How to Beat the Australians

For 20 years, Australia has produced competitors so gritty they order sandwiches with sand in them. The nation placed fourth in the medals table at the Athens Olympics and have fielded Tour de France contenders, Davis Cup champions, and winning national soccer teams. For Richard Beard, soccer was the last straw. On the well-established principle that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, he traveled down to Australia for seven rounds of hand-to-hand sporting combat in an effort to find out just what makes the Australians so good, and how to beat them.