KEY POINTS:
Several gratitude cards from the cauliflower club are likely to be winging the way of former Wallaby prop Andrew Blades. They might carry the same one-word content - "thanks" - but they'll be laden with different connotations.
For some reason Blades decided to announce after the Waratahs win against the Blues, that Matt Dunning - he of drop-kick fame (a knack which would have made him useful to the 2007 All Blacks) - had exposed Tony Woodcock as a "myth" during their front row battle last week.
Woodcock had been "riding on the coat-tails of Carl Hayman and Anton Oliver", said Blades. "Without them he looked ordinary," he added.
Blades was defensive coach for Eddie Jones and the Wallabies but he became so distressed that he left. Perhaps he is still on medication or as one senior Aussie official queried when hearing his claim: "What drug is Blades on?"
It is difficult to imagine Matt Dunning will ever be inducted into the pantheon of great props - and, to be fair, that honour is likely to bypass Woodcock as well. But a layman would still note the difference in production between the watermelon with eyes and the rugged Blues loosehead technician.
Blades' observation may provoke a third card from Brumbies tighthead Guy Shepherdson after tonight's Super 14 match at Eden Park when he meets the rekindled challenge from Woodcock. Dunning has improved his game, fills out the Wallabies jersey extra well and as his state coach and former Wallaby tighthead prop Ewen McKenzie noted, he toughed it out strongly against Woodcock with his unorthodox style.
Give Dunning his dues. He might have a few dodgy moments running round in jerseys with small numbers but ARU boss John O'Neill should reward him for his marketing and promotion work in the sporting dogfight against league, aussie rules and soccer across the ditch.
Dunning made a Mad Monday splash when he broke a teammate's beak, he hit the headlines again when he was fined for a late drinking session in South Africa, was fined for another drinking episode and damaging a taxi and allowed his room to be used for a boom party before the last World Cup.
He continued to make the headlines when he kicked a 35m drop goal in the dying minutes of a match in which his Waratahs were pressing hard for the bonus-point fourth try that would get them into the Super 14 semifinals. He lay down, repeatedly, for the Wallaby cause before being stretchered off against the Poms.
The Australian Book of Feared Front Rowers remains a limited edition work and a very quick read to boot; new coach Robbie Deans will need more than the Midas touch to identify his best front row combination.
But in Oz, rugby craves attention and the human headline Dunning, often inadvertently, keeps his code in the spotlight. It would be criminal for Deans to let such a talent slip through his selection tentacles during the Bledisloe Cup series.
