I've been mulling over the news that Clint Eastwood is planning to make a movie about the 1995 Rugby World Cup for a while now.
Eastwood will direct and Morgan Freeman will play Nelson Mandela in a film based on the book The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed the World, which has a rather pompous title but delves into the story of that tournament and how it helped paper over the cracks of racism in the Rainbow Nation.
Freeman is obviously a great choice as Mandela - he knows all about being in prison, for a start, after his memorable turn as Red in The Shawshank Redemption - and it seems Matt Damon will buff up to play Springbok captain Francois Pienaar.
Who else could you cast?
. . . and rugby . . .
For starters, Eastwood himself would make an ideal Laurie Mains.
One stare out of that grizzled face would be enough to make any young actor jump to it.
Australian actor Eric Bana (The Hulk, Chopper) could gain a few kilograms to play All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick.
And Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean) has just enough dash and nancy-boy appeal to pull off Andrew Mehrtens.
A brooding, blond Ryan Phillippe could be a brooding, blond Jeff Wilson.
Of course, the key casting is finding someone to play Jonah Lomu, the sensation of the 1995 World Cup.
Someone big, brown and impossible to stop.
Step forward, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
. . . . is box office gold
Kurtwood Smith - the dude who played the father in Dead Poets Society but is more famous for playing Red in That 70s Show - would be my Kitch Christie, the coach of the Springboks who later died of leukaemia.
Cuba Gooding jun, who already has form in a great sports movie, Jerry Maguire, makes an obvious Chester Williams, and formerly funny television star Drew Carey has the head to play notorious South African rugby boss Louis Luyt.
One final piece of casting is difficult, because we've never actually seen the person.
I'll let you decide who could play the evil waitress, Suzie.
Suddenly Broken Williams
Now this is predictable.
Mega-rich French fantasy rugby club Toulon has announced convert Sonny Bill Williams will be out for three weeks after picking up an injury in his FIRST competitive game.
In keeping with its preferred method of doing business, Toulon refused to specify exactly what was wrong with Anthony Mundine's best friend.
If the club had done its homework on SBW, it would have seen the wayward talent missed more games than he played in the last two years of his league career.
The eager Beaver
A word for the great Steve Menzies, farewelled in style from his beloved Manly Sea Eagles league club last weekend.
The "Beaver" was honoured when the club renamed its southern stand the Fulton-Menzies Stand in honour of himself and former great Bob Fulton.
Whether you're a diehard Penrith Panthers fan like me or a Warriors devotee, you have to admire the service Menzies has given the maroon V-neck.
Sixteen seasons. Close to 350 games. Leading forward try-scorer in the history of the great game.
That's immense, and we salute you, Beav.
Punting on Aussies
From the Deadspin website comes this interesting American football fact: no fewer than three NFL teams will have an Australian playing punter this season.
Mat McBriar is at the Dallas Cowboys, Ben Graham is at the New York Jets and Saverio Rocca is at the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Why the sudden influx? Have NFL barbies been particularly shrimpless lately?" the website asked.
"Nope, turns out it's their mastery of the drop punt method, which they've adopted from their Aussie Rules football days and which allows for greater accuracy."
Das boot
What's big, German and smelly? Dirk Nowitzki's shoe, of course.
The lanky European is an NBA superstar and the heart and soul of the Dallas Mavericks franchise.
He also played for Germany at the Beijing Olympics, where he met Tall Ferns player Nat Purcell.
Nowitzki gave a (used) shoe and a shirt to Purcell, who has loaned the items to Dunedin store Identity, where her partner works.
The shoe is a size 15 and a-half Nike Hyperdunk and is personally signed.
It's on display at the shop for about a month if you want to take a look.
