Author: Matt Rowley

Being a Wallabies supporter is a schizophrenic ride right now. On one hand you see that we have the second-least effective attack in the top 10 rugby nations with a propensity to lose ‘banker’ matches; on the other you see us sit at number two in the IRB rankings, having just come second in The Rugby Championship. So when it comes to choosing a pass mark for the Euro tour that commences this week, it’s not easy. Performance On the more touchy-feely performance side of things, I’m sure all of us would like to see an improvement on scoring an…

When Robbie Deans announced last week that tries were overrated, it wasn’t a

The ARU Governance Review was delivered publicly today

It’s not a team, it’s just a list of the best players from each country for you to rank

At G&GR we’re always trying to new things to improve everyone’s experience of the site. Recently this has included our Ranker articles and now the Infographics. We hope you’ve enjoyed those. We’re pumped to announce our latest little upgrade: our new commenting system powered by Disqus. We’ve got it in for two reasons: First We really value the community we’ve got going here on the front page of G&GR, but the old commenting engine was clunky and didn’t allow people to build up their own profile or get to know others. Also, the internet being the internet and even in New Zealand…

When putting together the killer stats from the 2012 TRC infographic earlier this week

Yesterday I posted an article discussing the Cory Jane no-try from the weekend and suggested that according to what we can read in the IRB laws, Jane may well have had a closer claim on a try than we all thought (unless you’re a kiwi, or deluded). There was some great discussion and I think it gave most of us a bit of a head-scratch. Thanks to John Christophersen, a Brisbane Premier grade referee, we can all sleep a little easier. John sent us a copy of  Line Ball Your Call – a guide to assist in making line ball decisions…

I’m sure those of us not wearing black eyepatches on Saturday breathed a sigh of relief when another pesky piece of Cory Jane aerial acrobatics wound up with his running into touch before being able to dot the ball down. I even joked that I’d be able to name the Kiwi posters on the GAGR forum who would swear blind it was a try — as deluded as that might be. Well, maybe it wasn’t quite so cut and dried. Here’s the vid of what happened. [youtube id=”P0qKPk1ckY8″ width=”600″ height=”350″] And here’s the LAW. According to Law 19 Touch and…

Check out this awesome interactive infographic of the 2012 TRC stats. Click the buttons to change the numbers and hover over the charts to see the values. My takeaway – thank god for the boots of Barnes and Harris!

How do you reckon the Wallabies went against the All Blacks on Sharpie’s Farewell? Have a rank on us! Wallabies vs All Blacks Suncorp 2012

Saturday will be the final home match for Nathan Sharpe – a great servant of the game

Something had to give – and so it did. Last week John O’Neill (JO’N) stepped down as CEO of the ARU. After a combined 14 years at the helm, how do we judge this second term and what was its real downfall? The Boardroom Behemoth JO’N re-entered Australian rugby in financial freefall through a third tier competition haemorrhaging money and a Gobal Financial Crisis that had snapped sponsor chequebooks shut. The ex-banker in him quickly formulated a new approach: restructure the ARU cost base while enhancing Australia’s elite rugby offering through Super and International rugby. Using his characteristic strengths in…

Here they are, not a whole lot of Aussie action in them though… [youtube id=”0XZcRskyFZ0″ width=”600″ height=”350″] Fiji defeated New Zealand 32-14 in the Cup final of the 2012 Gold Coast Sevens to successfully defend the title they won in 2011 and claim the first Cup of the new HSBC Sevens World Series. In a repeat of the 2011 final Fiji once again proved too strong for the All Black Sevens at Skilled Park with Ratu Raitini scoring an impressive hat-trick and Joji Raqamate crossing twice for a side that boasted just one player from last year’s side.  Australia were…

Here are the highlights from day 1 of the Gold Coast Sevens, where Australia put in a top effort to beat Fiji and top their group. [youtube id=”_bjjTOjTvic” width=”600″ height=”350″] Looks like we’re in with a good show, make sure you tune in or get there in person for day 2!

Amongst all the hoo-ha surrounding Quade Cooper over the last few weeks

There are reports on Twitter that the major announcement by the ARU this morning

One hell of a gutsy effort earned the Rosario 22 second place in The Rugby Championship. How did you rank the starting XV’s performances? Wallabies vs Pumas Rosario 2012

Don’t know about you, but I was pretty dumb-founded the Wallabies management out subbing themselves in Pretoria, effectively self inflicting a second yellow card as they played the last 10 minutes with 14 men (and even fewer at times as players continued to hit the grass). Well, here’s how someone who knows what they’re talking about explained it in an email to me – The Wallaby coaches and management let the players down last night in relation to the substitutions for two reasons: 1. Law 3.12 says that if a player is substituted they cannot come back on except in…

How did you rank each of the team? Have a rank on us. Ratings: Wallabies vs Springboks Pretoria 2012

Here’s the interview that Quade Cooper gave on FoxSports The Rugby Club this week. He certainly doesn’t seem to be backing down on the whole “toxic environment” line….  (thanks to FoxSports for the interview!) [youtube id=”aexGmSSyVV0″ width=”600″ height=”350″] Here’s what the ARU media unit had to say in response: “In light of Quade’s interview last night, we feel compelled to respond because he has moved beyond his comments of the weekend. “Much of what was said on The Rugby Club has left us utterly confused. “Quade wants more of a say in the game plan, he wants to play his…