mrbojumbles

The mrbojumbles World Golf XV.

// December 14th, 2008 // Quirky

Ever wondered how some of the worlds best golfers would fair playing rugby? Probably not but this is the result of cabin fever after being stuck indoors all Sunday sick with a cold.

1              Loose-head prop: Angel Cabrerra
2              Hooker: KJ Choi
3              Tight-head prop: Craig Parry
4              Lock: Phil Mickelson
5              Lock: Ernie Els (c)
6              Blind-side flanker: Boo Weekley
7              Open-side flanker: Michael Campbell
8              Number 8: Lee Westwood
9              Scrum-half: Rocco Mediate
10           Fly-half: Sergio Garcia
11           Left wing: Andres Romero
12          Inside centre: Paul Casey
13          Outside centre: Bubba Watson
14          Right wing: Henrik Stenson
15          Full-back: Tiger Woods

Bench: Vijay Singh, John Daly, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, J.B. Holmes,  Trevor Immelman, Anthony Kim

Coach: Steve Williams

An imposing front row consisting of three of the bigger frames on tour. With Cabrerra leading the engine room there is no shortage of grunt here. Despite their age you will not see golden oldies employed with this trio, expect the inner mongrels to bare their teeth.

Tall timber in the second row, both with renowned soft hands for competing in the lineout. Captain Els commands the respect of his players and will lead the troops around the park well with his astute rugby mind.

A mobile loose forward trio who enjoy rolling up their sleeves to do the hard graft. The outlaw in combat Michael Campbell should cause havoc at the breakdown , if a haka spontaneously sparks up expect this man to be leading it.

Like all scrum-half’s Rocco will be as vocal as ever around the track. Will be yapping in the ref’s ear all day looking for any opportunity. Still a few doubts on his running game but has shown some solid form on the big occasions this year.

When Sergio gets out of the right side of bed he has the potential to be devastating. He should have no trouble navigating the ship from pivot and slicing defenses with his famous scissor step. A real team player, he will be looking to unleash the talent at his disposal throughout the backline. Handy off both feet, he has been handed the kicking duties too.

The midfield pairing is sure to raise a few eyebrows. Fresh faced enthusiasm with talent to burn, the aim of this pairing is to expose the holes in the opposition defense with penetrating power. If this pairing can control their aggression and keep their error rate to a minimum it could be a master stroke selection.

Expect some fireworks with this electric back three. Stenson and Romero on the flanks combine with the silky skills of Woods who has been given a licence to roam free at full-back. The proven clinical finishing ability of Woods and Stenson could be deadly linking up with Romero’s wheels. Given any sniff open pasture, Romero will put the jets on and pin his ears back with his taste for the line.

A bench stacked with experience and an impressive CV to boot. A question mark remains over some of the pine warmers ability to play the full 80 minutes, however some proven match winners to come on late in the game to make an impact. Front row cover in the form of big John Daly, always an unpredictable asset for the coach to turn to. Harrington will have to cool his heels until given his chance, he will be itching to get amongst the action at the business end of the match.

A keen follower of rugby from a young age, coach Steve Williams will leave no stone unturned in match preparation. Managing player workload presents a massive challenge as the physicality of rugby is a vast contrast from a gentle stroll in a park hitting a ball in a hole with a stick that his players are used to. If he can get his individual stars to operate as a unit maybe Williams has a career outside of caddying.

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