Thirtieth birthdays can be both marvellous and depressing affairs; it really depends on a persons individual outlook.Does one reflect on the memories of your 20s and the prospect of whats to come, or instead bemoan the loss of the 20-something years and why its ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE?This Wednesday in Sydney, members of the 1986 Wallabies -- the last Australia team to defeat the All Blacks at Eden Park -- will gather in Sydney to do a bit of both.It will be a 30th birthday of sorts - more so an anniversary -- but as they reflect on memories of that 22-9 triumph under Alan Jones, the topic will almost certainly turn to the future and just exactly where Australian rugby and this current crop of Wallabies are at.On the strength of their 2016 performances, the topic inspires anything but a party mood.With just three wins from nine Tests this season, the Wallabies are enduring one of their worst campaigns of the professional era.And then theres their opposition this weekend: An All Blacks side who havent been beaten since August 2015, when dusted by Australia in Sydney, and for whom an 18th straight win will set a record for consecutive victories by a Tier One team and confirm their place as one of the greatest sides -- if not the greatest -- in the games history.Such has been the quality of the All Blacks rugby in 2016, and the 30-year drought that extends back to 1986, that not even only the most one-eyed Australians can give the Wallabies hope of victory in Auckland on Saturday.In fact, such is the gulf in class and form that bookmakers UBET have installed the All Blacks as $1.07 favourites with the Wallabies friendless at $8.While there is despair at the prospects of an Australian victory, there is opportunity in the forlorn situation the Wallabies find themselves in. They must remind Australia and Australians why theyre relevant.With the AFL and NRL seasons done, the Wallabies have only the A-League in competition for eyeballs this Saturday. But the high-octane start that competition has made this season, particularly Tim Cahills astonishing goal in last Saturdays Melbourne derby, means the Wallabies must deliver a performance that inspires hope for the future.Put simply, Australian rugby cannot afford to drift any further toward the obscurity of irrelevancy.There have been signs of improvement in the Wallabies game since they were completely dominated in twin Bledisloe defeats in August.Wins over South Africa and Argentina in Brisbane and Perth respectively, and a further victory over the Pumas in London, were patchy, but there were periods of positive play that gave hope for a brighter future.So while the Wallabies may be at horrifically long odds to defeat the All Blacks, there is no reason why they cant turn in a performance that tests the two-time reigning world champions and at least increase a few New Zealand pulse rates when considering the prospect of owning the world record outright.If the Wallabies can do that on a weekend when the Australian sporting air is thin, and back it up with further strong performances in Europe -- where victories will be tough to come by but undoubtedly more attainable -- then 2016 may not be totally condemned to the scrapheap.And it might just be enough to set things in the right direction so the 1986 Eden Park Wallabies might have long forgotten the Auckland hoodoo when they meet in 10 years time to mark the 40th anniversary of their win.On, Saturday however, the Wallabies just need to show why theyre relevant. And 30 then, as they say, may just prove to be the new 20 for Australian rugby. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. Stitched NFL Jerseys . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. http://www.nflcheapchinajerseys.us/ .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. NFL Jerseys China . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Rejecting calls by anti-doping officials for a complete ban on Russia, Olympic leaders on Sunday gave individual sports federations the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in next months Rio de Janeiro Games.Citing the need to protect the rights of individual athletes, the International Olympic Committee decided against taking the unprecedented step of excluding Russias entire team over allegations of state-sponsored doping. Instead, the IOC left it to 27 international sports federations to make the call on a case-by-case basis.Every human being is entitled to individual justice, IOC President Thomas Bach said after the ruling of his 15-member executive board.Bach said the IOC had decided instead on a set of very tough criteria that could dent Russias overall contingent and medal hopes in Rio, where the Olympics will open on Aug. 5.Under the measures, no Russian athletes who have ever had a doping violation will be allowed into the games, whether or not they have served a sanction, a rule that has not applied to athletes in other countries.In addition, the international sports federations were ordered to check each Russian athletes drug-testing record, with only doping controls conducted outside Russia counting toward eligibility, before authorizing them to compete. Final entry is contingent on approval from an independent sports arbitrator.The IOC decision was sharply criticized by anti-doping bodies as a sellout that undermines clean athletes and destroys the idea of a level playing field.World Anti-Doping Agency President Craig Reedie said the organization is disappointed that the IOC did not heed WADAs executive committee recommendations after investigators exposed, beyond a reasonable doubt, a state-run doping program in Russia that seriously undermines the principles of clean sport.Joseph de Pencier, chief executive of the 59-member Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations, said the IOC failed to confront forcefully the findings of evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia corrupting the Russian sport system, describing it as a sad day for clean sport.U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership in a most important moment for the integrity of the Olympic Games and clean athletes.The decision regarding Russian participation and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes, Tygart said.Russias track and field athletes were already banned by the IAAF, the sports governing body, in a decision that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IOC accepted that ruling, but would not extend it to other sports.Russias current overall team consists of 387 athletes, a number likely to be significantly reduced by the measure barring Russians who have previously served doping bans.Calls for a complete ban on Russia intensified after Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer commissioned by WADA, issued a report accusing Russias sports ministry of overseeing a vast doping program of its Olympic athletes.McLarens investigation, based heavily on evidence from former Moscow doping lab director Grigory Rodchenkov, affirmed allegations of brazen manipulation of Russian urine samples at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but also found that state-backed doping had involved 28 summer and winter sports from 2011 to 2015.An athlete should not suffer and should not be sanctioned for a system in which he was not implicated, Bach told reporters after Sundays meeting, acknowledging the decision might not please everybody.This is not about expectations, he said. This is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world.Asked whether the IOC was being soft on Russia, Bach said: Read the decision. ... You can see how high we set the bar. This is not the end of the story but a preliminary decision that concerns Rio 2016.Tygart, however, questioned why the IOC would pass the baton to sports federations who may lack tthe adequate expertise or collective will to appropriately address the situation within the short window prior to the games.ddddddddddddThe IOC also rejected the application by Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, an 800-meter runner and former doper who helped expose the doping scandal, to compete under a neutral flag at the games. Stepanova, now living in the United States, competed as an individual athlete at last months European Championships in Amsterdam.But the IOC said Stepanova did not meet the criteria for running under the IOC flag and, because she had been previously banned for doping, did not satisfy the ethical requirements to compete in the games. The IOC said it planned to invite Stepanova and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian anti-doping official who also turned whistleblower, to attend the games.Tygart expressed dismay at the decision to bar Stepanova, describing it as incomprehensible and saying it will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward.That means only one Russian track and field athlete is eligible to compete in Rio: U.S.-based long jumper Darya Klishina was granted exceptional eligibility by the IAAF because she has been tested outside of Russia.Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the majority of Russias team complies with the IOC criteria, and estimated 80 percent of the team regularly undergoes international testing of the kind specified by the IOC.International federations will have only days to process the Russian cases. Many are still waiting for information from McLarens report.The International Tennis Federation has already said Russias eight-member team meets the IOC requirements as the players have been through regular international testing.Sundays measures are still a blow to Russia, which finished third in total medals at the 2012 Olympics.The team could be without some of its star names in Rio because of the IOC measure barring any Russians who have previously served doping bans. However, the impact on the medal tally is likely to be less severe than the damage caused by the earlier ban on its track team, Russias most successful contingent in London four years ago.Among those set to be ruled out are world champion swimmer Yulia Efimova; 2012 Olympic silver medal-winning weightlifter Tatyana Kashirina; and two-time Olympic bronze medal-winning cyclist Olga Zabelinskaya. All three have previously served doping bans.Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov presented his case to the IOC board, promising full cooperation with investigations and guaranteeing a complete and comprehensive restructuring of the Russian anti-doping system.He issued a strong plea against a full ban.My question is this: If you treat the cancer by cutting off the patients head and killing him, do you consider this as a victory in the fight? he said in remarks released later. That does not seem like a victory to me.In its decision, the IOC also:- asked the federations to examine the information and names of athletes and sports implicated in the McLaren report, saying any of those implicated should not be allowed into the games.- said the federations would have to apply their own rules if they want to ban an entire Russian team from their events in Rio, as the IAAF has already done.- said Russian entries must be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.- ruled that Russian athletes who are cleared for the games will be subjected to a rigorous additional out-of-competition testing program.The IOC also reiterated its serious concerns about the weaknesses in the fight against doping, and called on WADA to fully review their anti-doping systems. The IOC said it would propose measures for more transparency and independence.--Wilson reported from London. AP Sports Writers James Ellingworth and Rob Harris contributed to this report.. 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