At my signal, unleash hell!

Mar 8

Posted by Noddy
15 Comments

So were the inspirational words spoken by Russel Crowe as Maximus, one of cinema’s greatest ‘Rebels’, in the Oscar winning moving “Gladiator”. Rod McQueen could hardly be confused for Crowe, nor a Gladiator, and it would be unfair to suggest that he had ever planned to ‘unleash hell’ on anything. However, in one week’s time, on Monday 15 March 2010, the Melbourne Rebels are free to do just that. For that is the date the ARU have decreed is ‘Go Time’ for Rebels recruitment. And the Australian Rugby world is holding their collective breath as to what goes down.

As it stands English fly half Danny Cipriani is currently the only player to have actually signed with the franchise. But you get the impression that come next Monday there will be a number of signings announced. Read more »

Feb 25

Born Free (to play wherever).

Posted by Noddy
16 Comments

Whinging already? A future 'tah for sure.

With the Melbourne Rebels now in the player market place, not too long after the WA Force entered, a subset issue is now a subject of hot discussion. Who can lay claim to the player. It is a common cry out of NSWRU and the Sydney club land that they created the majority of all our professional players and now they are being ripped off because of it.

Another parallel discussion of late, particularly up here in Queensland, has been with regards the number of New Zealand born players seemingly making their way in elite rugby over here. It is particularly noticeable, it seems, in schoolboy rugby, but is apparent across the country in the Super 14 as well.

Well it’s time to look at the facts in a little more detail. Read more »

Feb 24

Super 14 Fantasy Comp – Round 2

Posted by Newb
3 Comments

he's a bad man

Cracker of a week to say the least. Big game scores usually means big fantasy scores and this week didn’t disappoint. I felt pretty good with almost 400 points this week (20 more than last week) and I lost ground! If you didn’t clear 450 points you pretty much did the same by the looks of it. This week blew any fantasy round of last year out of the water in terms of magnitude.

One example of this is the top overall score for the round – 549 points! I can’t remember anything close to that last year. Our own top scorer for the round was Slat’s Fairies with 509 big ones, good for a jump of 106 fukin’ spots up to 19th. ManBearPigs drops one spot down, while Steven Hawkin Rugby motor-wheelchairs into the lead. The important thing is that we’ve maintained our league average lead for another week, showing those inferior dopes below us how it’s done. Now on to the performers… Read more »

Feb 23

Video: G&GR Super 14 Round 2 Review

Posted by Noddy
16 Comments

Anesi - really enjoying himself.

And so we look back on week 2 with mixed views. The Reds won, and won well, which everyone seems pretty pleased about. The Brumbies, Force and Tahs all lost on the road which shouldn’t really be a surprise should it?

Perhaps we expected more from the all-star Brumbies, but they were right in it till the last 20 or so. The Force? Well their dreadful injury run left them behind the 8-ball from the start. But the Tahs, now they are coping some flack. Wowza! Barnes, Burgess, Waugh, Hickey, Carter, Beale, SANZAR – all of them are in the firing line. C’mon those lads. It was only one week ago that they defeated arguably the team of the tournament so far…………anyway, let’s look at this round then.

Feb 11

Brumbies: the Real Force.

Posted by Brumby Jack
6 Comments

Be my Valentine.

The ‘Super Star’ CA Brumbies take on the Western Force on Friday night at the new home ground of the Force, ME Bank Stadium, in what is shaping as an blockbuster match to start their respective 2010 Super 14 seasons. The return of Matt Giteau and Josh Valentine to their former stomping ground has lost some of the excitement due to Giteau’s quadricep injury, which will more than likely rule him out.

The Brumbies off season recruits have been well documented and most experts are tipping them to come close in winning the Super 14 in 2010, which would mean finals action for the first time since the Brumbies won the title in 2004. However, injuries to star recruits Rocky Elsom, Matt Giteau and a hand injury suffered by Ben Alexander have limited the teams time together on the training paddock, so instant success may not occur as easily as most expect. Read more »

Jan 21

Trials: Trick or Treat?

Posted by Lance Free
10 Comments

Coming soon, watch this space

It only seems like yesterday that we were wiping the sleep from our eyes, cranking up the laptops and watching the G&GR live blog from Kingsholme as the Dirties took on Glos?

And isn’t it still summer? Didn’t Punter and the boys clean up the Pakis earlier this week?

Well bugger me, its footy time again! A special version of footy that is, Trial time.

You know, Trials are a very interesting animal. They’re usually boring as batshit; as organised as an ARU board meeting and are full of people you’ve never heard of and are unlikely to hear of again. Read more »

Jan 19

Pre-Season dramas hit the Brumbies

Posted by Noddy
9 Comments

Maso

There are many changes to the sporting landscape that come with the advent of professionalism. One, that the NRL has consistently struggled with, is the impacton their brand of player ‘misadventure’. Sporting bodies such as the ARU can spend millions on marketing showcasing the positives of their sport, their ‘brand’ and all it takes is a couple of dodgy photos, or a 3rd hand news report, for it all to come crushing down.

Take the NRL, please(….boom tish). Yesterday it was revealed that their 2010 marketing campaign would focus on the action and fans rather than their ’star’s in order to avoid the disaster that was last year when faces of the game Greg Inglis and Brett Stewart were caught up in off-field dramas. So what happens? Read more »

Jan 14

High expectations for Brumbies in 2010!

Posted by Noddy
26 Comments

Alfi Mafi congratulates Adam Ashley-Cooper on another Brumby FC goal!

I have heard the Brumbies of 2010 described as the Chelsea Football Club of Australian Rugby. Now, I don’t follow European football, but can hazard a guess that Chelsea is renowned for purchasing their highly successful team? For creating a winning team from the cheque book up? Personally I think this is damn hard on the Brumbies.

Unless there is something I don’t know about I figure the cheque book has rarely, if ever, been the inducement to get a player to the Brumbies. We all know the story of how they began. How Rod McQueen built a team based on the same principals of the quote that adorns the Statue of Liberty: Read more »

Dec 29

G&GR Wallaby Team of the Decade

Posted by Noddy
22 Comments

What a legend!

Well, the people have spoken. The votes are in and we have our official Green & Gold Rugby Wallaby Team of the Decade!

As many people suggested throughout the series, many of the positions were fairly cut and dried. Scrum Half and Fly Half, for example. There were some tough decisions, however, such as balancing the player’s overall career compared to what he put on there this decade.

This was probably most relevant in the fullback position in which many people were split beteen Matthew Burke and Chris Latham. A special mention to Timmy Horan too who still managed to get 20 odd votes, despite playing less than one whole game of footy this decade. What a player!

But we didn’t get it always right. Most notably at inside centre where we opted for Flats, Grey and Jason Little. The voters, however, were more keen on Matt Giteau and we here at G&GR have listened – he’s in the team. That’s how we roll! So, without any further delay, we have our Team of the Decade:

Dec 14

Wallaby Blind Side Flanker of the Decade

Posted by Noddy
19 Comments

He was Samo player!

The Blind Side Flanker position has been an interesting one for Australia, not only over the last decade, but in the last few decades. Whereas we’ve usually gone for out and out poachers at Open Side; Strong running Number 8s; Ball playing inside centres, and big kicking fullbacks, we don’t seem to have tied down a ‘typical’ Blind Side Flanker role.

Is it the 3rd (sometimes 4th) lineout option? The work horse? The 2nd flyer? The ball runner? We’ve converted locks, open sides and number 8s. Even a centre. But the pure amount of players used might indicate that we haven’t been entirely successful in filling the role adequately.

From 2000-2009 Australia has used 16 different players in this position, and there are examples of each of these types of players amongst them. They are: Read more »

Dec 12

Wallaby Number 8 of the Decade

Posted by Noddy
17 Comments

Match winner!

Finally! On to the REAL men. The pigs. The pack. The piano movers. The forwards! Starting at the back of the scrum we consider the top Number 8 of the decade, and I reckon it is a bit of a battle. There are, realistically, three stand out candidates and each have had moments of superb form. But each have also fallen off the pace and not been as consistent as we would have liked.

But to the list, in the 123 tests since 2000 to 2009 we have had the following ten players wear the Wallaby Number 8 jersey: Read more »

Dec 6

Baa Baas Habana sinks arrogant All Blacks

Posted by Lance Free
33 Comments

Line & length. Gladstone Small?

Barbarians 25 All Blacks 18

You get what you deserve when you treat a game like this as a ‘development’ match and turn up with your 2nd XV expecting to easily roll a scratch Baa Baas side.

It wasn’t always like this. The history of All Blacks v Barbarians end of tour matches goes back to 1954 and there have been many occasions since where prolific running rugby skills, commitment and elan were on display.

The match in 1973 and Gareth Edward’s ‘best ever’ try is the classic example. In the days when front rowers only scrummed, even England hooker John Pullin played his part and actually passed the ball in ‘that try’. Read more »

Dec 4

The winner: G&GR Wallaby Player of the Year

Posted by Noddy
13 Comments

Smith: overcome with emotion

What a tremendous end to the season, both for the Wallabies and for this competition. Those who have been following the points tally may well be aware that the competition came down to the very last test against Wales.

As a reminder, after every test of the season Green and Gold Rugby readers at the forum assigned 3-2-1 points to their top three Wallaby performers per game. These points were then tallied each game with an ultimate top three players, a Man of the Match and two runners up, being decided. This award is the accumulation of those points.

All in all there were fifteen different players who polled points, and we had three different players taking home the series awards. George Smith won the Domestic Test Series award, Benn Robinson claimed the Tri-Nations award whilst David Pocock snagged the Spring Tour award in a count back from Wycliff Palu. But in the end it was the most experienced man in the Wallaby camp, George Smith who took out the ultimate award.

Hear his acceptance speech when Gagger presented him with this prestigious and highly coveted award:

In a tight finish Smith held off loose head prop Benn Robinson Read more »

Dec 3

G&GR Wallaby Player of the Year: Spring Tour

Posted by Noddy
6 Comments

And so the year has drawn to a close. The Spring Tour has been a disapointing expedition for the Wallabies. As for the players? We have seen the emergence of some wonderful young players this tour. Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane, Dean Mumm, Benn Robinson, Will Genia, David Pocock and Ben Alexander all showed tremendous class.

How will they fair in the final component of our Green & Gold Rugby Wallaby Player of the Year? Let’s jump into it and see. Read more »

Nov 22

Wallabies vs Scotland – Bland Sham

Posted by Moses
84 Comments

This way up

I’ve written this post straight after the game while the pain is still raw and untempered, and I’m trying to work out if that’s the worst I’ve seen the Wallabies play. I suspect it is. We’ll post a more balanced review later.

That we still had a chance to win with the last kick is perhaps a measure of how “outclassed” these Scots were, completely lacking the ability to break our line with their only territory coming from the plethora of Wallaby mistakes.

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