Author: Matt Rowley

Gagger and Barbarian look over the weekend’s action  and summarise it in a 25 minute podcast for your delectation. Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save) Subscribe on iTunes

Join us from 18.15 AEST for the 2011 world cup pool game between the Wallabies and Ireland in Auckland Australia vs Ireland

Gagger, Timmsy and BJ look at the games since the weekend and ahead to the Wallabies vs Ireland game on the weekend. We also weigh in on the Nick Farr-Jones rispuct gate and Mike Tindal’s “mortor-boating” incident. Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save)

Each week through the world cup we aim to bring you a little roundup of the weekend’s action to get your week off to a proper start. This week Gagger, Baabaa and BJ have Timmsy join in from Auckland. They discuss all the scores and key talking points like: Just how good (wasn’t) that All Black victory? The death of the minnow The Wallabies first hit out vs Italy Let us come in your ears! Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save) Subscribe on iTunes

Join us from 1.30pm AEST when the Wallabies take on Italy in Australia’s opening match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup Australia vs Italy RWC2011

OK, here it is, reasons why we’re gonna do it. To be honest, ours are so good, I think we only need 4. I added in the obvious at the end. Reasons why the Wallabies will win The World Cup: 1 – The X-factor Australia has so many players with the ‘x-factor’ right now, we can’t get them all on the field at the same time! Sure, there are the backs that everyone talks about – Beale, O’Connor, Cooper and Genia – but even in the pack there are stand out impact players in Pocock, Horwill, Polota-Nau, Elsom and perhaps…

Or actually 10 reasons – but is anyone surprised that BartMan from TheSilverFern.com would “play the laws to their limits”? 10 reasons New Zealand will win The World Cup: 1. Dan Carter. Best rugby player on the planet. 2. Richie McCaw. Second best rugby player on the planet. 3. We lost to Australia in the Tri Nations decider. That hurt, I don’t think we’ll see an All Black pack humbled like they were in that first spell again in a long time. If there was any complacency, it’s gone now! Thank you Australia! 4. Eden Park. Fortress Eden Park, last…

Here’s Sam Ikin gearing up for the cup with another dose of Poorly Thought Through [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYDHi7md60M[/youtube]

We might not want to read it, but the Poms don’t have a bad record when it comes to the Big Jug tournament. Benny Coles from The Rugby Blog gives us 5 reasons the Poms will do it: 1. The Monstrous Scrum In 2003, the Australian Press thought calling England’s pack a group of “white orcs on steroids” was an insult. One in particular had so much fun in 2003, he’s back again; the robust, but never athletic, Steve Thompson. Alongside him are Andrew “no neck, but an album on iTunes” Sheridan, and Dan “aged 23 but looks 32″ Cole…

This series keeps coming with our mate Joely over at Green and Gold Rugby.co.za telling us why South Africa will take the cup (he really does think so as well you know) 5 reasons the Boks will take the Cup: Reason 1) Our gameplan at the RWC The Bok gameplan of winning the primary phases, keeping a structured game and making less errors than you, while kicking you back into your half and making you play is a high pressure, low error, low reward type of game. The perfect game for a knock-out phase of a tournament. More specifically the…

As a great way to learn about how other countries view their teams (and give you the edge in forthcoming pub discussions) we set a select group of Rugby bloggers the task of putting forward 5 reasons why their team will win The World Cup. In this post Adrien from Sud Rugby tells us why France will win the World Cup French Flair – Spirit of contradiction – Boldness All of the French players remaining in the Top 14 have had their shot with “Les Bleus” since Marc Lievremont was named as national coach. It was part of an evil…

As a great way to learn about how other countries view their teams (and give you the edge in forthcoming pub discussions) we set a select group of Rugby bloggers the task of putting forward 5 reasons why their team will win The World Cup. Being our group rivals, lets start with Ireland and a perspective from Conor at The 99 Call blog. Reasons why Ireland will win the World Cup: 1. Element of Surprise: With their dismal warm-up games which gave nothing away tactically, they may take the world by surprise. While we all know exactly what Australia can…

You wanted it, you got it. Awesome T-shirts and other merchandise to make your world cup experience that much sweeter (unless you’re a Kiwi maybe…). And now we’re going to give you even MORE options. We’ve still got our Cafepress G&GR shop going, which has our same designs going and at really good delivery prices. If you’ve ordered from there already, no sweat – this won’t change a thing. However, we’ve ALSO now set up a Spreadshirt G&GR shop, which gives us much better control over the design process. Have a look – it is awesome. The shirts are also…

Here’s the latest installment of Poorly Thought Through Rugby from Sam Ikin at SBS. This week – The Kiwis tell us it’s better not to win the Tri-Nations! Enjoy [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk-1jwkjUhg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

I say freakish because the very first score prediction of the 90 plus we got was from Bones who hit it right on the money first time – 25-20 BOOM. Yeah, I didn’t believe it either, but a forensic investigation validated the prediction as authentic. Explaining himself, Bones said Thanks.  I use a proprietary forecasting technique based on closely analysing beer foam as it settles.  Earlier predictions in any session tend to be more accurate There you have it – the key to success. I am a bit disappointed he didn’t mention the G&GR stubby cooler, but whatever – the…

Here’s the last chance to win this excellent competition, and all you need to do is guess the score for Saturday’s Tri Nations decider in Brisbane. As a reminder, the prize is: A complete Bob Dwyer Coaching Manual, RRP $230 Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies by Bret Harris, RRP $35 to whichever clever bastard gets closest to the score for each of the Tri Nations Wallaby tests in 2011 (so four sets of prizes in all). To enter for this Saturday’s game, just stick what you reckon the scoreline (AUS X – NZ Y) will be in a comment…

We had another cracker of a response to our third pick the score competition. MOSES, G&GR’s own technical supremo, is recorded as getting closest first, with a tip of 18-9 (just 4 points adrift). However, with his capabilities and the time he spends on the site it’s impossible to know whether this was a real tip or just a glitch in the matrix responding to a thought impulse from Moses as he lay connected to the grid in a perspex cocoon full of amniotic fluid during the match. Also just four points out in his prediction of 17-10 was SCOT FREE,…

Here’s some funny stuff that really deserves to be on G&GR. It’s by a journo over at SBS called Sam Ikin who you can also follow on twitter (@sam_ikin) or Google+. Now, more than ever. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPsI0OLbuTY[/youtube] And here was the first episode [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puN2Z016A8Y[/youtube]

There are two reasons I wanted to post this video. The first was to re-live a great passage of play from the weekend. The second was to see if I could figure out the bewildering call from the referee, Bryce Lawrence. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzG3KxNc6w4[/youtube] For some the play might be a little loose, but the points I liked about it; Quade showing what he offers at the back – nice vision and support from Genia and Ioane Men re-aligning with depth behind the ball, enabling loose passes to not only be retrieved, but attack to instantly resume Pat McCabe generating go-forward from…

Here’s another chance to win this excellent competition, and all you need to do is guess the score for Saturday’s Tri Nations clash in Durban. As a reminder, the prize is: A complete Bob Dwyer Coaching Manual, RRP $230 Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies by Bret Harris, RRP $35 to whichever clever bastard gets closest to the score for each of the Tri Nations Wallaby tests in 2011 (so four sets of prizes in all). To enter for this Saturday’s game, just stick what you reckon the scoreline (RSA X – AUS Y) will be in a comment box…