Shane Williams: 'I'm never rooming with you again....'The message was sent loud and clear to IOC President Mr. Jacques Rogge – rugby is ready for its return to sport’s biggest stage.
Commemorating the centenary of the 1908 London Olympic Games, English football’s headquarters was given a feisty little makeover by 30 southern hemisphere stars intent on keeping the nearby hospital staff busy.
As a guest of IRB president Bernard Lapasset, Rogge will have been hugely impressed by the 43,600 cosmopolitan crowd that crammed its way into Wembley Stadium on a bitterly cold London evening.
If not by the sheer volume of people, then Rogge should be encouraged by the full-blooded contest that even divided supporters, making it a full-throttled Test match atmosphere.
An Olympic Sevens festival featuring Shane Williams twinkle toes, Bryan Habana’s cheetah legs and Schalk Burger’s tenacious enthusiasm would befit any world sporting stage.
Considering it was Australia and not England bulldozing into every tackle as if it were their last, it’s testament to the sport’s pulling power, especially with the recent autumn shambles at Twickenham.
For those All-Blacks and Springboks who have pushed themselves to the physical brink over the past few weeks, the punishing sight of a gaggle of brash young Wallabies pushing their case for future selection made for bone-crunching viewing with the Barbarians rising to the challenge.
If Rogge wants fancy dress, Mexican waves, colour, zest and a bit of magic bringing to the Olympic Games in 2016, he should enlist the help of Shane, Bryan & Co. It will be one hell of a party!