Report: Sbw Breaks His Leg!
By Paul Kent
September 05, 2008 12:00am
WELL, that didn't take long. Sonny Bill Williams is hurt and unable to play the next three games for Toulon, according to the skinny reports leaked by the club.
Do not feel too sorry for Sonny Bill. This leaves him nothing to do but stay home and count his cash. News of Williams' injury exploded in a cloudburst of colour yesterday, websites lighting up with what was received by many to be joyful news.
Now, we don't want to dance on another man's misfortune, but you couldn't help but sympathise with the common thread of emotion from all those fans, who brought it back to one word: karma.
If there's one thing we could have told Toulon it is that just as the Sonny rises, so does the Sonny set. But here is a news bulletin that will send the still hurting Bulldogs fans and all the karma chameleons into obscene delirium.
It appears the word on Williams is worse than indicated, and that Toulon is trying as hard as possible to keep a lid on the nature of Williams' injury. The only public comment the club has made is that he will be out for three weeks. Nothing has been said as to the nature of the injury.
But we here in the newspaper business have our moles all over the place, and it emerged the Queensland Reds played a tour match in Nice on Wednesday night, not all that far from Toulon, it turned out.
After the game, none other than Toulon coach Tana Umaga appeared in the dressing room for a friendly hello where naturally and inevitably the conversation turned to his new buy. It was right then Umaga told the Reds, revealed exclusively here, that Williams had broken his leg.
No wonder they are not revealing the nature of the injury. A broken leg means Williams could be out for up to six weeks - which was exactly what Umaga said to the Reds.
Six weeks, not three.
Why they have set up such a charade is uncertain, but we'll take a guess. Three weeks seems minor, and keeps Toulon fans believing in their new buy. Six weeks confirms the reputation that Sonny is a crock, a reputation as well-worn as his nubby knee joints.
At the Bulldogs, Williams missed 47 games from a possible 120, through injury. He had shoulder reconstructions, ankle injuries, a torn meniscus, bruised bones, more ankle injuries, and stress fractures. In both feet.
And those were just the long term injuries. In between he had strains, pains and phantom injuries.
Whoever would have believed the worst injury of all turned out to be the back injury he faked to get out of playing for the Dogs to save himself for Toulon?
This latest injury has only confirmed that Toulon has received the full Sonny Bill experience. Highlight reel hits and debilitating stints on the sideline. It sounds like the Frogs are about to find out what frustration is all about.
News of Sonny Bill's broken leg also revives one of those hot rumours that fail to die, from the times when Sonny Bill was still firmly under the protective wing of the Bulldogs right through to now, after he skipped town and with many still trying to figure out why.
His body is getting old before its time. Every time Sonny Bill went down with another injury it reinforced two facts:
We never get tired of writing the same story and Sonny Bill's body was failing to live up to its hype.
This latest injury again confirms that his bones struggle to absorb the punishment that his power generates. The word has long been that Sonny Bill's knees are shot and he is out to make as much money as quickly as he possibly can.
That's why a kid that struggled with the change of moving from New Zealand to Australia was suddenly enlightened enough to make the switch to France. The Frogs were not told of this, naturally.
Of course, this private injury report that Umaga has shared with about 25 Reds players and a million or so Daily Telegraph readers is all predicated on the fact that Sonny Bill is telling Umaga the truth, which we have learned through bitter experience he may not be.
The last time he claimed injury it all turned out a smoky before he hopped on a plane.
Maybe the snotty little French owner Mourad Boudjellal better have somebody at the airport just in case.
You can never be too sure.