Author: Matt Rowley

Is Crusaders star Sonny Bill Williams a one-trick pony about to be found out? That’s what Springbok coach Peter de Villiers seems to think. His diss in  a nutshell: “He’s doing everything wrong what rugby principles require of you in the game.” The original video that went with this story was taken down from the internet by its South African producers, but not before it had outraged New Zealand TV – see their take on it below. What do you reckon? [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23581491[/vimeo] QuestionsView Results

Did you try to watch the Waratahs v. Western Force game on Saturday night? If your eyes remained open long enough there was one element of it you couldn’t have missed: the mind-boggling amount of kicking from hand that took place. In all there were 72 (some stat sources say 76) kicks; enough for about one every 26 seconds of ball-in-play time. This tied for the most number of kicks in a game this season with the Round 1 hit-out between saffa sides the Sharks and Cheetahs. Was this a fluke, an oddity born out of a pressure derby match?…

They’ve been slowed a little lately by a host of injuries, but the Crusaders are surely once again the team all Super Rugby coaches, players and supporters have sleepless nights over. Add that the perennial championship contenders constitute, both in terms of personnel and playing style, the core of the All Black squad for the upcoming World Cup, and you have a mouth-watering strategic question for anyone interested in rugby to ponder: how do you beat them? The Crusaders of 2011 have been so impressive that I’ve dived into the stats to see if I can flag a few areas…

Transcript of recording from G&GR agent “Suzy” at Cullinan Hotel foyer, Cape Town last week. Surveillance subjects: Andrew Fagan (AF) and Jake White (JW) AF: “Jake!” JW: “Howzit my china, you must be Andrew.” AF: “Indeed! Great to meet you at last. Hey, your um Springboks blazer… is really distinctive.” JW: “Oh, this little thing hyah? Ja, I just got in the habit of wearing it – at the golf club, around the house.” AF: “Like a coffee or something? No? OK, well let me cut to the chase. It’s simple – we’re reforming the A-Team and we want you…

Super Rugby Round 8 Review of the Aussie Teams

At the beginning of the Super Rugby season the Waratahs proudly announced that their pack had put on about 10 kilos a man, in a deliberate strategy to be able to mix it with the big boys. So far though, the only teams that the Tahs have been able to bully up front have been the other Australians. Perhaps of more concern is what’s happened in their games since the Round 4 bye: all four of the tries scored against them have come in the second half. Has their bet on power over endurance paid off? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE-NJeaaMR4[/youtube]

Hopefully you’ve all figured out by now that our post BIG CHANGES at G&GR was indeed an April Fools joke. If you haven’t then I’m thinking you’re no longer reading the site. Fair enough. The idea was a collaboration between a few of us and the inspired words were done by Zeno. You may remember a few months back a fracas in the comments of a match review where a couple of commenters pointed out the woeful editing on the site. Well, one of those commenters (Zeno) put his money where his mouth is and has been helping make the…

Hi everyone, and welcome to Green and Gold Rugby 2.0. As part of a new online strategy for Fairfax Digital, your favourite Aussie rugby blog has been acquired by Rugby Heaven to be the blogging arm of their iconic flagship operation. It will be the new online home for all your favourite columnists – Spiro Zavos, Jamie Pandaram, Josh Rakic and of course our Chief Rugby Correspondent, Greg Growden. All your favourite Rugby Heaven features like player ratings and live scores will be part of the new G&GR. And of course there’ll still be regular guest pieces from icons and…

There’s been a lotta talk about the defence of the Waratahs last weekend in their 18–33 loss to the Crusaders. The lapses were surprising, considering the strength it had been in their previous games – so what went wrong? First up, no doubt there was just some poor tackling, which was spread quiet broadly across the team. Noticeable was the midfield where Halangahu missed almost as many has he made with 4/9 attempts and Rob Horne who missed 4/14. Compounding this weakness from the set piece were the unheard-of stats from a one-armed Phil Waugh, who missed 4, made 7.…

Have you seen the movie where an isolated tribe takes an artefact and over the years creates a whole misguided religion out of it? You should have, it’s been playing in Canberra for the last 20 years. The boning of Andy Friend this week has again brought the unique “family-like” culture of the Brumbies into the spotlight. This culture revolves around the power base in the club being with the players and the shunning of coaching or management talent from outside ex-players . Friend found himself in a mutiny with no place to go; with plenty of time on their…

Just a quick look at some of the basic things the Tahs did on the weekend to make the most of what the Rebels weren’t doing. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBuP-m8zqw[/youtube]

It was intentionally snuck under the radar so you may not have noticed it, but on Monday the ARU signed John O’Neill on for an extra 18 months, effectively taking him on to the end of 2013 (as his current contract still has 17 months to go). On Tuesday this article appeared in The Australian, questioning the sense and the method of that reappointment. Below is John O’Neill’s reply. [youtube id=”cvxGxZkReNM” width=”600″ height=”350″]

We have our first winner for the Bob Dwyer International Coaching academy in Runaway Bay, April 18-22. Pat ‘Pocock’ Still  from St Ignatius College Riverview – come on down! There’s a place for you and a mate, or coach, at the Academy. all inclusive for FREE, you just have to get yourselves there. Congrats! To everyone else there are still 8 places to be given away for junior players and coaches. To win this prize for yourself and another* or for a junior club of your choosing, all you need to do is Tell us about your club or school…

On G&GR over the past weeks, we’ve had a stack of stimulating discussion about Australian rugby advertising. But to me, advertising is just the window dressing, what we really need to discuss are the brands. At the core of any brand is the product itself, which punters connect with through a story. For the Reds, their product of Quade-fuelled champagne rugby, together with an underdog / comeback story that has more than doubled memberships and stoked the fantasies of rugby fans outside of Queensland’s borders. The Rebels also have their narrative – hard bitten professionals forging a band of brothers…

The silverware cabinets might be as empty as a politician’s promise, but there are some numbers floating around (including some revealed EXCLUSIVELY to G&GR) that point to an explosion in Australian Rugby – of the good kind. As unlikely as a good news story is these days, can this be true and if it can, what’s behind it? First off, the numbers you may have already seen. About a week ago the ARU revealed to the world that 209,571 people had participated in Australian rugby in 2010. That’s an increase of 16,990 (or 8.8%) over the previous year, and beats…

Are you either a player or a coach at a junior rugby club or school? Perhaps you know someone who is? Well how about FREE place for you/them at what must be THE most prestigious rugby academy in Australia, run by the World Cup winning guru coach himself; The Bob Dwyer International Rugby Academy. This 4 day all-inclusive camp for junior players and coaches would usually set you back $900 per person, but thanks to BobDwyerRugby.com, we have up to 10 spots (5 pairs) to give away for FREE. That’s right, FREE (we’d go ourselves but we’re too old and…

Following hard on the heels of the governmental Flood Levy announcement, a cartel of player agents have suggested raising another levy – this time to ensure Australian rugby players are not forced to earn their millions overseas. “It’s unfortunate, but the money’s gotta come from somewhere” said cartel leader Dennis Danuto. “Those rich lunatics running the French clubs aren’t going to wait around forever for the ARU to pull their finger out. They have the attention span of a crack addict and our dicking of the Frogs in November is the last shiny bauble they’ve seen. We need to strike…

Here’s a great bit of Aussie Rugby art from the fair hand of our very own Muppet: d He says about it: Here’s my offer of some colouring-in should anyone be interested.  It’s not perfect by any stretch, but it kept me off the streets for a couple of weeks during this lean rugby period and it attempts to populate the depleted stocks of Australian rugby art (that aren’t of Campo or Eales, at least). In deciding who to draw I looked at your best of the decade pdf from last year and wanted to draw 12 that a) were…

If you’re like me, you’re currently jonesing like a mutherf*cker at the lack of Aussie rugby over the past few months, with the cricket only making the pain deeper. It’s also difficult getting your head into how the various squads might perform, which will be vital in the early rounds of the G&GR Super Rugby tipping and fantasy comps (details of which will follow in a few weeks). With Super Rugby still a month off (that’s a lot of night sweats) there is some relief on offer in the form of the pre-season trials. OK, they’re like rugby methodone, but…

Moses unearthed this while we put together the Video pages you can now access from the Navigation Bar above. I’d forgotten I’d made it – I think YouTube blocked it at the time because of the soundtrack, or maybe because it was just too awesome? Maybe. Anyway, something to fill the rugby void…. [youtube]Fw_vgVqR3L4[/youtube]