Author: Matt Rowley

We had another cracker of a response to our second pick the score competition, with 122 entries. Running Rugby (28-15) was pipped by time as the winner, with a tip of 32-15 (just 3 points adrift), was RUGBYRIDDLER. He’ll be receiving a copy of Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies and the Bob Dwyer Coaching Manual. With tears of joy running down his cheeks, Riddler said, I’d like to dedicate this win to Kaplan. For the 1st time in my life, I wish he’d been ref I love the sentiment. No need for you to feel down if you missed…

Can you feel it? That fizzing energy in the pit of your stomach? It’s there because this is the real deal. In the winning of this one match, the Wallabies can make it possible, if not probable, to take the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations titles into the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament. These would go in the bag together with the Super Rugby title and Mandela Plate. I find it hard to even speculate what the ramifications for the New Zealand sporting psyche would be. But before we get carried away, let’s chuck on the bucket of cold water.…

Here’s another chance to win this excellent competition, and all you need to do is guess the score for Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland. 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 (NZ X – AUS Y) will be in a comment box…

The motive behind the new All Black kit is revealed….

We had a cracker of a response to our first pick the score competition, with 134 entries. Swat and Skippy weren’t far off, but the winner though, with a tip of 37-19 (just 3 points adrift) was PANTS and he’ll be receiving a copy of Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies and the Bob Dwyer Coaching Manual. Having finally calmed down, Pants said Thanks to Greenandgoldrugby for creating and running the best Australian rugby website by a long way and thanks for the books.  Is there a book cover where Rocky is wearing a shirt? Sorry Pants, but no. No…

When it comes to knowing their rugby, G&GR readers are quite obviously frikken gurus – see the way we owned the Foxsports Fantasy rugby yet again. However, here’s your chance to get even further ahead of the game. For each of the Wallaby Tri-Nations games this season, we’re going to be giving away 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…

It’s easy to be depressed following the Samoa loss, so watch our 2010 Wallabies mashup to get back in the mood! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Il065V-u8M[/youtube]

A little eyebrow-raiser this morning when reading the Wallaby team sheet for the Boks match was the inside centre position. I had (for better or worse) solidly expected to see the familiar name of Matt Giteau there, but instead the man chosen to help dig the Wallabies out the merde they created last weekend is none other than two-Test wonder and G&GR podcast guest, Pat McCabe. How should we feel about this ‘deposit of belief’ being paid into a new kid on the international block, just weeks ahead of the big show? My reading of general blog and forum comment…

A week ago I had begun a mission from God – to travel from London to see an Australian team win a Super Rugby final for the first time in seven years. Below is a video capturing that holy pilgrimage. Was it really blessed? Well, along the way I got upgrades on my outbound and return flights as well as my hotel room in Sydney. I also had someone return my iPhone, sunnies and jacket that I had somehow forgotten at the after-party in the pub. Coincidences? I don’t think so. I’ve entered the video in the Great Crusade competition,…

Let’s be honest – it’s been a little while since an Australian rugby team won anything. So, about a week ago, when the Reds were getting ready to host the Blues in the first semi of the Super Rugby tournament, I vowed that if they won that game and with it the right to host the final, I would go to the final. The only problem – I live on the other side of the Earth, in London. So, this post comes to you from an airline lounge in Singapore, to where I have just flown 12 hours and have…

How’d you like to take three mates with you to attend every single Australia  match, get your flights and transfers taken care of each of the weekends, and present a MasterCard Man of the Match award (have you met Poey or Sanchez yet?) at the Australia v USA match? Not bad eh? All you need to do is register at MASTERCARD.COM.AU/RWC2011 and then spend once on your MasterCard before 31st July 2011 to be in with a shot. Talk about MasterCard friggen moments… just imagine being there with your mates in Green and Gold when JO’C slots the winning goal…

Here’s the ad campaign for the lead-up to the World Cup. The shorter 30 sec versions were posted a dew days ago in the forum and have got a pretty good response, so I thought you might want to see the director’s cut. As G&GR’s own Cameron Treloar said on Twitter: It’s 40 degrees here in France today but I still got goosebumps watching the Wallabies one team ad for the world cup. #rugby [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfJDfU-NW8U[/youtube] Thoughts?

One thing you can say about the Waratahs’ season to date: it’s been anything but ordinary. Record scores, booing in the stands, fan forums, reality TV shows—you name it, they’ve pioneered it, good and bad. The latest task is to see just how many reserve players you can fill a team with and still hope to compete in the finals of a SupeRugby competition. The injury clusterfuck du jour—following on from Wallabies Al Baxter and Tatafro Polota-Nau falling out on the weekend—was G&GR’s own Luke Burgess, who managed to bust his hand at training on Tuesday. Burgo’s Tracy Chapman mix…

New Zealand defeated Australia 37–7 in a hard-fought but inevitable result at the IRB Under 20 World Championships. It was a sweltering night in Treviso, and the Kiwis decided not to play too much open rugby, instead grinding down the junior Wallabies with aggression at the tackle, pressuring mistakes and converting them into tries. The teenagers in Green and Gold started well, dominating possession for the first 15 minutes and following a full three minutes of continuity, opening the try-scoring for the game. Indeed, they went into the break still in touch at 13–7. Unfortunately it all went downhill after…

Last weekend we saw a textbook execution of an exceedingly rare try celebration – The Inverted Ebola Monkey Cloud. It may not be as physically demanding as the celebrations exhibited by Digby Ioane or Quade Cooper earlier in the season, but for artistic merit, there are few better. Throughout the season we’ve seen Tom Carter employ the Standard Monkey Cloud to great effect. Now, we lay bare this gem, not seen since the Tibetan national rugby team toured the Congo in 1983. Remarkably, this celebration has only ever been performed with the subject actually infected with the Ebola virus -…

After sixteen rounds of this Super Rugby season, the Wallaby Captain and Blindside Flanker has played a total of 84 minutes – less than 7% of it. With Rocky Elsom unlikely to play any rugby before the Tri-Nations, it must surely be an understatement to say that the Wallabies blindside flanker position is far from closed. This begs the question of who should his replacement be, if needed? Let’s look through the various parameters important to a 6 to give some idea of the contenders. Tackling A key facet for the Blindside flanker as he works in tandem with the…

As discussed on our Podcast with Richard Graham, one of the key ways to nullify the key attacking threat of the Crusaders – the kick return – is to take it out of the game through contestable kicks and touch finders that can’t be played quickly. As you’ll see, these were the tactics employed by the Cheetahs when they beat an almost full-strength Crusaders 33–20 in Round 13. Are these tactics we’ll see from the Reds on Sunday? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TJb601KIGI[/youtube]

Sometimes when you look at the stats of a team over a season, they don’t really tell the story of that team on the field. But when it comes to the Brumbies in 2011, the story is not only writ large, it’s also fascinating (in a car crash on the side of the road sort of way). What makes it so interesting is the extremes that the Brumbies occupy, in measures both good and bad. Much has been made in the press (and incessantly by Fox Sports commentators) of how good Aussie fans loathe kicking and love running. Well if…

Listen to Tony Rea’s raw and honest assessment of what’s behind the Brumbies’ failure as a team, in the wake of their 20-29 loss to the Lions in front of a 12-year record low home crowd in Canberra tonight. He makes some fascinating comments that only go to confirm what a lot of observers have been suspecting for a while. Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save)