When Peter FitzSimons is not writing books about the perils of sugar or shining the light on concussion, he occasionally engages in his other passion - talking up the Wallabies.
The former Wallaby turned author and journalist was in Dunedin as a guest speaker at an Otago Medical Research Foundation Club lunch at the Town Hall yesterday.
Before he attended that engagement, he had a few thoughts to offer about the strength of Australian rugby.
"We had a shocking weekend where I think four Australian teams went up against four New Zealand teams and the net total was 200 points to the New Zealanders and 50-odd points to the Australians,'' FitzSimons said.
(It was 203 points to 63 points - not that we are counting, of course.)
"We have struggled a bit this year but I don't know, I'm filled with hope, as I am every year, that come the Bledisloe, we'll come good.
"I do note the fact that you will no longer have Richie McCaw. As much as I admire Kieran Read, I think that Richie McCaw is one of those captains that comes along once every 50 years and it will be another 50 years before you have a leader like that.
"We had a captain like that in Nick Farr-Jones who I played with. You'd look at Nick Farr-Jones in the corner of the dressing room and say, `Well, we got the world's best halfback and world's best captain, so we've got to be half a chance'.
"New Zealand will never have a moment where they are overwhelmed by the opponent they are up against but, nevertheless, I do think with Richie McCaw in the team, everybody grew and put on 10kg of muscle.''
It seemed like a reasonable time to bring up Australia's recent 3-0 drubbing by England. But the conversation quickly turned to England coach Eddie Jones and how calculated rugby has become.
FitzSimons and Jones played together in the 1980s. FitzSimons believed Jones to be a statistically-driven coach but was surprised to hear Jones had had a change of heart.
"The messiah of world rugby said there were only two statistics that count: How long does it take a bloke to get up off the ground and back in defence, and how long does it take a bloke to get off the ground and back in position for attack.
"Bingo. Basically what that is, is a measure of gumption. How much guts have they got? How eager are they? His basic point was pick men of character and skill, and work them harder than the opposition.
"I like that because it cuts through all the mumbo-jumbo.
"I've asked players about all these statistics that they blind you with ... do they actually guide and inform what you do on the field? If you've got the ball, surely you look for the gap and run.''
With that in mind, FitzSimons hopes Australia will play its natural game against the All Blacks and look to use its creative flair out wide.
