Author: Hugh Cavill
Hugh Cavill
Can't write, can't play.
Ahh, the sweet taste of Deja Vu. The Waratahs are playing poorly with an injury list as long as your arm, and the few people that bother to turn up to their games are voicing their disapproval. Something needs to change, and since every man and his dog are chipping in their 2c I thought I’d have a crack as well. Here are my seven simple suggestions to fix the current issues in Tahland: 1. They need a new captain. Hangers doesn’t cut the mustard. In all three of their losses the Tahs have looked rudderless at crucial periods.…
It’s the dance of the desperates this week, with both sides craving 4 points after patchy starts. The Tahs have been so close on two occasions, and are showing some promising signs despite the usual lengthy injury list. Axel Foley has stayed true to the men who fought so valiantly against the Highlanders last week, making just the one change to the starting XV (Jono Jenkins in for the injured Pat McCutcheon). They should be starting to hit their straps, and expect them to come out firing at their first REAL home game at the SFS. Woody Graham, on…
Welcome to the Fantasy Rugby Breakdown, my ongoing attempt to keep you up to date with the latest developments and hopefully point you in the right direction when you do your weekly transfers. The 2012 season continues to be a tightly fought lottery on the field, and the same can be said of the situation in fantasy rugby. All three rounds have been low scoring affairs with only a few players chalking up consistent good scores. The G&GR league remains as tight as a chook’s proverbial, with the top ten looking like this: Nick McGrath holds onto top…
It was heartbreak for the Waratahs, going down by one point in yet another thriller against the Highlanders, 18-17. The Highlanders played a brutally physical style which wore down the Waratahs gradually, and they asserted their dominance in the final half hour. The Tahs fought manly but just couldn’t get there in the end. Once again injuries will be a worry, with Pat McCutcheon clearly out for a very long time, and others nursing various ailements. The Waratahs started very well, dominating the early stanza in possession if not territory. Hangers potted a long range penalty to open the scoring,…
A controversial late penalty have gifted the Brumbies the game against the Cheetahs, with Christian Lealiifano potting one from in front to give it to the locals 24-23. The Cheetahs started well and dominated the first 60 minutes. However the Brumbies worked their way into the game late, with superior fitness and ball control shining through at the death. They didn’t make many breaks but took the chances they were offered. In the end referee Keith Brown gave them a scrum penalty (which I thought was probably justified although it was a brave decision considering the consequences) which they duly…
Welcome to another semi-regular segment you will be seeing in 2012, the Monday Top 10- a collection of observations, analysis and predictions from the weekend’s round. So let’s get stuck in: 10. My game of the round was easily the Crusaders v. Highlanders at the new stadium in Dunedin. The atmosphere looked fantastic and the game delivered the sort of spectacle you expect to see far later in the season. It was physical and skilful with some cracking tries scored. The Highlanders are a collection of plucky no-names (with a few exceptions) but by jeez they can play, and…
Welcome to the Fantasy Rugby Breakdown, something I hope to do every week. I’ll keep you up to date with the latest developments and hopefully point you in the right direction when you do your weekly transfers. Round 1 was a scrappy, physical round and that was shown in the Fantasy scores. No-one in the comp cracked 500 and the top scoring players (Nasi Manu and James Hanson) only racked up 48 points. The G&GR league is tightly bunched, with over 250 players signing up for 2012. The top ten after round 1 looks like this (apologies for the…
Welcome to the new G&GR post-mortem, where we dig through the corpse of each weekend game and try and work out what happened. Hopefully we will be pumping out a few of these each week, so let us know what you think of the format. The Tahs/Reds game provided plenty of interesting things to talk about, so let’s get stuck into it: The Result Reds 25 (Shipperley try; Harris conv, 6 pgs) beat Waratahs 21 (Palu, Pretorius tries; Halangahu conv, 3 pgs). Crowd 32,071. Ref: Jaco Peyper The Damage Surprisingly the Tahs got through the game pretty much…
It was agony and ecstasy. Death and glory. Victory and defeat. Whatever side of the fence you are on, it was a cracking finish to a pretty good game. The Reds scored a try after the buzzer to take the game 25-21 from the Tahs, who looked like a lock with mere seconds to go. It was a brutal, physical game, with both sides looking good at times. Expect both to feature at the business end of the season. First up the crowd were treated to an exhibition of Subbies rugby, courtesy of Balmain and Petersham. All eyes were…
The ‘Festival of Hate’ is back for another year to kick off rugby in Sydney for 2012. This promises to be a cracker, with both sides having plenty to prove as they start their seasons. So let’s get into it: The Teams Tahs: 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper 14. Tom Kingston 13. Rob Horne 12. Tom Carter 11. Brackin Karauria-Henry 10. Daniel Halangahu (c) 9. Sarel Pretorius 8. Wycliff Palu 7. Chris Alcock 6. Dave Dennis 5. Dean Mumm 4. Kane Douglas 3. Sekope Kepu 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau 1. Benn Robinson Replacements: 16. Damien Fitzpatrick 17. Paddy Ryan 18. Lopeti Timani…
Remember 2011? Seems a long time ago now. Well if you can cast your mind back that far you may recall we ran a ‘Nostradamus’ competition in which participants attempted to predict what would happen across the rugby year. Well finally the results are in. The winner was Nabley who gapped the field with a whopping 24 points out of a possible 50. BrisVegas54 and GreenPeter filled the other places on the podium with 22. Congratulations gents. The full results can be seen in the table below: 24 Nabley 22 BrisVegas54, GreenPeter 21 Ozsash, DT, Graeme, Tahzan,…
With the Super Rugby season kicking off on Friday, it’s time to turn our attention to the king of all competitions- fantasy rugby. Details on joining the G&GR pool can be found here. With $5k on the line (not to mention bragging rights) and 30-odd thousand players you need the best advice if you want to score well. Sadly we can’t offer the best advice. But here are my ten commandments of fantasy rugby: Thou shalt not select thy team before Friday. I know it’s tempting to make your selections on the Monday, after your team comprehensively failed that weekend.…
With only ten days before the Super Rugby season begins it is time to start thinking about the two most crucial pillars of a great season – tipping and fantasy rugby. Tipping Like last year the Green and Gold tipping comp will be run by our friends at Superbru. Get over there, sign up and enter the following details: Pool name: Green and Gold Rugby Pool code: feteinfo This is a simple yet effective tipping comp, where you have to pick both a winner and a winning margin for each game. Points are awarded for a correct tip,…
Rocky Elsom was named today as the captain of the Waratahs for 2012. At G&GR we can exclusively reveal that this announcement has resulted in a new book being written about Elsom, following on from the incredible success of “Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies”. Previously G&GR excerpts (found here and here) have shown Elsom to be a very different character from the growling beast he resembles both on and off the field. In fact he is quite the Renaissance Man, much to the surprise of the wider rugby community. The new book does not disappoint. Its title is…
I know the World Cup isn’t quite over yet, but it is certainly time for the post mortems to begin. I am getting in early with my five biggest blunders of the RWC campaign. All five of them were real shockers. 1. Not taking a second openside. This move was widely castigated at the time of the squad announcement, and sure enough came back to really bite us. Badly. It wasn’t as if our backup 7s were rubbish and McCalman was an outstanding back-rower; we had Hodgo and Beau who are both top notch players and Benny has always struggled…
I always enjoy doing the ratings after a Wallabies win, because rewatching the game is so much easier. This one was a real toughie to rate, though. It was a titanic performance in many areas, but I couldn’t go bananas with the scores as we came so close to losing. Pat Lambie slots that droppie and it was probably curtains. So it couldn’t be 8s and 9s all round, could it? In the end I think I found a nice medium. So, to the ratings: Player Rating Comment Kurtley Beale 6 A solid Beale outing. Made a good…
This week the agonising job of rewatching the game and doing the ratings fell to me. It was not a task I enjoyed. As you will see below, there is not much disparity in the ratings. No one played that well, to be honest. There is no G&GR Man of the Match, as no one earned the accolade. So, to the ratings: Player Rating Comment Sekope Kepu 3 Anonymous in general play, and was repeatedly penalised as our scrum faltered under the pressure applied by the Irish. Not good enough for someone who had been in good form this season.…
Hey Wallabies, It’s me again. I take it you got my letter yesterday. It certainly seemed to get a reaction, didn’t it? Since writing my letter (and reading the 230-plus comments) I have had a think. About rugby and about life more generally. And I sat down and rewatched the game. It certainly was a bit of an eye-opening experience, and so I thought I would write you another letter after the chaos of the weekend had died down a little. First up, I will always love you guys. Always. At the end of the letter I said I…
Hi Wallabies, Yeah, I’m drunk. Why? I’m trying to forget. Again. I’m trying to forget another piss weak effort in the face of pretty poor opposition. Ireland? Really? Come on guys, they could hardly beat the USA. And yet you lost to them. Comfortably. It’s times like these I wish I was one of those people who don’t care about sport. You know the type- they carry on life blissfully ignorant of any sporting activity, and they are predominately HAPPY. Why? Because they don’t have to put up with piss-weak shit like you served up tonight. I mean seriously,…
So the Wallabies are playing Ireland on Saturday, and you have no idea about Ireland, its culture and its players. Well fear not, as G&GR are here to help with the second of our patented World Cup Watching Guides. Who are they? Ireland are a proud rugby nation, and are still whinging about the poor refereeing decisions that saw them go down 7-0 to the Poms in their first game back in 1875. Are they any good? Yeah. They are our biggest challenger in the pool stages, and have been ranked as high as third in the IRB rankings…