Author: Kate Elizabeth

Coinciding with a heatwave, the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens rolled into town.  They had done a reasonable job in garnering media attention, but would that translate through to ticket sales, atmosphere and a tournament worth its place in the calendar?  Teams like Toulon contributed to an element of novelty and the strong NZ contingent in Brisbane was always going to turn up to watch their teams, but would it be enough? I must admit it, watching it took the whole Rebels v Chiefs game to transition from 7s to 10s.  It wasn’t the number of players or the halves, but…

A must win match for the reigning premiers makes this a do or die match for Brisbane City and the Sydney Rays are looking to rebound from their first loss of the season.  The Match The Sydney Rays started the game with sustained pressure on Brisbane City and their line.  Con Foley made a fabulous break to take the ball over the advantage line and offloaded beautifully to fly half Angus Sinclair to set the tone for their half – fast, relatively free-flowing and with a little too many mistakes. The first ten minutes saw the visitors with almost 75%…

A perfect afternoon at Ballymore saw the grand final rematch between Brisbane City and Canberra Vikings.  The City boys have had a couple of ill-disciplined weeks and this week would be looking to tighten up the penalty count and retain the Horan-Little Shield.  The Vikings travelled north in the hopes of erasing the ignominy of last week’s loss at home and wrenching the Shield away from Brisbane for the first time since Round 2 2015. The Match For the home crowd the match started the right way with a try to Isireli Naisarani inside the first 3 minutes.  The conversion…

The Queensland Premier Rugby Grand Final was the season’s two best teams going head to head for the fourth time.  Brothers and UQ was always going to be an epic matchup and with more than 9000 people at Ballymore to watch, it didn’t disappoint. Throughout the season, UQ had demonstrated their abilities to hit back quickly after an opposition try and Brothers would need to find a way to nullify this if they were to succeed in carrying away the Hospital Cup. The Match Brothers drew first blood in the match after turning down 3 points to opt for the…

The lineup of departing Queensland Reds stalwarts was enough to bring a tear to the eye of Reds faithful – so much experience, so much Red pride was departing – Saia and Anthony Fainga’a, Curtis Browning, Jake Schatz, Benny Daley, Liam Gill and the mightiest of men and props, Greg Holmes – 146 caps for Queensland.  I know the team and the fans wanted to pull off a win against the wounded Rebels.  Two teams who were shellacked last week, playing for a scrap of pride and looking to the future. The Match Tom English had points on the board…

Listening to some of the prematch bollocks you might have been forgiven for thinking that the Queensland Reds were going to push the Chiefs quite hard for all their young and inexperienced team.  They didn’t achieve that in the scrum, the lineout, the tries scored, the metres gained, the margin at half time, the margin at full time or coherent, cohesive play.  If you think I am being a little harsh, feel free to watch the game again.  It doesn’t get any better.   The Match If you have come here for a match review of the Queensland Reds v Chiefs,…

The Sunwolves travel to sunny Brisbane for a Saturday afternoon match against a Queensland Reds side featuring both Goromaru and Tui in a game that will ensure a great turnout by Japanese rugby fans, and the Japanese media.  The Reds are now playing for pride and the Sunwolves are hunting a second win in their inaugural season. The Match Queensland Reds fans arrived at Suncorp to a joyous surprise.  Samu Kerevi has been ruled fit, and is starting, pushing Campbell Magnay to the bench.  Game on! It was a tight match that saw the Reds forwards driving the engine and…

Reds fans were hoping that the third match against a South African team would have a different result to the previous two weeks.  Back at home where they had their first win only weeks ago, it is fascinating to witness the support for a team who still isn’t winning matches, but with no RG, fans are willing to give a little.  Injuries continue to haunt the Reds with both stalwarts and new recruits sitting out, and the depth on the bench remaining thin, affecting the Reds ability to finish.   The Cheetahs were hoping that their pack would dominate the…

On a drizzly Easter Sunday afternoon in usually sunny Queensland the Reds and the Waratahs did battle at what once was the impregnable Suncorp Stadium.  Changes to the Waratahs scrum showed they knew they were underperforming in this space while Reds fans were excited to have Liam Gill starting after his return from injury. The Tahs needed a win off the back of two losses and the Reds, well, the Reds needed to not lose ground and a win would be a bonus. The Match Thankfully for fans both north and south of the border this wasn’t a tired, soulless match…

This was a match that was both infuriating and full of hope after the Queensland Reds led (yes, led some of the match) only to end with a draw against the Blues.  The Blues dropped some ball and didn’t capitalise on their own attacking plays which let the Reds off the hook.  The Reds finally looked like getting the ball into the hands of the wingers but in the end blew their lead.  And my kingdom for a flanker who can pilfer.  The Match The Blues opened the score with a try to Ihaia West, built off the back of…

After losses last week to the Waratahs and the Rebels this week is shaping up as a battle of the underwhelming head coaches for the Queensland Reds and the Western Force.  However, most [media] attention will be paid to Japanese import Ayumu Goromaru as he starts at fullback, with Hunt moving to inside centre.  Ben McCalman returns to the Force bench after a time in the Japanese Top League and I don’t think it will be long before he is back in the starting XV. The Reds’ fans will be there to support this team of relatively green players but won’t…

The Grand Final between the minor premiership winning Brisbane City and second placed Canberra Vikings is everything that an NRC fan could hope for – perfect Ballymore afternoon before a World Cup final featuring the Wallabies, the two best teams and the opportunity for Brisbane to go back to back. The Match This was always going to be fairly even match as two physically strong sides both with Wallabies and Super Rugby representatives and with only one loss all season between the two sides it was set to be a battle of endurance.  Brisbane City fans breathed a sigh of…

The final round of the Buildcorp NRC saw the unbeaten Brisbane City team take on the Greater Sydney Rams at Ballymore.  It was perfect Saturday afternoon rugby weather as City looked to finish the season unbeaten and retain the Horan Little Shield. The Match The Rams scrum was under early pressure as Brisbane City forced several early penalties.  The City side camped on the Rams tryline with several scrum resets before Adam Korcyzk took advantage of a Rams defense in disarray to crash over underneath a mass of bodies. Flyhalf Jake McIntyre converted. The Rams then took another hit and looked…

VIBE Before the truly brilliant and surprising result of the match between the Brave Blossoms v Springboks, this was the first ‘surprise’ of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.  Most punters expected Tonga to take this match, but a massive effort from Georgia saw them making more than 210 tackles to the Tongans 48, and it was this defensive effort that saw them victorious.  Tonga had two tries disallowed (one in the shadow of half time and another in the second half) that certainly impacted their psyche and the Georgians finished the match with only 14 men as full-back Merab Kvirikashvili was binned. This was only…

Brisbane City are on a roll with three wins from three, and are defending the Horan Little Shield at home for the first time, against the North Harbour Rays.  The Rays have lost some key players this week (Ward, Johnson and Gower) so it is a great opportunity for some of the club players to take a step up.  It will be a tough ask for the Brisbane team, who played the most physically intense game of their season so far against Queensland Country only four days ago. The Brisbane City pack is the best in the competition (and should…

It has been a very crowded week for Queensland rugby fans  and the NRC hasn’t been given a lot of air with the Reds possibly jumping the shark by re-signing Richard Graham as coach for 2016. Some fantastic initiatives were launched this week as part of the NRC including the Horan-Little Shield and the Australian Barbarians to play New Zealand Heartland XV in November, so the ARU have been listening to fans and looking to the future of Australian rugby.  The Grand Final rematch was a good way to open the NRC 2015 season with a host of Reds players in…

The chance to sit down with the inaugural Buildcorp NRC winning coach Nick Stiles was a great opportunity to see the NRC from the inside, and also to pick the brain a great forwards’ strategist with his eye on the future. Stiles has been signed by the Queensland Reds for three years as Senior Assistant Coach, which means that he also assumes the responsibility of Brisbane City Coach for the next three years – a welcome appointment for anyone who watched the forward pack develop first at City and then the Reds as he successfully integrated new blood in with existing and…

A lot has happened since the Wallabies last played at Suncorp, and it all pales into insignificance in the looming shadow of the World Cup where we have to make it out of the pool of death.  What would fans see tonight?  Could Giteau and Mitchell slot back in?  Cheika surprised me several times in the lead up to this match by naming Moore over Hooper as captain, and by naming Genia and Cooper over Phipps and Foley.  As matches to start the international season go, it looked to be a good one with Burger returning and Kriel making his…

The Queensland Reds rolled into Free State on the back of six losses and the Cheetahs on the back of one win from four  – the last time both teams won was against the Force.  JOC was back from injury for probably the twelfth time this season, Horwill was in for McDuling and Hanson for Fainga’a – whoever put the injury hoodoo on the Reds can take it off anytime they like.    The Match The first half started quickly with a good driving maul from the Cheetahs and some strong defense by the Reds.  Genia’s boot and eye was in…

Every year this match feels like it has been been years in the making.  It doesn’t matter who won or lost the last match, or had bragging rights for the last year, it resets for this match every year.  Memories are long, grudges are carried; this is not a match taken lightly by anyone who knows their rugby.  The Reds decided to play roulette with their team, making a raft of changes due to injury or smart-arsery only hours before kick-off.  Horwill out.  Frisby to flyhalf, JOC to fullback, Turner to the wing.  It was a big match for Benn Robinson,…