This is the week for hangovers in Melbourne. They started on Wednesday, the subdued morning after the Melbourne Cup, with its public holiday and roaring hedonism under perfect skies.
They will be still lurking today, with punters recovering from yesterday's A$625,000 VRC Oaks run at Flemington. And for those who last
the distance, Sunday is next, following the All Blacks-South Africa clash at a packed Telstra Dome.
The good news: All Black captain Reuben Thorne is a what-ever-it-takes Capricorn. Astrologer Helen Hope wrote on the Sydney Morning Herald's rugbyheaven website that "Thorne has the discipline and perseverance required to climb great mountains". What's more, he's "star-wired to fulfil the dreams of their nation".
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There are mutterings in South Africa about double standards being applied to pitch invaders. The feeling, it seems, is that Tapumanaia Lautasi got off lightly when he tried to crash-tackle Louis Koen compared with the opprobrium heaped on the republic after the infamous Piet van Zyl incident in Durban last year.
Van Zyl - portrayed as a "brandy-drinking, boerewors-eating Afrikaner" - attacked Irish referee David McHugh during a test against the All Blacks and was fined.
Springbok manager Gideon Sam complained about Lautasi: "Such blatant thuggery should not be allowed. If our people do something similar, a lot is written about it."
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The Namibian squad were so impressed by the job their team liaison officers did in Australia, they wanted to give them something back.
So the African minnows offered Gary Quick and Michael Reyn an all-expenses-paid trip to Namibia, where they will have their own special tour around the country's spectacular coastline, wildlife sanctuaries and dramatic desert scenery.
Quick and Reyn were touched by the players' gesture, but a little nervous about Schalk van der Merwe's offer to teach them how to head-butt a lion.
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Celebrity Aussie chef Iain Hewitson has created a match-day dish for the All Blacks. They'll need to like lamb.
Hewitson, born in Levin, says that in the days when the All Black forwards smashed all before them, the only thing you could eat in New Zealand was lamb.
His dish is a simple mixed grill of lean lamb cutlets, lambs fry, kidney, tomato and mushrooms, topped off with a kiwifruit and banana chutney.
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