Author: Matt Rowley

And the winner for August is…. Luke Morahan for Queensland Uni! Great prizes coming to Luke from Skins and Kooga. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOMVqIlOfq8[/youtube]

I’ve pulled out some highlights of Berrick Barnes and everyone’s favourite Tom Carter, to go with the tries of the game. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nti6iRaalgE[/youtube] In doing so I wasn’t especially blown away by Sookface’s performance – although he did have a good game. In attack his role seemed to be merely shipping the ball wider while moving laterally; most of the attacking go forward from the backline actually came from Luke Burgess who – despite characteristically woeful passing to Barnes – also had a belter in defence. It was hard to single anyone out, but if possible the Uni pack really should…

Hats off to the Brumbies and their media guys, this is gold. And unlike other teams, no cheating… [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7X8Sc5u0hY[/youtube]

If you listen to the latest Ruggamatrix podcast, you’ll hear Djuro Sen having a go at me for having a sideways pop at them following the latest Wallabies loss. I gotta say I’m not too fussed by it (which is unfortunate because we could do with some stink to liven things up at the moment), but just in case my silence was taken as concession, I’d better reply! First, I’m really not sure where Djuro got the ‘linear timescale’ and scoring idea. As Link says in the podcast; possession and dominance will sway both ways in most games -…

Here’s a summary of the 2010 Sydney GPS Schoolboys competition. It was made by Nanai in the G&GR forum and seems to be getting the thumbs up as a pretty balanced overview. I’ve also put a few highlight videos at the bottom of the post from JoeysRiverRocks Newington College – Ended up being a terrifically rounded team with real ticker. Hanging on while down to come back and beat Kings will undoubtedly be a highlight in all of those boys’ careers forever. Hugh Roach, Joel Luani and Apolosi Latunipulu will be seen again for sure. Mark Bannon’s pass improved staggeringly…

Something strange has happened in the psyche of Wallaby rugby supporters. One of the defining characteristics of Australian-ness is surely the “she’ll be right mate” attitude. A mindset that looks to build on the positive in a situation, and to never capitulate into a self defeating heap of pessimism. But in reading around following last weekend’s match, I’m left wondering both just where that digger spirit has gone and whether I watched the same game. There is of course another Australian trait, which is an expectation of success. Perhaps it’s the affront to this belief from just too many losses…

Since the weekend there’s been loads of discussion about the “McCaw scrum try” – nowhere more so then on Bob Dwyer’s post about the game here on G&GR. Towards the end of yesterday, a comment came in from someone who’d been at the ground listening on Sports Ears (the radio link from the ref and his assistants). Our commenter recollected that the assistant ref had told Mark Lawrence about McCaw breaking away both after the re-set scrum, and during the scum off which the try was scored. An interesting revelation, but not an accurate one. Obviously we’re interested in searching…

Join us for a live score and wanging on from 8pm AEST Wallabies vs All Blacks Sydney

We have a winner! It’s Afimupo Lama from the Rouse Hill Renegades Rugby Club scoring a cracking try that included a no look loop-around pass! Great Skins and Kooga kit coming your way fellas! Here’s the good work

Better?

Join us from 1am AEST for live score and wanging on of Australia vs South Africa in the Tri-Nations Wallabies vs Boks Bloefontein

Just write it down Robbie! Thanks to D. for bringing it to our attention!

The standout Wallaby back for the last two tests has been Kurtley Beale. He’s been fundamentally involved in just about every major attacking play, and as Lance asked in his What’s happened to the Wallaby Specialists? post, Beale is making a strong case for becoming the first choice Wallaby 15. Maybe it was because of the hype that started at a ridiculous age, but critics always seem to come flooding out for Kurtley, often ignoring the rare talent he has to offer. I’ve pulled a few clips together predominantly from the game in Pretoria looking at what makes him such…

Regular readers here and in the G&GR forum will know that I’ve so far rested in the pro-Dingo camp (aka ‘visionaries’ or ‘fan-boys’ depending on your point of view). I’m still of the opinion that many of the difficult talent blooding decisions that Robbie has made will benefit Australia for the next decade of World Cup and Tri/Quatro Nations competitions, and that any coach would struggle with the eight or so key names missing from a paper thin player depth when taking on numbers 1 and 2 in the world. However, this season there have been an accumulation of selection…

Together, our All Blacks at the Breakdown, UntouchABles and Dwyer’s View posts have whipped up a bit of a storm; they’ve been mentioned on TV, Podcasts and and even put to Sir Richie McCaw in his “idiotic” press conference before last week’s test. From this we expected the usual influx of moronic kiwi commenters, but we hadn’t expected those morons to be placed just as well within New Zealand’s main stream media. Take Paul Lewis, Sport Editor of the New Zealand Herald on Sunday. In his article Whinging is not a pretty sight, he really establishes his editorial credentials, labeling…

A few ideas of where I think there’s opportunity for the Wallabies on the weekend, plus a little look at the tactics of this year’s Tri-Nations champs. And yes, it includes illegalities!

STUNG by recent criticism of their recent “light-weight” performances against the All Blacks, G&GR can reveal that the Wallabies have undergone an intensive bulk-up programme that has produced remarkable results. The first rumours of the programme came following the leaking of the above pictures by Wallabies Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell via Twitter. Having gone through extreme bulk up programmes ourselves over the last 20 years, the G&GR team immediately recognised the methods used and managed to secure the following updated squad photos from the ARU, thanks to undercover work by Mr Timms. This physicial improvement won’t make it all…

Everyone’s been talking about it, hell Bob Dwyer might even get sued over it; when it comes to the latest trend for yellow cards, are the All Blacks untouchable? For when you look at the number of penalties conceded per game it would appear that trading off penalties is a clear plank in the New Zealand game plan. Just look at their tally per match so far, in which they’ve easily outstripped both the Wallabies and Springboks. However, while those wearing Green and Gold (or Gold and Green for the Saffas) have chalked up the yellow cards to go with…

Half way into this year’s Tri-Nations and I’m not sure I’ve sensed a more pessimistic mood among Wallaby supporters since, well since the darkest days of Eddie Jones (or maybe post that event in Marseille 2007?). A record losing streak against the All Blacks has taken the rugby public’s relationship with Kiwi Robbie into a “sticking together for the kids” phase. And you can see why. As eminent rugby brains like Bob Dwyer and Lance Free have pointed out, the standard of play in these last two tests has at times veered between brainless and abysmal. Austin and myself (copied…

For the past few weeks we’ve heard relentlessly how the All Blacks have “re-invented” running rugby (unless a Queenslander’s involved in which case it was the Reds they copied it from). This, apparently, is the reason they beat the Saffas so well, and the Wallabies just copied the ABs for their win last week. Having watched all these games, something about this line of thinking hasn’t sat right, and a quick look at the stats seems to agree; it’s bullshit. The first part of the myth is that the All Blacks haven’t been kicking possession away, whereas the Boks were.…