Author: Shane Sullivan

In case you missed it the Wallabies went down to New Zealand 29-9 last Saturday. In many articles and news items around Australia this has been praised as a much improved effort from the flogging the week before. But you just have to ask yourself was it? What really changed? Isn’t 29-9 and four tries to none still a flogging? What Was The Plan? How were the Wallabies going to win this game? How were they going to Score or even get into a scoring position? I’m not naive enough to believe there wasn’t a plan but I’m finding it…

Queensland Country must start this year with a new air of confidence. An improved roster and new coaches including Wallaby legend Toutai Kefu and all round legend Brad Thorn. The guys from the capital won’t be push overs. Lets face it they never are. Both teams have had a very short lead into this match with only a few training sessions together. The team who can gel first will probably win the game. (DUH) The Match The game started with a bang for Country with Taniela Tupou playing pinball with opposition players but after the first couple of minutes the Vikings…

The Wallabies are looking for redemption after a sound beating at the hands of New Zealand last weekend. Can they make a dent in what appears to huge chasm between the teams? The Match The Wallabies came out with more fire than we had seen from them all year. The All Blacks were clearly expecting it and there was a lot of niggle from both teams. Again the Wallabies were making things harder for themselves. Kerevi kicked out on the full, Aaron Smith picked up Australia’s scrum ball  and losing two early lineouts. Australia’s lineout scapegoat,Rob Simmons has a wry…

When the boss put the call out for volunteers for Bledisloe two pieces the silence hung thick in the air. Days later I found myself with some time to spare so I grabbed the template and pasted it into the editor. Interestingly the old post we use as a template is the 2013 Waratahs v BI lions game. Cheika was the coach and he’d just called Bernard Foley back from the Aussie Sevens team for the match. The article was upbeat and Cheika was enthusiastic and full of confidence. Three and a bit years later and Cheika and Foley have…

Everyone is wondering what team the Wallaby coach’s will trot out after the disaster that was Bledisloe one. In rugby forums and on blogs punters have been spewing forth team after team of their own particular favourites and the next big things. I, of course, know much more than all of them put together and have a team I’d like to see run out as well. Usually I accept that I haven’t been in camp for weeks and seen the games that the players have played and leave it to the experts with all the inside knowledge. So what would…

Queensland country’s NRC history is polar opposite to Queenslands other NRC side. While City has won two NRC championships and held the Horan Little Shield for all of the 2015 season. Country on the other hand have two eighth place finishes to their name. But this year things have changed. A new coaching regime and a pretty good roster (despite losing Lukan Tui to city) should see them win more than their share of matches in 2016. History: Queensland country has a proud history tracking back to 1886 and I could waffle on for a bit about it but I…

The mighty reds are taking on some ‘team’ from Melbourne but that is just a sideshow to the main event. Tonight’s main event for me is Greg Holmes last match in red. 143 matches over 12 years at both tighthead and loosehead prop. 27 test match on top. There are other players playing their last game tonight but Holmsy’s my favourite and stands head and shoulders above the lot of them. So here then, are the key matchups. No bullshit: Liam Gill v Sean McMahon As liam Fn Gill prepares to leave Ballymore he still has a points to prove…

Saturday afternoon rugby returns to Brisbane this weekend when the Reds take on the new boys from Japan. Normally you would expect a club with a long, proud history to easily dispatch a brand new club whose players were thrown together a few weeks before the season started. But these aren’t normal times. The Reds started the year with great set pieces, a rookie halves pairing, an untried back line and the wrong coach. 13 rounds later they still have great set pieces but except for a few bright points in the backs everything else seems to be depressingly beige.…

By suspending five players the Hurricanes have handed the Reds their best chance to take a scalp way above them on the Super Rugby ladder. The Match The first half The first half was for the most part fairly even. The Hurricanes scored a great looking try off the very first scrum of the game. Beauden Barrett took the pass off the scrum and cross kicked beautifully into Wes Goosen’s hands. Ayumu Goromaru missed the cover tackle. Barrett then missed the conversion in the strong wind assisting the Reds. The Reds scored from a couple of penalty shots and were…

There is high controversy in the Hurricanes camp with five players stood down for a ‘curfew breach’. Julian and Ardie Savea, Cory Jane and Victor Vito, along with reserve prop Chris Eves are said to have missed the teams self imposed bed time by 18 minutes. The punishment seems to far out weigh the crime but the Reds will take any chance they can get. Embed from Getty Images While the loss of these quality players will hurt the Hurricanes is it enough of a disruption to give the Reds a hope of winning? Can a backline already weakened by…

There was a period around 2011 when the Crusaders were our bunnies but no more. For a few years it’s been one way traffic for the Crusaders and the Reds have been barely a speed hump. And today should be no different. Which leaves me in a great place where I can just simple enjoy the rugby and not worry about a win. Unless we’re in with a sniff and then I’m stuffed. The Match Things went pretty much to script in the first ten minutes. Campbell Magnay coughed up the ball from the kick off and the Crusaders switched…

Good news drop bear fans. We’re a chance of winning this game against the Cheetahs. The Reds sit just one position below their 13 position and are just four points behind them. But it’s going to take another step up from the Reds. The Cheetahs play an exciting brand of rugby and they score a lot of tries. About twice as many as the Reds do, but they also let in a lot of tries. So what do the Reds need to do to win this? The Cheetahs haven’t named their team yet but I’m going to have a crack…

In their second week in South Africa the reds head to Newlands in Cape Town to take on one of the toughest assignments in Super rugby. The Stormers at home! They’re smarting from a defeat to the Cheetahs. The Reds were done by the Bulls at altitude. Two teams with a point to prove, one team with points on the board and the other team is the Reds. The Match The first half was played at a cracking pace with both sides looking to run the ball. The Reds scored first from a ruck penalty but it was the Stormers…

The Stormers sit in second place on the super Rugby ladder while, to their credit, the improving Reds sit in fourteenth. But that improvement doesn’t make the task that awaits them this weekend look any easier. Sure the Reds lineout and scrum stats are better than the Stormers but in almost every other metric the Stormers lead. The Stormers score more points, let less in, kick goals at a higher percentage, make more clean breaks, beat more defenders, kick more from hand, make more tackles, have a higher tackle conversion rate, concede less yellow cards, create more turnovers and concede…

Last week the Reds had their best game of rugby since… well it’s a long time okay. This week they have taken the long flight to South Africa and are facing the 4-5 Bulls at Altitude. Every Reds supporter is hoping ‘the boys’ can keep their momentum going but the Bulls are never easy beats at home. The Match The Bulls started the game at 100 miles an hour. Pressuring the Reds defence but the Reds scrambled well to keep the home team out. When the Reds got their first opportunity in the Bulls half they took it. They ran…

1. Worst Try – No Try decision… Wait for it… EVER! So I’m watching my recording of the Stormers doing a good job of taking on the Brumbies and beating them when Stormers winger Dillyn Leyds scoots up the right wing and dives over in the corner. My first thought was ‘he’s dropped that!’ I’d learnt from a TMO last round that you have to look at these things in ‘real time’ or they can look worse than they really are. So… I looked. Nup dropped it. So I fast forwarded because it was obviously a no try. And… Why…

Here it is – the G&GR writers’ Super Rugby team of the week for round 5. The Brumbies, Waratahs and the Rebels had wins whilst the Reds and Force lost but who made the team of the week? [one_third last=”no”] 1. Allan Alaalatoa The Brumbies scrum started a little slowly but the finished on top. As they did everywhere else. Allan was a big part of that. [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. Stephen Moore One of the old men of Australian rugby was at the top of his game. The lineout move for Pococks try was a thing of beauty. [/one_third] [one_third…

After the wash out and shillacking by the Crusadists I gave the Reds a pass despite the score. Tonight against the brumbies I’m hoping for better weather and hoping to see a few things on the feild. Defence. I’m hoping to see a more energetic defencive line. The almost placid line the Reds have run for a few years allows teams to eat up metres for a minimum of effort. I want to se a defensive line moving to cut space and time. Attack. STRUCTURE! something that we can look at and say ‘that’s the reds!’ and say it in…

Before this game the Reds writers got together and decided that instead of writing a full on review of the game we’d just answer these two questions. Learnings from this game for the season ahead (just one or perhaps two things that you got from this season that may impact the Reds Super Season. i.e. The scrum will still be a weapon, our defensive work is still shit etc. Who caught the eye. Just a player (experienced or otherwise) that impressed you in the game. Here are my thoughts; I went to the trial between the Reds and the…

Rugby World Cup 2015 Match 26: Wallabies starting XV to play England at Twickenham, London Saturday, October 3, 8:00pm local time (6:00am Sunday AEDT) 1. Scott Sio (12 Tests) 2. Stephen Moore (c) (97 Tests) 3. Sekope Kepu (58 Tests) 4. Kane Douglas (18 Tests) 5. Rob Simmons (55 Tests) 6. Scott Fardy (25 Tests) 7. Michael Hooper (vc) (47 Tests) 8. David Pocock (51 Tests) 9. Will Genia (61 Tests) 10. Bernard Foley (22 Tests) 11. Rob Horne (28 Tests) 12. Matt Giteau (97 Tests) 13. Tevita Kuridrani (26 Tests) 14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (vc) (109 Tests) 15. Israel Folau (34 Tests) Finishers: 16.…