THE Aussie Rugby Blog and Forum for Australia and Wallabies fans

Mar 18

Little James grows up

Posted by Juan Cote
9 Comments

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JO'C giving Mitch the good-oil

Watching the Force this season hasn’t been easy. Not only have they somehow managed to injure the bulk of their international representatives, but they have also played some truly shithouse rugby as well. Not that they haven’t been putting in effort mind, they have, and chief among those trying the hardest is James O’Connor.

Young Rabbits has been pitch-forked into an un-accustomed role of being a senior player, despite still only being 20 years of age. Let’s not forget that this time last year JO’C was being used off the bench by Mitch in an effort not to put too much pressure on him, doesn’t a year make a difference.

In fact, watching JO’C in the flesh last week against the Reds I couldn’t help but notice how few mistakes he made. In a side that was losing its collective shit completely Read more »

Mar 17

Video: G&GR Super 14 Round 5 Review

Posted by Noddy
20 Comments

"Hmmm, Van was right. They rolled us.."

Week five saw two of Australia’s teams, the Reds and the Waratahs, put in their best performance of the season to date. On the flip side it saw another team, the Force, put in perhaps their worst performance for a number of years.

The Brumbies? Well they won. They haven’t clicked just yet, but how well are they sitting? They are in 5th spot, on for and against alone, as they have the same number of points as the 4th placed Chiefs. It’s a handy run in for them town, basically staying in Australia for the rest of the comp, except for two short hit and run missions across the pond to take on the Blues and Crusaders. So, in my eye, they are still the Australian team most likely to challenge for the trophy.

But first let’s all glow on the warmth that was the energy created by the running rugby played by Read more »

Mar 16

Video: alternative round 5 highlights

Posted by Gagger
27 Comments

Here’s what caught our eye last weekend

Mar 16

Super 14 Tipping Comp: Who Gives a Stuff?!

Posted by Scarfman
9 Comments

What a shocker. What an absolute Barry Crocker. This week I fell from 14th to bloody 65th in the bloody tipping comp. I mean, even Gagger and Noddy are beating me! How bad’s that!? And it’s all my wife’s fault. I usually take about an hour to put my tips in. Studying form, history, team sheets, and a fair dose of gut feel. And there’s plenty of gut to feel these days. This week I had about 5 minutes to get it done before I got hauled off to a dinner party. “We’re going NOW!!”.

Mar 15

Reds pummel Force 50-10 in ‘double trouble’

Posted by Lance Free
28 Comments

Higgo - double trouble

One swallow doesn’t make a summer but this is no false dawn like we’ve been promised before, the Reds are the real McCoy in 2010.

Their long suffering fans will be ecstatic at the way their team ripped the heart out of the Force in the first half of today’s game, leading by 36-3 and a bonus point to boot at the break, scoring five tries in the process.

Players like Digby Ioane, Anthony Faingaa and Scott Higginbottom were unstoppable in this game, each scoring a brace of tries in this romp.

Ione in particular looked menacing with ball in hand: a tattooed blur of rippling muscle and pumping thighs – power and passion personified. Read more »

Mar 14

Reds vs Force Live Score

Posted by Gagger
3 Comments

Final score: Reds 50 – Western Force 10

Mar 14

Brothers vs Sydney Uni match report

Posted by Juan Cote
7 Comments

Nathanuel Gendle seals the deal

Brothers have overpowered a resilient Sydney Uni side to be crowned this year’s Australian Club Champions in Brisbane. In what was an end-to-end affair and a great advertisement of the need for a third tier competition, Brothers greater combinations in key areas proved the difference between the two teams.

While you can argue about the merits of playing such a game in early March instead of late September, the fact remains that Queensland teams have now won the club champs for two years running.

The game was barely 5 minutes old when Brothers half-back, Sam Grasso, fielded a poor Uni clearance and fed former Australian 7’s representative, Damon Murphy, on the Brothers 40 metre line. Read more »

Mar 14

Video: Brumbies hold on to beat Sharks

Posted by Brumby Jack
10 Comments

The CA Brumbies have held on for a 24-22 victory against an unlucky Sharks team tonight in Canberra. The victory sees the Brumbies improve to 4-1 on the ladder whilst consigning the Durban based Sharks to their 5th loss in a row for season 2010.

In a game that saw no less than 6 lead changes, the South Africans showed they were keen to notch up their first victory of the season by bringing a physical forwards display to the Capital. For rest of review and 2nd half highlights Read more »

Mar 14

Video: Tahs tame the Lions

Posted by Gagger
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Certainly there are plenty of tries to watch as the Tahs thumped the Lions 73-12.

For second part of highlights Read more »

Mar 13

Brumbies vs Sharks – Live Commentary

Posted by Moses
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The Brumbies have snuck home in Canberra, defeating the Sharks 24-22.

Mar 13

Reds v Force Preview: Cote v Free

Posted by Lance Free
7 Comments

BBQ stopper

JUAN COTE and LANCE FREE go ‘Head to Head’ in this week’s preview of the Reds v Force match. Sunday arvo’s match in BrisVegas could be a BBQ stopper.

LANCE: “I’m going out on a limb here and picking the Force to win this one because of three things (1) the Reds will be favourites (2) history, and (3) downright desperation”.

JUAN: “Force to win my arse – they couldn’t tackle their way out of a wet paper bag. Based on recent form the Reds will comfortably bring home the bacon”. Read more »

Mar 13

Much better, but don’t let it go to your heads

Posted by Lee Grant
15 Comments

the reach around

The Tahs gave their few remaining fans a nice fuzzy feeling tonight at the SFS scoring 11 tries but they shouldn’t let it go to their heads because the Lions were crap.

The visitors played their customary 7s attacking game keeping the ball alive but they would have been better served at getting more structure into their game. They lost the ball at lot with poor passing and pushing the pass instead of going to ground with the ball safe. To make things worse they were slow to establish defensive lines when turnovers happened.

For a change the Tahs were in the mood to take advantage of turnovers and Read more »

Mar 12

Brumbies v Shorks preview

Posted by Brumby Jack
8 Comments

Sharks need a flash of brilliance

The CA Brumbies have named an unchanged line up for the 4^th week in a row to take on the Sharks on Saturday night. The Canberra based side will be hoping that continuity and momentum will give them the edge over the Sharks who have not won in Canberra since a 41-23 win in 1998.

The Brumbies will be looking to play some entertaining rugby to capture the attention of the fans they felt they let down last week in not capturing the elusive bonus point. Along with the Force, the Brumbies are the only teams yet to register a bonus point in 2010.

Both Captain Stephen Hoiles and Coach Andy Friend are wary of a Sharks backlash and won’t be underestimating the Sharks who will be looking to bring a physical game. Hoiles believes that patience within the team will see them secure their 4^th win of the season. Read more »

Mar 12

Live Score: Tahs vs Lions

Posted by Gagger
2 Comments

It rained tries at the SFS!

Tahs 73 (Drew Mitchell 6m, Dean Mumm 11m, Tom Carter 17m, Lachlan Turner 32m, Drew Mitchell 40m, Wycliff Palu 51m, Drew Mitchell 58m, Drew Mitchell 63m, Josh Holmes 74m, Josh Holmes 77m, Lachlan Turner 82m, Conv Berrick Barnes 9/11)

def Lions 12 (Tonderai Chavhanga 9m, JC Janse Van Rensburg 69m, Conv Earl Rose 0/1, Burton Francis 1/1)

Mar 11

Refereeing imbalance? Try Kaplan for size

Posted by Gagger
74 Comments

The public standing down of Super 14 referee Paul “Skid” Marks this week for “imbalance from a management perspective” seems to have marked a new official openness in discussing referee performance. If that’s the case, I’d like like to submit to the SANZAR panel a piece of evidence for long-term referee imbalance that’s far more conclusive than the footage of Kurtley’s knock on last weekend.

In the table below is a summary of Jonathan Kaplan’s Super rugby refereeing history with the Waratahs, together with a few comparisons.