|
Written by champion stalker Willie the Waiter
|
|
Saturday, 22 May 2004 |
 Yep that's right the main man himself... Had the opportunity tonight to share a beer (thanks Steiny and CCC) with Fitzy at the Canterbury Shield prize giving where he presented the London Kiwis with the Canterbury Shield for winning their comp.
Sheesh you talk about people that command an aura when they walk in the room, and Fitzy is one of them. Bbloody friendly guy, but Jesus in a group conversation he's got captain/leader stamped all over his head... Bloody hell he must have been awesome giving a speech in the middle of the field. He loves taking the piss out of people too!
The funniest thing was meeting the guy was remember in some book (was it his own?) where it was talked about him being such a success at hooker was because he had such narrow hips... I know its sounds gay but you bloody notice how narrow his hips are compared to his upper body!
Righto onto the questions. Sorry didn't get the chance to go quite as deep as we'd like here.. and as it turns out Fitzy hasn't seen any super 12 so we actually spent a lot of time telling him who'd been doing what.
Anyhoo before we get into that one of the more interesting bits was that Canterbury have signed up to be the kit sponsor of none other than South Africa!!! Beautiful work CCC are going from strength to strength.
Secondly I gave him a bit of a quiz on his involvement with Bobby Skinstad's scheme, and yep he's well into it. and the interesting thing is its a PREMIERSHIP club that they're going to be taking over! No further details though!
Onto the part I'm having difficulty typing.. as much as it pains me to say this big Reuben Thorne is GOOOOONNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... 
I didn't wanna ask bout him because I thought he'd be diplomatic bout it. One of the other boys just said "so is Thorne gonna be captain" and bugger me he spat the dummy. I was genuinely taken aback at the distaste shown by Fitzy towards Thorne. Firstly he called him a handbag then sorry no, a suitcase. Said he was not a leader and did not put any fear into the oppo.. Did not lead the team and had no presence on the field. Phooey before you say I'm just saying this seriously I have witnesses to back this up! It was unbelievable! I really must say it was like when you've had something you were responsible for or 'your baby' being taken away from you and you didn't like what the person had done with it.
Said Henry had spoken to him last year specifically bout Thorne, and didn't rate him either. so would seem he is out on his arse.
Interesting how he spoke about Thorne not putting any fear into the oppo, as it seemed one of Fitzy's biggest things was getting hard arses on the paddock. Basically was gutted that Oliver wasn't involved, because he saw him as an ugly mongrel who gets amongst it. When I said what about his throwing being shit he said 'well all the others are just as shit!'
As for his throwing he used to practice the arse off it. Against a wall, anything. Thinks that we're not doing 'the Wilkinson' where you just get out there and practice, practice, practice.
Back to the captaincy debate.. He had no idea or was not letting on about who was going to be captain. Actually he let us as a group run on this convo without saying sod all 'cept say bits and pieces when we'd query him. Thinks McCaw is the shit but too young.. Didn't say anything about Umaga etc.
Hardest game he'd played in? Anything in SA. World cup final in '95 was probably the one. On the way to the game they said the bus got diverted down a side street and there were all these big Afrikaners wearing puffa jackets with brooms with nooses round them with the no 11 hanging off them.. They all started banging the crap outta the bus and all the boys were shitting themselves! He said he was thinking fuck Jonah what he was just worried what they were gonna do to him! 
Told a brilliant story about the Pom game and the planned move to kickoff to Jonah. Was all about winning the tosss, and they won it... So Carling said to Fitzy "what are you going to do" and Fitzy said "well we'll tell you out on the field" which rather upset Will (most funny in Fitzy's accent!)... So they went back to the shed and Jonah was sitting there with his headphones on and holding hands with Buncey (haha fukin funny) and they told him all one.. and he didn't even hear cause he had his headphones on...
Umm trying to remember what else. asked him what he thought of Jason Leonard saying he did all the coaching when Henry was in charge, and he just laughed his arse off and said that Henry is a brilliant coach. Thinks the team he's assembled will be fantastic, and that they all get on well.
Also thinks Mitch is a very good coach, and is glad that he stuck around on the NZRFU payroll. just thinks he was a little green and surrounded by yes men.
Asked him if he was going to be asked to be involved with the mentoring thing that Jonah was getting into, and he said yes he had been asked, but couldn't make it next week because was too busy over here so no won't be involved.
Oh and he says the locks will be jumpers, and that the blindside will definitely be a jumper says that we NEED a jumper at the blindside. So will be interesting to see Henrys decision there. Wanted to know how Rush was going at 8... Unfortunately I blurted "SHIT" before he'd even finished his sentence then he asked where I was from before pissing himself... But most likely will be Collins in the boot. Though I'm a bit worried that they'll be looking at Rush getting in there.
Reckoned he made more money when the game was amateur than when it went professional! Was giving him grief about how he had a can of coke or bottle of powerade in his hand within 10 seconds of a game finishing! (I used to work for Coke round this time I could never believe how they got away with it).. We all had a big laugh about how he managed to hold up that big fukup of a tri nations trophy and the bottle of powerade at the same time! Brilliant.
Righto that's all for now will get the other boys to remind me what I missed. |
![546med[1].jpg](http://www.thesilverfern.com/images/abs_157/546med[1].jpg)
