Adapted from "New Zealand sport monthly"
Perhaps the legend had got the better of me. I was expecting to meet a man with shoulders as
broad as a movie screen, neck like an ox, arms like the trunks of a totara. And yet, in a checked
shirt and jeans, Josh Kronfield looks strangely normal. Not even that tall.
Only when the shirt comes off for the camera do you suddenly hear the crunching bones of a
(5) man slamming into a Kronfield tacks. Thick sheets of muscle lie like slabs across the back and
shoulders of his 102kg body. Ruck marks travel down his back like frets on a guitar neck, the
trademark of a flanker who fearlessly lays his body on th ground for the ball minute after
minute, game after game.
Two broken wrists, concussion, ankle ligaments, both shoulders, the elbow, ribs, fingers...
(10) there is barely an inch of Kronfeld that hasn't been remodelled in the course of his rugby career.
it's scary to see what he can't do any more. Fingers that don't bend, an arm that won't turn a
certain way. it must be frustrating for someone who, like his plumber father, has always liked
working with his hands, naturally dexterous. Not just deep inside a ruck, but on the guitar (he's
self-taught) and with the harmonica, or drawing int he sketch pad he carries round with him. He
(15) likes to write too, jotting down lines for songs.
But Kronfeld just shrugs his shoulders.
"Yeah, the body's been thoroughly wrenched and wrecked about, but it mends. By the time I
finish rugby, they'll still be moving joints. Maybe not regular joints, but I'll be able to get
through life pretty happy."
(20) It's the eyes, not tree limbs, that you first notice about Kronfeld as he speaks. Kronfeld's eyes
are intensely expressive, his body language open, ready to tackle anything you throw at him and
streak away on tangents.
It's the essence of the man who has redefined the role of openside flanker this decade. Total
commitment is almost too watery a description for his style. Yep, physically he's smallish
(25) for a loose forward these days. Backs, too, have got a lot bigger, so he's had to get used to
routinely tackling men bigger than himself. The body's taking a battering. But the mind? Hard
as nails.
But 28 year old Kronfeld, last year's player of the year, is already hinting broadly at the
unthinkable - retirement - when his contract expires at the end of the 2000 season.
Questions:
1. Explain why the author has used the phrase "minute after minute, game after game" in lines 7 - 8 (A/M/E)
2. Explain why the author feels that it would be unthinkable (line 29) for Josh Kronfeld to retire in the year 2000 (A/M/E)
ANSWERS
(NCEA Level 1 English revision guide. 2006 edition, Really Useful Resources, pg. 43)
broad as a movie screen, neck like an ox, arms like the trunks of a totara. And yet, in a checked
shirt and jeans, Josh Kronfield looks strangely normal. Not even that tall.
Only when the shirt comes off for the camera do you suddenly hear the crunching bones of a
(5) man slamming into a Kronfield tacks. Thick sheets of muscle lie like slabs across the back and
shoulders of his 102kg body. Ruck marks travel down his back like frets on a guitar neck, the
trademark of a flanker who fearlessly lays his body on th ground for the ball minute after
minute, game after game.
Two broken wrists, concussion, ankle ligaments, both shoulders, the elbow, ribs, fingers...
(10) there is barely an inch of Kronfeld that hasn't been remodelled in the course of his rugby career.
it's scary to see what he can't do any more. Fingers that don't bend, an arm that won't turn a
certain way. it must be frustrating for someone who, like his plumber father, has always liked
working with his hands, naturally dexterous. Not just deep inside a ruck, but on the guitar (he's
self-taught) and with the harmonica, or drawing int he sketch pad he carries round with him. He
(15) likes to write too, jotting down lines for songs.
But Kronfeld just shrugs his shoulders.
"Yeah, the body's been thoroughly wrenched and wrecked about, but it mends. By the time I
finish rugby, they'll still be moving joints. Maybe not regular joints, but I'll be able to get
through life pretty happy."
(20) It's the eyes, not tree limbs, that you first notice about Kronfeld as he speaks. Kronfeld's eyes
are intensely expressive, his body language open, ready to tackle anything you throw at him and
streak away on tangents.
It's the essence of the man who has redefined the role of openside flanker this decade. Total
commitment is almost too watery a description for his style. Yep, physically he's smallish
(25) for a loose forward these days. Backs, too, have got a lot bigger, so he's had to get used to
routinely tackling men bigger than himself. The body's taking a battering. But the mind? Hard
as nails.
But 28 year old Kronfeld, last year's player of the year, is already hinting broadly at the
unthinkable - retirement - when his contract expires at the end of the 2000 season.
Questions:
1. Explain why the author has used the phrase "minute after minute, game after game" in lines 7 - 8 (A/M/E)
2. Explain why the author feels that it would be unthinkable (line 29) for Josh Kronfeld to retire in the year 2000 (A/M/E)
ANSWERS
(NCEA Level 1 English revision guide. 2006 edition, Really Useful Resources, pg. 43)