The Australian canary yellows continued their antagonistic relationship with the Springboks when they denied them the opportunity to hold their traditional captain’s run practice tomorrow afternoon at Telstra Stadium.
Apparently the only time available for the Bok practice is on Friday morning.
“To have the captain’s run at Telstra, it will have to be in the morning, and we’re not accustomed to that,” said Jake White.
“We always try to train at the match venue on the day before a Test match, and at the same time as the match. We don’t want to train in the morning, so we’ll probably have the captain’s run somewhere else in the afternoon.â€
The already strained relationship between the two rugby rivals has recently reached breaking point after the Boks announced a second string side to tour Australasia for the away-leg of the Tri Nations series.
The ARU was typically vocal in condemning the Springboks’ actions, initially wanting to call off Saturday’s match and then saying that they would seek compensation for poor ticket sales for the Test.
They have been made to look ridiculous though, as tickets for Saturday’s game have been selling like hotcakes. By Wednesday afternoon, 50 000 seats had been snapped up and tickets were selling at a rate of 1000 per hour.
ARU CEO John O’Neill is now touting Saturday’s clash as “a test to remember†as the cash floods in.
aah – what price a victory on saturday? as ian botham once famously said – there’s nothing like beating australia at home in front of 50000 screaming convicts!