Author: Andrew Handyside

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS It’s Monday!  Let’s have a look at what happened around the rugby world over the weekend. We’ve got Super Rugby, Provincial rugby, Premier rugby, Sevens and the new Director of Rugby weighs in on a few topics. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round 13 Auckland hosted Wellington on Friday night.  Despite applying huge amounts of pressure during the first half, the Blues were trailing at the break as the Hurricanes grabbed any chance they were given to score points.  The second 40 started a little better for the home side after capitalised on a one-man advantage to draw…

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS Monday’s rugby news rounds up Premier Rugby from around the nation, Super Rugby from around the hemisphere, Oceania Championships from down the road and the Brumbies have more injury worries. [one_half last=”no”] Oceania Under 20 Amidst the turmoil besetting Aussie rugby of late there are rare moments that buck the trend. One such moment came on a drizzly Saturday night down the Gold Coast with the Aussies claiming the Oceania Under 20’s title with a resounding win over the Kiwis. Will Harrison had the radar working as he got the boys in gold out to a 12-0…

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS Monday’s rugby news has all the latest results from the professional, underage and professional-ish rugby around the country meanwhile the ‘Tahs have a few selection issues as they set off for the republic. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round 11 What a time to be a Reds fan.  For the second week in a row we’ve survived the weekend without a loss!  Feels like they’re really building some momentum up in here in the Sunshine State. Over in Christchurch, things weren’t so peachy for Lions.  Facing their vanquishers from last and the previous year’s finals and both the…

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS Monday’s rugby news does a lap ’round the grounds covering the weekend’s action and checks in on the injuries threatening the Brumbies’ season. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round 10 Inexplicably, given the four-day weekend, the round 10 matches were condensed into two days of action.  Personally, I do wonder if a better job could have been done of spreading out the weekend’s fixtures to take advantage of the extra time most folk had off. McAnyway, to the results. Friday night football’s triple header kicked things off with the Chiefs facing the Lions and one had to wonder…

Monday’s rugby news looks at the SuperW final, round 8 of Super Rugby, Hong Kong Sevens and Australian rugby farewells a former Wallaby. A note from the author: Sorry the pictures relating to the SuperW aren’t from the actual match, at the time of writing no pictures from the clash were available in our gallery for upload. [one_half last=”no”] Super W Final Sunday afternoon saw the second instalment of the Super W reach its conclusion with the final being played out between traditional rivals, QLD and NSW. Both teams had shown throughout the year they were to be reckoned with. …

Monday’s rugby news rounds up the results from the weekend’s Super rugby matches, Premier Rugby kicks off in another state (well, territory), the Tahs aren’t changing and the Super W season is reaching its crescendo. OH MY GOD, it’s the podcast with none other than Michael Cheika! [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round Seven The seventh round of Super Rugby has been played and oddly, only one home side managed to win. The Crusaders continued their early season form and made amends for the previous week’s slip up by dispatching countrymen the Hurricanes 32 points to eight.  The win sees the…

Monday’s rugby news rounds up the results from the weekend’s Super rugby matches, wraps up the Six Nations, the Crusaders mull over their name and turns out QLD is better than NSW. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round Five pic.twitter.com/uj8HpsWKOg — Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) 15 March 2019 Round five of Super Rugby got underway in Waikato with the events of earlier in the day still looming.  Following a wonderful tribute, both teams standing shoulder to shoulder to form an unbroken circle, the match got underway.  After much toing and froing, the teams couldn’t be separated, the game ending in a 23-all…

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS Monday’s rugby news rounds up the results from the weekend’s Super rugby matches, Six Nations, drops in on the Sevens and the SCG responds to criticisms of the turf. [one_half last=”no”] SUPER RUGBY ROUND FOUR Wellington were at home to the Highlanders in the first match and it was home team leaving everything until the last minute (if not later) to walk away with the four competition points.  A try in the last minute of the first half gave them the lead at oranges and then Bueaden Barrett made up for his 72nd minute missed conversion with…

MONDAY’S RUGBY NEWS Monday’s rugby news runs an eye over the latest Super games, Vegas Sevens, World Rugby respond to the World League criticisms and Cheika goes on a rant. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round Three The Brumbies, evidently still giddy after last week’s half century, came back to reality with a sickening thud as the Hurricanes ran rings around them.  The score after 80 minutes was 36-13.  Of course, being an Australian team, they found a way to concede another try leaving the final score 43-13.  Read GAGR’s thoughts on the match here. Over to Melbourne and the much-esteemed…

Monday’s rugby news wraps up the weekend locally and internationally, SA look to shake up eligibility rules and maybe rugby isn’t for all shapes and sizes. [one_half last=”no”] Super Rugby Round Two With the Reds playing Friday night, super Rugby has officially started. Do I make that statement in response to ALL 15 teams have now taken the field or is it a reference to the fact they my team has finally played?  I’ll let you decide. Reds vs Highlanders-Much has been made of the Red renewal (Rednewal?) we’re to witness and this was the first time we got a…

Monday’s rugby news packs no surprises.  The first round of Super Rugby has been run and won.  The Brumbies are licking their wounds.  The Waratahs are trying to figure out how to fit 137 Wallabies into their backline.  And we round things out with a look at how our NH friends are travelling. [one_half last=”no”] SUPER RUGBY OPENING WEEKEND If your significant other doesn’t like rugby, I hope you spoiled them on Thursday given Friday saw the start of the latest 5-month long season of SUPER rugby get underway. Seven matches across five countries reflects the truly international flavour of the competition…

Monday’s rugby news will try to bring you up to speed on local Super Rugby team ins and outs, the latest round of 6 Nations and takes a closer look at the MND/rugby rumours hitting the press. [one_half last=”no”] Waratah Woes With Waratah props falling faster than the papier-mâché trees during my grade seven end of year Henry Lawson performance, one could almost feel sorry for the mob from Sydney. Paddy Ryan left the club last year to join the other Paddy Ryan in the USA’s major league rugby, Wallaby-squad member Tom Robertson busted his ACL in Argentina and now…

Monday’s rugby news sinks its teeth into Seven’s results, trial results, 6 Nations results and a bit of promotion-relegation action in the capital. [one_half last=”no”] SYDNEY SEVENS For the fourth time in as many rounds, the USA have secured second spot in the HSBC 7’s. The perennial Garfunkel/Oates/Messina/Lisa of the Olympic version of our sport have done it again, this time coming up against a red-hot Kiwi outfit in the final, going down 21-5 at Spotless Stadium. The win for our neighbours and the silver for our, err, allies? Leaves them tied on 76 points with Fiji slipping to third…

The GAGR daily Rugby News is back!! For this first news day back we have a little look at the year ahead, wrap up the Hammo Sevens, travel to Canberra to see how the out of favour Reds players fared against the other out of favour Reds players and World Rugby have a new mandate for refs this year. A note from the author. Thank you to everyone for welcoming me on board last year.  I had a great time and hope you did too. And thank you to the team at GAGR who have welcomed me back for another…

The last edition of Tuesday’s Rugby News for the year celebrates the WR Award winners, the final standings for the year, a BIG retirement and the last instalment of the repechage. Also, a note from the author. I’d like to express my warmest regards to all the folks from GAGR who not only gave me the opportunity to waste their Tuesday morning train trip reading my scribblings but it was also a lot of fun to go back and forth with you all in the comments sections.  It’s been a wild ride. Enjoy the break and I’ll catch you all…

Thursday’s Rugby News has the Reds’ latest signing, men’s Sevens gearing up for Dubai, injury and illness concerns leading up to Twickenham and Hansen putting the boot into the Wallabies. [one_half last=”no”] Prodigal Son Re-Signs Things have been tough for a long time at Ballymore. After the premiership in 2011, the state’s rugby fortunes have slumped to dangerously low levels.  Over the past few years in particular, the code up here has lurched from one disaster to the next.  At Reds/Super Rugby level, coaches came and went, crowds dwindled, players got suspended for various indiscretions and the results on the…

Tuesday’s Rugby News checks in on the Rebels’ first day back, an update on Gareth Thomas’ assault, more coaches talking guff and part 3 of our look at the teams in the repechage.  [one_half last=”no”] Human Headline at it Again No, not the thrice convicted criminal senator; instead this time it’s the Auckland-born, professional-boxing, Super Rugby winning Quade Cooper that’s been stealing the show. First up, he’s taken to Instagram to post a cheesy ‘first day of school’ photo as he starts training with his new Super Rugby club, The Rebels. Now, an Instagram post in and of itself is…

Tuesday’s Rugby News has a full update on the Women’s 7s Oceania championship, reactions to the weekend’s results, a look toward the next round of matches, and beyond, and we check in the latest from the RWC repechage. [one_half last=”no”] Where There’s a Will, (He’ll Say) There’s a Way A month ago, Will Genia made the very public statement that Australia would certainly get the better of Argentina in their final clash of the Rugby Championship. And at half time there were more than a few who felt his claim may have been a little too bold as the Wallabies floundered and everything…

Monday’s Rugby News basically does an around the grounds.  There was bulk rugger on over the weekend, so come with now on a journey through time and space. [one_half last=”no”] Wales wins while Wallabies Wilt It’s been a long time coming. For the previous 3,634 days Wales had not been able to match their heroics from the corresponding fixture in 2008 when Stephen Jones’ boot proved the difference as the host held on to win 21-18 in front of 75,000 fans at Millenium Stadium. I won’t go into the specifics here, our man on the ground Dylan has done that…

Tuesday’s Rugby News.  This week we’ve got Eddie Jones talking tough, the sevens are named, the Reds’ latest signing and Germany firing up for the repechage. [one_half last=”no”] Eddie Jones Talking it Up Boasting a record of 5 wins from 12 test matches against the All Blacks, Eddie Jones is one coach on the world stage who might just have the formula to knock off the world’s best. If you take away his one match against the Darkness whilst in charge of Japan, that record improves a tad more, albeit to 5/11. He’s now at the helm of the Poms,…