Rugby World Cup Shorts: Quade a shoe-in as Welsh get ahead of themselves

Quade Cooper tweeted a picture of his rugby boots signed by Jonah Lomu ahead of the Bronze final. Photo / Supplied

PE No 1

Quade Cooper's Rugby World Cup match ended early at Eden Park last night with what looked like a pretty grim injury. It can't have been his footwear. Public Enemy No 1's boots (pictured) were signed by Jonah Lomu ahead of the match.

The croak club

From one croaky-voiced ex-NRL star to another.

As big, bad Brad Thorn prepares for the final - and arguably biggest - test of his remarkable dual-code career, a former Brisbane Bronco and Australian teammate has paid him the ultimate compliment.

Darren Lockyer, the Aussie legend who has clocked more farewell tours than even Jordan Luck and the Exponents, has picked Thorn as the starting lock for his ultimate Australian league test team. Thorn won't be so pleased with Lockie labelling Tonie Carroll - another Aussie/NZ jersey swapper - as the biggest hitman in his First XIII though.

Next up: The All Blacks!

The Welsh may have got a bit ahead of themselves after victory over Ireland. In his column in the Guardian, assistant coach Sean Edwards writes: "After the quarter-final against Ireland, I sat down and started jotting down everything I knew about Graham Henry's 2011 All Blacks; how they play and how to play them." Maybe he should have jotted down some notes about their semifinal opponents, France.

There and back again

CupShorts' clued-up travel industry insider long ago booked a trip to Kapiti Island, not realising that a certain sporting event was on this weekend. Problem: There's no television. Our trusty traveller is going ahead with the trip, transistor radio in hand.