Forcefield
Ken Catchpole (46)
The heart surgeon on the sideline must have been licking his lips. Here's my card gentlemen and here is a complimentary burger.
The results of an autopsy on a promising young rugby player who died in Bali have revealed he was killed by methanol poisoning - likely to have come from an incorrectly distilled local brew.
Former Dunedin man Michael Denton, 29, died in September while in Bali on a rugby tour with his Perth-based Nedland's club. The findings by the coroner at Bali's Sanglah Hospital were released recently.
Denton's family have urged people travelling to Bali to be aware of the dangers of the drink, The West Australian newspaper reported.
The brew - called arak, which is distilled locally - is thought to have killed at least 30 people in the past two years.
Arak is produced from fermented rice, palm sap and other plants. But if it contains methanol - a by-product of incorrect distillation - it can cause brain damage, blindness and death as it acts as a poison to the human body.
In 2009, 25 people - including several tourists - died in Bali after drinking a batch of arak containing methanol. And a 25-year-old Australian nurse is still battling brain damage and kidney failure after drinking a cocktail containing methanol-laced arak on the final night of her holiday on September 20, just days before Denton died.
Denton's brother Greg, of Auckland, said the confirmation of the toxicology results had "in some way helped our family understand what happened to Mike".
"We know we cannot get Mike back but desperately want to warn people travelling to Bali of the very real danger these drinks pose so that nobody has to go through what we are still going through.
''The message is that this could happen to absolutely anyone and people need to be aware of the risks.''
Denton, who played first five-eighth, was in Bali with teammates and was due to play in an international rugby tournament on September 24.
He was a talented rugby player in New Zealand and played for a Dunedin club before his move to Perth in 2006.
Denton had been drinking at the hotel during the afternoon of September 23 but friends said he would have had no more than a few drinks because the bus was due to pick them up at 7am the next day.
Gainey told The West Australian that Denton did not drink any more than his teammates, some of whom had also been drinking a cocktail called Jungle Juice, which contained arak.
About 10pm, Denton had complained of feeling ill and was escorted him to his room.
When checks were made on him less than an hour later he was unconscious. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at Sanglah Hospital.
Methanol is normally used for industrial purposes.
University of Western Australia professor of medicine and pharmacology David Joyce told The West Australian: "Methanol is a very potent poison and it only takes the equivalent of one standard drink to blind you and not much more to kill you."
THE Western Force's search for a star five-eighth suffered another setback after missing out on former NRL star Craig Wing.
The Force approached Wing hoping he could have a Perth stint in between his commitments with Japanese club side NTT Communications, but were foiled by the airtight conditions placed on his contract.
Wing is playing in Japan as an Asian-qualified player through his Filipino mother, allowing his club to bypass the limit of three foreign players on the field at any time. Under the terms of his contract, if Wing plays in any other country he would automatically lose his Asian eligibility status and jeopardise his lucrative deal.
The Daily Telegraph understands Wing's contract with NTT Communications is worth more than $700,000 per season. The Force have been on the lookout for a new playmaker since the sudden resignation of Willie Ripia on January 10 after he allegedly stole money from teammates to feed his gambling addiction.
"We inquired about Craig but the stipulation of his contract won't allow him to play anywhere else," Force coach Richard Graham said. "I am exploring all avenues, and Craig is a very good quality footballer." Graham will use halfback-turned-playmaker James Stannard as his starting No. 10 for the opening rounds of the competition.
by which of you?
In an enterprising move, it seems the Western Force are looking for some extra games when the Vodacom Super Rugby series takes a break in June.
While most South African sides will be welcoming the three week break enforced by the arrival of England for their test series against the Springboks, the Force are actually looking for more games, and according to the Western Australian newspaper are currently negotiating to host a series of games against the EP Kings in that period.
The break comes at a particularly bad time for the Force, as while the South African sides have three weeks off, they have five, because of the four test matches – three for Wales and one for Scotland – in Australia during that time. As well as this they have a break before the test series starts.
The Force then return to face the Brumbies, Blues and Crusaders in a crucial part of the season and coach Richard Graham is adamant that the break will do them more harm than good.
According to the newspaper, he will give players a week off, two weeks in club rugby and the expected game against the Kings before he prepares them for the restart of Super Rugby.
THE Western Force's chances of securing former rugby league star Craig Wing are not necessarily dead in the water.
There are two categories of import -- marquee and emerging. The marquee import is a player who has played Test rugby for another country, while the emerging import can qualify to play for the Wallabies after a three-year residency.
Wing does not fit into either category.
He is not, technically speaking, a marquee import and the Force already has one anyway, Fijian winger Napolioni Nalaga.
At 32, Wing would not be classified as an emerging talent.
The Force could ask the ARU to grant them an exemption in Wing's case and allow them to sign him as its second import on secondment from Japan.