst-hit by the disease, the World Bank said on Monday. While about two million people were now receiving treatment for HIV/Aids, the lack of health services in many African and Asian nations was adversely affecting treatment programmes.
Australian coach John Connolly on Wednesday defended rushing fullback Chris Latham back from injury for Saturday’s crunch Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup decider against New Zealand. Wallaby legend Tim Horan has slammed the decision to put Latham on the bench, saying he is not ready to return to Test rugby.
Australia fullback Julian Huxley has been ruled out of the Tri-Nations decider against the All Blacks on Saturday after picking up an injury when he was playfully tackled by a teammate at a party. The 27-year-old has played in all Australia’s six Tests this year in the absence of the injured Chris Latham.
A man who drove a restored army tank on a rampage against cellphone towers in Australia’s biggest city believed radio waves had ”harmed his head”, the tank’s owner said on Sunday. The 1967 British tank was spotted by police as it attacked an electricity sub-station in Sydney and was pursued as it went on to flatten seven cellphone towers.
Australian federal police charged a 27-year-old Indian doctor on Saturday over his ”reckless” links with the alleged perpetrators of the attempted car-bomb attacks in the United Kingdom on June 29 and 30. After being held for 12 days, Mohamed Haneef (27) appeared in a Brisbane court charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation.
A comparison of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s nationalism to that of Nazism prompted outrage on Thursday, with one top minister calling the former leader who said it an ”unguided missile”. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who led the country from 1991 until defeated by Howard in 1996, used a speech on Wednesday to accuse Howard of being a Nazi-like nationalist.
The question of who smoked what and with whom is making Australian politicians dizzy after a rock singer said he had shared marijuana joints with an MP and visiting U2 star Bono. Silverchair singer Daniel Johns said in a radio interview this week that he had been invited with his actress wife, Natalie Imbruglia, and MP Peter Garrett to a house rented by Bono in Sydney last November.
A boy called Hell has been barred from enrolling in a Catholic school in Australia because his surname jarred with its religious teachings, the child’s father said on Monday. The youngster’s dad, Alex Hell (45), has expressed outrage after the primary school in the southern city of Melbourne allegedly refused to admit his son, Max.
Little by little, the All Blacks are deteriorating as the world’s rugby superpower, according to World Cup-winning former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer. While he declined to nominate the areas in which New Zealand’s game has fallen away, it is apparent to him the All Blacks are not the side they were a relatively short time ago.
”You are about to step into Africa” promises the sign outside a white tent in downtown Sydney, just a walk away from designer boutiques. World Vision last week launched One Life Experience, an interactive exhibition that gives visitors the chance to experience life through the eyes of impoverished African children who have been affected by HIV/Aids.
South African coach Jake White says his controversial decision to protect top players ahead of the World Cup has been vindicated after an injury sidelined stand-in Springbok skipper Bob Skinstad. The player suffered a broken rib in Saturday night’s 25-17 Tri-Nations loss to Australia, ruling him out for at least six weeks and threatening his World Cup chances.
Australia trailed 14-0 after eight minutes but rallied on either side of halftime for a 25-17 win over South Africa in a Tri-Nations rugby match on Saturday. A Matt Giteau try, his 17th in Test rugby, helped the Wallabies celebrate the final home appearances of two Australian veterans.
The first of nine concerts across the globe aimed at persuading millions of fans to go green for the environment swung into life in Sydney on Saturday with fiery vocals and a distinctive Australian beat. Following in the footsteps of the Live Aid and Live 8 mega-gigs, Live Earth hopes to reach up to two billion people through radio, television and the internet.
The tense relations between South Africa and Tri-Nations partners Australia and New Zealand will be raised at a meeting among the three unions next week. The Sanzar body that runs the Tri-Nations and Super 14 will meet in Christchurch for a strategic review addressing the future of both competitions, reported the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.
Australia’s iconic Victoria Bitter beer is about to become less boozy after Foster’s brewery announced it will cut the drink’s alcohol content to lower its tax bill. Foster’s said while the alcohol content was on the hop — to be cut from 4,9% to 4,8% — the taste would remain the same.
South Africa will take only two players from the side that defeated Australia last month into Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash in Sydney against a Wallabies outfit missing suspended winger Lote Tuqiri. Backs Ruan Pienaar and JP Pietersen were the only survivors from the Springboks’ starting line-up that won 22-19 in Cape Town.
The South African Rugby Union is ”an absolute disgrace” and the Springboks should be kicked out of the Tri-Nations, says David Moffett, one of the chief architects of Sanzar. Moffett said that Australia and New Zealand had to cut South Africa from the next television deal, and instead play more trans-Tasman matches.
Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri was banned for two matches and fined Aus 000 (about US 000) on Tuesday after an alcohol breath test showed he had breached team discipline, the Australian Rugby Union said. The punishment rules Tuqiri out of Australia’s final Tri-Nations matches against South Africa and New Zealand.
An Indian doctor was detained in Australia for questioning in connection with a suspected al-Qaeda plot to detonate car bombs in London and Scotland as he tried to leave the country. The detention of the hospital registrar at Brisbane airport widened the international dimension of the investigation.
South Africa coach Jake White says the Wallabies still have problems with their scrum and he wants a fair contest in Saturday’s Tri-Nations rugby Test in Sydney. White says he plans to speak with New Zealand referee Paul Honiss before the Test to ensure what he calls a ”fair” scrum contest against the Australians.
Flooding in south-eastern Australia could leave hundreds of people stranded inside their homes for the next three days until the water recedes, officials said on Sunday. Victoria state’s Gippsland region, which earlier this month was suffering drought and the after-affects of summer bushfires, has been inundated by days of heavy rain.
The All Blacks will be searching for answers on Sunday after their 20-15 upset loss to trans-Tasman rugby rivals Australia. The problem for the Wallabies, and the rest of the rugby nations heading to this year’s World Cup, is that Graham Henry’s New Zealand team will very likely find them.