Author: Sucker for Red

Here we arrived at week 7 of the 2020 Super Rugby season. It seems that I have stuck my head above the parapet just in time for the whole box and dice to shut up shop for the year. There will be some serious decision making in the next 24 hours as to what the rest of the year  is to bring. With New Zealand effectively closing their boarders as of midnight tomorrow night they are pretty much cancelling any home games against teams from other countries for the foreseeable future, probably closing the competition down for 2020. Are the…

It’s the final postcard…. (How many of you just sang that and added the synthesized riff at the end? There is no need to deny it. We all did.) So we arrived at the final games of Rugby World Cup 2019.   As I sit here in the QANTAS lounge waiting for my flight,  it seems like both weeks and only days ago that this adventure started. I always end up with the feeling that time has flown by, but also thinking “Thank god I am going home”. (That might just be my liver talking….) Now to the finals. The game…

Welcome to the second week of the finals and our second typhoon. Or at least the remnants of one. Teams are lucky that neither of the games was scheduled for  Friday as it was teaming down on our bus ride from Odawara to Tokyo. Even the bus driver was concerned. I feel for those poor buggers who are still recovering from Typhoon Hagabis. More rain was not what they needed. It has been good to see the moments silence being observed at the last few matches. So, to the games. What happened to the Wallabies? Oh, that’s right they went…

We have arrived at the pointy end of the tournament. Finals weekend one! Wasn’t it nice to see a fresh face in the quarters. I think we can all agree that Japan have played out of their skins with a fresh and exciting style of rugby. You can certainly see the finger prints of one Jamie Joseph all over that team and wasn’t it great to see. Then we had the also rans – England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Wales and, and ……… what was that other team, um, geez, um, oh that’s right, the Wallabies. I had…

Well, Aino actually, but let’s not let a little thing like an hour train ride get in the way. This week’s edition also comes to you from the out skirts of Typhoon Hagibis. That ruddy great storm that cancelled the England vs France and New Zealand vs Italy games. Toto, we are most certainly NOT in Kansas. As you can imagine, chaos reined supreme at Shizuoka Station as people arrived to find that during their journey from where ever they were coming from all trains for the 12th pretty much anywhere on the east coast of Japan were being…

Day 17 of the tour. Game three. In, um, where am I again?  What day is it? The day started early with a three-hour train journey from Fukuoka to Oita. A train that slowly filled with various shades of gold to rapidly become very empty at the Oita stop. Wow, there was a lot of green and gold around, with the odd Brumbies and Highlanders jersey thrown in for good measure. After this trip, I will be forever nicer to livestock being mustered. Queue to get on the train. Queue to get off the train. Queue for the escalator. Follow…

This mornings edition comes to you from the 7:03 Hikari Shinkansen, leaving Tokyo bound for Hiroshima. I was a bit busy yesterday and forgot my commitments. A 4:30 am rising to visit the Toyosu Fish Markets meant I then required a nana nap in the afternoon. My story and I am sticking to it! Tokyo is an interesting city.  With an estimated population of over 14 million, there are always people. Everywhere. All the time.  So it should be no surprise that the trains to and from the ground were packed. A good reason for arriving early at the ground. …

Four years have passed and we are at another Rugby World Cup.  Well. I am at another world cup. Sorry, but not sorry. This comes to you from the Super-Hokuto limited express train leaving Sapporo for Sendi. There is a train change but the transit station is too hard to remember, let alone spell. And we all know what my spelling abilities are like. That is why we have editors. Welcome to Japan the Land of the Rising Sun. And it appears, breweries.  Having arrived on Wednesday afternoon in Sapporo I have already visited two breweries and sampled the wares…

Both of these teams come into this game with their fair share of injuries and resting national representatives. As Reg noted in the preview, on the face of it, before a ball was even kicked, these changes were likely to have a more significant on the Reds than it would on the Chiefs. Going into the game both teams have 23 points on the Super Rugby ladder, with the Chiefs languishing at the bottom of the New Zealand conference and the Reds only above the Sunwolves on the Australian table. When people start talking “mathematical” chances of making finals, you…

Here we are. Round 14. Reds vs Waratahs. Mate against mate. Hate against….. Oh, wait, that’s that other code…… Super Rugby history says that the Reds have a 54% win record over the Tahs. Recent years says different with 2013 being the last time we got the win. Personally, I think that this is probably the Red’s best opportunity to turn recent outcomes around, if only for the storm clouds that seem to be following the Waratahs from day to day. The Match The match started with it looking like the Waratahs were going to continue their winning ways. Within…

The Reds old boys returned to Brisbane and put on a show

Well here we go again. We long suffering Reds fans have had our 2019 Super Rugby delayed by a first round bye. Was it just delaying the inevitable heartache or building the anticipation to an outstanding season? 80 minutes to find out…… The first half was a story of both teams have the same game plan. Kicking for terroritory and bombs were the order of the day. Why the Reds were thinking that kicking to the Highlander backs was a good idea I am still trying to work out, but I guess it didn’t cause as much pain as it…

At 13:15 today (Saturday, 27 October 2018) I made sure my water cup was full and my peanut butter toast half time snack was ready. Took deep breath and again kicked myself for not making the effort to get to Suva for the game of the day. Can Queensland Country go back to back? Will the tropical (read hot & humid) paradise location play into the hands of the home team? Will Country continue to be the Dura’s boggy team? Can the Fiji Drua add another plank to the coffin of Australian Rugby? (Too much?) First Half The number of…

Second last round of the season. Last home game for Queensland country. The boys from the bush need to win at least one of their last two games to be assured of a place in the finals. Winning both of them would make their life easier. The Rays on the other hand have had a tough season. The clash of the first round of the NCR with the final of the Shute Shield meant that they started the comp a weeks after all but the Eagles and has a catch up game in the middle of the week. Languishing at…

Fiji Drua have won both of their games this season by a collective total of 84 points! Quite rightly they sit atop the table. Having trampled all over the hopes and dreams of Melbourne rising and Brisbane City at home, they make their first excursion to the mainland to take on the reining champs. I don’t think that anyone can argue that they do not come into the game as favourites. Although QLD Country are also undefeated, they sit two points behind the Drua with a for and against of a measly 11 points. Last week’s struggle to put away…

Here we are at Round two of NRC 2018 and QLD Country and Melbourne Rising line up for their second games of the tournament.  Rising had the misfortune to have their first game in Fiji. A game that saw the Drua signal their intent to be super competitive this season. QLD Country on the other hand carried off the choccies in a replay of the 2017 final beating the Vikings 45 – 35 at Viking Park. So who will win today? Will Country go two up in their defence of the title? Or will Rising start putting together the wins…

Apparently, this is an Aussie conference derby game. Who knew? But with the idiosyncrasies of Super Rugby we should really not be surprised. Two weeks ago the Reds scored their fourth win of the season with a shock defeat of the South African conference leaders the Lions, who had held the Waratahs to nil the previous week. This brought them into the game as clear favourites against the winless Sunwolves. But…. out of the Lion’s den into the lair of the Wolves’. Reds supporters look away now. First Half Life did not start well for the Reds. After Ben Lucas…

The Reds show up in Buenos Aires with two wins under their belt. They might have been ugly but they are still in the book as wins. Part of me is happy that this trip comes this early in the season. As Sully pointed out the other day, lapping around the world is hard enough without the pressure of playing professional rugby every 7 days while you do it. Even if they only hold the Jaguares out for more than 30 seconds I will call to a win. The Jaguares clocked up their first win last weekend when they, ahem,…

The Commonwealth Games will bring the Gold Coast to a halt on the 4th of April (maybe it won’t be that bad) and our 7’s ladies and gents will be in action from the 13th to the 15th of April at Robina Stadium. Women’s Squad This is the first time the women have been included in the Commonwealth Games 7’s program. They start the weekend with pool games against Wales and England on Friday (13th), round out their pool matches with a game against Fiji on Saturday, and, all going to plan, move into the finals on Sunday. Eight members…

The Reds come into this match with one win from two matches. And not even the most one eyed red glasses wearing fan could be very confident after last week’s win against the Brumbies. The Bulls arrive with the same win/loss record, a similar points differential, a 12,000 km flight under their belts, and a suspiciously Brisbane City like strip. [Apparently it was a nod to the Pretoria soccer team to broarden their supporter base. WTF?] THE MATCH FIRST HALF Bulls came out firing and were turning down shots at goal to go to the lineout in an attempt to…