Kane Douglas is one tough fella who provides the Wallabies' World Cup squad some old-fashioned grunt and plays with a bit of grit, but don't expect to hear him swear on the field.
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His strict father and a combination of corn chips and soap cured him of "mild-expletivitis" when he was a tacker in Yamba, on the NSW north coast. One of his two brothers, NRL Gold Coast Titans prop Luke, revealed that the cheekiest of the three siblings who was constantly in trouble was the one who'd made his name in the "gentleman's game".
"Kane was probably the naughty one of the three, always pushing the boundaries," Luke told Fairfax Media's Daniel Lane with a laugh. "I remember dad dragging him to the bathroom a few times and shoving a cake of soap down his throat for a few foul words he'd said. One time he was munching on a big bowl of corn chips and said a few choice comments and the cake of soap was shoved down his throat with the chips. That couldn't have tasted too good."
The fact that Luke doesn't finish the swear word suggested that he, too, may have had the Palmolive Gold punishment for letting fly with a few inappropriate words. While their dad, Chris Douglas, was tough on any foul language uttered under his roof, he instilled teak and ticker into his three boys, Luke, Kane and Jake - who plays for Southern Districts in the Shute Shield.
"Dad worked three jobs sometimes – he was a carpenter and at night worked on the door at the local 'bowlo' and had his side jobs, so we saw how hard he worked while mum kept us in line," Luke said.
"They were big people, mum was 5ft 11 and while dad never did weights he was always a solid bloke, 6ft 3. He's a hard nut and played league.
"I think dad only got mixed up with rugby when he was finishing up. I never saw dad play, I was too young, but I'm told he used to get whacked and he'd get straight up and everything was 100 miles an hour … his teammates would come off second best when he made tackles."
Oops … caught out again
South Africa have been caught out again in their World Cup that began with their shock loss to Japan. This time, it's been a case of insiders' "intel" being threatened. While there is nothing scurrilous here, the Springboks have realised that three of their next opposition – Scotland, who they play on Sunday (1.45am AEST) – speak Afrikaans, the language the Springboks speak to safeguard their lineout calls from being read.
The players are back-rower Josh Strauss and prop Willen Nel, who were born in South Africa, and David Denton, a Zimbabwean-born back-rower. As Springboks back-rower Schalk Burger remarked in London's The Telegraph with a laugh: "I think Afrikaans is not going to be that handy with the very Scottish surnames of Nel and Strauss."
What's doing Wallabies?
A nervous first feel of the turf at Twickenham for the Wallabies as they have their captain's run early Friday afternoon (UK time) in readiness for their Test against England on Sunday (6am AEST) as the fight for finals berths reaches crunch time.
Making news
"Naholo has teammates scrambling," a worrying a headline for Georgia in nzherald.co.nz before they play New Zealand on Saturday (5am AEST) on All Blacks winger Waisake Naholo's return from injury at training, let alone in a Test match.
"Women trade boozy tastes with men as they opt for beer over a glass of wine," – England's mirror.co.uk on a big World Cup issue – a survey of drinkers' choices
They said it
"Burgess lacks the sense of timing, in attack and defence, required to be effective at international level. His naivety embarrassed those around him and severely damaged England's chances of reaching the quarter-finals," – Ireland legend Gordon D'Arcy on England's former NRL star Sam Burgess in The Irish Times
What to Watch
Friday/overnight: Wales v Fiji – Cardiff (1.45am AEST), France v Canada – Milton Keynes (5.00am AEST)
Saturday: New Zealand v Georgia – Cardiff (5am AEST), Samoa v Japan – Milton Keynes (11.30pm AEST)
