Author: Hugh Cavill

After over 100 quality responses, we have narrowed it down to the very best and can officially announce the Green and Gold Rugby second team. The winning response came from Searsy, meaning the official second team is… Russia. Here is Searsy’s submission: Russia – 1) Adam Byrnes – Managed to make the World Cup by reading an advertisement. That’s like getting to play at Woodstock because one of the early acts was missing a drummer. 2) The Best Logo – Looks like the bear from the Cleveland Show stealing an Easter Egg 3) The Names – The fun of yelling…

I know what you are thinking. The Wallabies are playing Italy on Sunday, and you want to get into the spirit of the occasion but have no idea how. Not only do you have no idea about the Italian players, but you also have no idea about Italian rugby watching culture. Well fear not, as G&GR are here to help with the first of our patented World Cup Watching Guides. Who are they? Italy. Known as the Azzurri (meaning ‘the blues’) they have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s. Are they any good? They have certainly come…

The Rugby World Cup is just a few short days away, and we at G&GR are incredibly pumped to watch the Wallabies play. But the problem with this excitement is the Wallabies only play once a week. What to do with the other six days? What do we make of the midweek minnow games if we have no skin in the game? What we need is a second team. A bit on the side, if you will. Someone we can throw the full weight of G&GR behind whilst the Wallabies are resting up in readiness for their next match. Obviously…

I’m not going to lie, if England win this World Cup I will just about give up on life. I am barely coping with the smarmy gits beating us at cricket, and if rugby was added to that… well I am not sure I could go on. So to make sure that doesn’t happen I have done a bit of research into England- their strengths, their weaknesses, and how the Wallabies can knock them off. I hope you are reading this Robbie, because if we lose to the fucking Poms again… <shudder> The Wallabies will face England in either the…

Every week we have been shining a spotlight on one particular player, putting together stats and video to show his contribution to the game. We have done Pat McCabe, Ben Alexander, James Horwill and Rocky Elsom, and this week we are finishing the Tri Nations by looking at Adam Ashley-Cooper. AAC has had a pretty quiet 3N in the 13 jumper, but switched to the wing to fill in for the suspended JOC on Saturday. I thought he had his best game all season and was probably the best outside back on the field — he certainly made Zac Guildford’s night an…

The first 40 was all Australia, the next 20 all New Zealand, and the last 20 came out about even, which was enough to give the game to the Wallabies along with the Tri Nations trophy. In the end for me what was so encouraging about this game was the style in which we won it. The greasy conditions meant it was a bit of a slogfest, and we bashed the All Black forwards into submission for most of the game. The words ‘mongrel’ and ‘physicality’ have never really been associated with this Wallaby side, unless they are preceded by…

Thinking of watching the Australian Barbarians take on the Canadians tonight? Why not let the G&GR team provide witty and informative banter while you watch the live stream. Simply open the stream – http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wallabies/live-stream-australian-barbarians-v-canada-720pm-est-friday/story-e6frf55l-1226121543747 Then open up the G&GR live page in a new window to listen to the commentary as you watch the game. The URL is www.greenandgoldrugby.com/live Hope to see you at 7:30!

A few weeks ago we brought you an exclusive extract from the Bret Harris book “Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies”. It caused quite a stir, as it revealed Rocky to be quite the Renaissance Man as the book’s blurb suggested. Well at G&GR we have recently discovered that despite the book’s release there is still work being done with the aim of producing a couple of new chapters after the World Cup. In fact we have been able to get our hands on a chapter written only last night that details Rocky’s reaction to his demotion as Wallaby captain…

Every week we have been shining a spotlight on one particular player, putting together stats and video to show their contribution to the game. We have done Pat McCabe, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, and this week we are looking at Rocky Elsom. Rocky copped a fair bit of flack for his performance in NZ, and rightfully so. His carries were inneffective and he missed a lot of tackles. So did he turn it around against the Boks? I think he did. It was by no means a MoTM effort but it was a good performance in a hard-fought win. He…

It wasn’t pretty, but we will definitely take it. The Wallabies turned around a 0–6 halftime deficit to win 14–9 and record a second successive win in South Africa for the first time since 1963. In the end it was a knock-down, drag-out contest between two sides with good reasons to be scratchy: one was coming off a hard-fought Bledisloe clash in NZ only a week before, the other having their first real hit-out for the season after an eight-week layoff. In the end it was the fitter, faster, stronger Wallabies who finished over the Boks like a good racehorse…

There has been some controversy in recent weeks with the release of a few teams’ alternative jerseys, with England taking the bold step of using an all black strip. Well, at G&GR we have just received a photo from deep inside the ARU showing the new Wallabies’ alternative strip, which will be publicly unveiled in the coming weeks. It is sure to cause a bit of a stir on the other side of the ditch. Have a look for yourself: Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? It will probably be used in only one or two early games, but ARU…

After each Wallabies G&GR is going to take an up-close look at the performance of one player. Last week it was Ben Alexander, this week it is current podcast star James Horwill. I thought Kev had an absolute cracker on Saturday He was one of the few forwards who really made headway in tight. I gave him a rating of 8 and Scott Allen named him ‘Man of the Stats’. However, a few people on the forum didn’t see it that way, so I decided to put the spotlight on him to review his contribution in detail. According to the stats Horwill had:…

Saturday night was a pretty depressing affair, but after viewing the game again my desire to get stuck right into the Wallabies has diminished somewhat. No-one really had an abject shocker, and if it weren’t for a couple of key lapses then the scoreline would have been much closer. But then again if my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle. So with that in mind here are my ratings: Player Rating Comment Beale 6 Struggled to get anything happening, and was well contained by the All Black defence. Did run a beautiful line to set up Digby Ioane’s…

After each Wallabies Test we at G&GR are going to shine a spotlight on a player who may have slipped under the radar in the post-match analysis. Last week it was Pat McCabe; this week we are taking a look at Ben Alexander. I thought he had a great game, one of his best in gold. He played the full 80 and was still making tackles out wide in cover defence late in the game. The scrum was solid and his work with ball in hand was good. He has certainly thrown down the gauntlet to James Slipper if the…

Recently the book Rocky Elsom: Leader of the Wallabies was released. I was having a look at it yesterday, and was struck by a quote on the blurb by the author, Bret Harris: “After covering Rocky′s career as a journalist for eight years I thought I had a fair idea of him, but I realized I hardly knew him at all. Rocky is like a modern day renaissance Man, a Leonardo da Vinci in studs. Apart from being one of the greatest Wallabies of his generation, Rocky is a musician, a philosopher, an entrepreneur and a pilot just to list…

While our NSW, ACT and Queensland readers watched the rugby live on Sunday afternoon, those from other states (who don’t have Fox) were subjected to re-runs of ‘The Block’ by Channel 9. This Saturday night the same viewers will be treated to the 2003 Mike Myers stinker Cat in the Hat while the Wallabies go round against the Boks. This simply isn’t good enough, and we at G&GR are supporting the campaign of the Rebel Army to try and change it. Here’s an article from valued forum and Rebel Army member Gavin Norman (Army Gav on the forum), who is…

Let the autopsy begin. Here is my view of how the Wallabies performed against the Samoans using the patented G&GR scale (see below): Player Rating Comment Gerrard 4 Just didn’t give the needed spark in attack. Had the ball in space on a number of occasions yet never really threatened the line. Looks a couple of yards too slow, and the massive gulf between him and Beale was proven in the final 20 minutes. Didn’t make any drastic errors but you would think a fair few people will have to go down before he is thrown into the first…

This is the Super Rugby Ultimate Preview, your one-stop shop for everything you need to know for those all-important tips or fantasy transfers. This is our bumper Grand Final edition, and the last for the season. Enjoy. Saturday 9th July Reds v. Crusaders @ Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 7:40pm AEST Reds: 15. Jono Lance, 14. Rod Davies, 13. Anthony Faingaa, 12. Ben Tapuai, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Quade Cooper, 9. Will Genia, 8. Radike Samo, 7. Beau Robinson,  6. Scott Higginbotham, 5. James Horwill (c), 4. Rob Simmons, 3. Greg Holmes, 2. Saia Faingaa, 1. Ben Daley. Reserves: 16. James…

This final is going to be a close one. In all likelihood it will be a grinding encounter, where both sides will look the winner at some point. In the end it will come down to five key areas, in my opinion. These are the battlegrounds on which the game will be won and lost. Some are obvious, others less so: The showdown: QC v. DC Back in Round 15 this was a pretty even tussle in my view, and unsurprisingly the end game result was also very tight. Carter was brilliantly consistent, and guided the Crusaders around the…

This is the Super Rugby Ultimate Preview, your one-stop shop for everything you need to know for those all-important tips or fantasy transfers. As always the Brown Hornet is on board, providing his well thought-out tips for each fixture. Saturday 2nd July Reds v. Blues @ Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 7:40pm AEST Reds: 15. Jono Lance, 14. Rod Davies, 13. Anthony Faingaa, 12. Ben Tapuai, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Quade Cooper, 9. Will Genia, 8. Radike Samo, 7. Beau Robinson,  6. Scott Higginbotham, 5. James Horwill (c), 4. Rob Simmons, 3. Greg Holmes, 2. Saia Faingaa, 1. Ben Daley. Reserves: 16.…