INTERVIEW WITH MORGAN TURINUI ON THE WORLD CUP . . .
Matt: Being a younger Wallaby, how do you rate the World Cup experience?
Morgan: Obviously it was a pretty big event and it was just great to be a part of it Even though I didn’t get that many runs on the field, I was pretty happy just to be a part of the squad. We were together for a long period after the Tri-Nations in preparation for the World Cup so we were itching for it to come around when it did. So it was just all round a great learning curve for me.
Matt: You’ve played the one game against Namibia. You got two tries, that must have been enjoyable?
Morgan: Yeah it was pretty good; I got half an hour off the bench in the second half. It was good to be a part of such a big win and a pretty historic win where we broke a few records and I was there when Chris Latham scored his fifth try to break the try scoring record. Got my first try and followed that up with another one so I was pretty happy allround.
Matt: Not being part of the top squad, what did you get up to whilst not playing?
Morgan: Mate, most of the extra curricula activities was fitness when the other blokes were doing captains runs and stuff but we did get out later in the campaign. We had a few nights out in Brisbane. David Croft was our tour guide but he wasn’t the best tour guide because come about 10 o’clock and a little bit of something used to pick him up outside Hotel L.A so he abandoned us.
Matt: It is well documented the fact that you won a bit of money on the Melbourne Cup – any chance of being a professional punter after the rugby’s over?
Morgan: Mate it’s probably a good idea because you don’t pay tax. We’re paying 48.5 cents in the dollar tax from footy and it’s tax free so it’s probably a lot smarter to be a punter.
Matt: Throughout the World Cup there must have been a few funny stories, what comes to mind?
Morgan: Obviously there’s the well documented thing in Darwin when LT nearly died when he was attacked by a crocodile but no one really knows he was making a noise like a baby crocodile and he wonders why it came at him. That was pretty funny and we had a really good time in Darwin, we got absolutely flogged for a few days and then we went bush to Mt Borradaile and did some fishing. It was funny, all the fisherman like David Giffin and Bill Young all came back empty handed and all us blokes who had no idea did pretty well. I got my first Barramundi and was pretty stoked about that.
Matt: Throughout the World Cup campaign who would you rate as your worst roommate?
Morgan: I was lucky because I wasn’t next to him (I feel sorry for Nathan Grey) but every time you walked into Phil Waugh’s room it just hit you, it was the most disgusting smell. There are stories from blokes who’ve roomed with him who say he doesn’t have a shower after training, he leaves his gear all over the floor and he doesn’t wash his gear - it’s just disgraceful.
Matt: After the World Cup final how were the celebrations that week after?
Morgan: Yeah it was really good we met at Bill Young’s pub – The Concord Hotel and he and his old man took care of us that day, so we had a lot of fun there for a few hours. A few boys lasted to the Bourbon Bar at about 6-7 o’clock the next morning. About ten of us had a few beers at the Phoenix on the Monday and then we went down to the Lodge and had dinner at the Howards – the Prime Minister’s residence so that was really good. Waughry and Flats had an impromptu court session and it was pretty good – so a lot of fun.
Matt: Did you share a red wine or brandy with Mr Howard?
Morgan: Yeah I had a couple of nips of cognac with him . . . no we had a couple of reds with the PM and I had an interesting chat with him about the UN. We debated the effectiveness of the UN in this day and age and we talked about how when they formed the security council in 1949, the UN security council was Russia, China, America, France and England. We talked about how a couple of those don’t really deserve their spot because they are not really world powers any more, so being the fact that there’s no sort of recourse for new members of the security council we sort of had a chat about who should be on the security council and he put forward countries like Brazil and Indonesia as representing other continents. I have a new found respect for him and I think he’s a pretty avid student of political history so it was good to have chat with the PM.
Matt: What do you have planned for your break now after the World Cup?
Morgan: I’m off to Fiji for 10-12 days and looking forward to that and do some training over there and keep in tip top shape and I’m back on 5 January with the Waratahs ready and rearing to go.