Good communication is critical in rugby and some of the stars of the Australian rugby team have taken it off the field and onto the web with a burst of activity on Twitter.
Perhaps it’s from the giddy highs of their win against South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday, one of the best performances an Australian team has put on for many years. But over the weekend some of the squad’s key players have been hyperactive on the social network, talking to fans and pulling back the curtains on the Wallaby camp as they tweet about their roommates, pets, and practical jokes.
The tweeters comprise most of the Wallaby back line that starred on Saturday: Quade Cooper (@QuadeCooper), Matt Giteau (@giteau_rugby), James O’Connor (@Rabbit832), Drew Mitchell (@drew_mitchell) and Adam Ashley-Cooper (@AdamCoopy).
It appears Giteau got a buzz cut from his Mitchell last night and posted a picture of the new do on Twitter. Mitchell reported: “Yes the cut is complete @giteau_rugby got his hair cut by @drew_mitchell n @AdamCoopy.. Pretty standard cut but another happy customer.”
Earlier in the week the Git posted a picture of his dog.
He also revealed after Saturday’s match that Mitchell and Ashley-Cooper had been trying to catch each other with practical jokes. “Drew and coop have this on going battle to stitch each other up!” he said. “I’m backing drew.”
And thanks to Twitter we know what happened. Mitchell wrote later: “@drew_mitchell 1 @AdamCoopy Nil. Haha the old jalepeno in the subway trick.. Thankya”
To which Ashley-Cooper replied: “@drew_mitchell my mouth is on fire….”
Ashley-Cooper posted this morning that his roommate “@QuadeCooper was fairly knocking back the ZZz’s last night.. Thought he was going to take off…!!”
Mitchell, the hard-running winger who showed some ballet skills with an unorthodox sugar-plum-fairy pirouetting try on Saturday (see it in the highlights here) has outed himself as one of the Twitter agitators in the team, saying he hoped Kurtley Beale would soon be on board but that Berrick Barnes had said “no way”. (Update 12.55pm: It looks like Beale may have signed up: @kurtley_beale.)
Cooper, meanwhile, in response to messages from fans, has acknowledged being devastated by his two-week suspension for a dangerous tackle.
(One quick sporting note about Cooper’s game on Saturday – Wayne Smith notes in The Australian this morning that Cooper, playing at fly-half, kicked only once in the game on Saturday. If you’re not into rugby, the translation here is the less a fly-half kicks, the more his team runs the ball which makes for a more exciting game. To kick just once is unheard of.)
Thanks to Twitter we also know Cooper has a new puppy. James O’Connor – the boy wonder who looks like he ran on as the team mascot and just decided to stay on the field – went pet shopping with his teammate last week and tweeted a photo of their purchase.
So what to make of all this?
It will inevitably raise some curmudgeonly questions about whether the tweeting backs are focussed enough on their rugby.
But Cooper and O’Connor have been tweeting frantically for some time and they put in outstanding performances at the weekend.
It lets fans track preparations and get an insight into the personalities who wear the gold jersey for the country. No harm if a few more of them get involved.
After their performance on Saturday the anticipation is already high ahead of this weekend’s Test in Melbourne against the All Blacks. The Kiwis have been in rampaging form too and if the Wallabies play like they did on Saturday it has the makings of a classic.
And if you’re that way inclined everyone can tweet their support to the players ahead of it.
Go the @QantasWallabies.
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