Author: Hugh Cavill

As the only G&GR writer who can be truly described as an A-lister, I was out and about on Saturday night after watching the Test at home. Between the tirade of photo and autograph requests (how they let some of these people behind the velvet rope is beyond me), I chatted to some of my friends about the performance of our boys at Eden Park. Well, chatted may not be the right word. The standard conversation went pretty much like this: Me: Did you watch the Wallabies game? Friend: Looks down. Shakes head knowingly. Sips beer. Changes subject. Occasionally I’d…

Tonight the Brumbies downed the Waratahs in a tight fixture at ANZ Stadium in front of a pretty poor crowd of 22,844. The Waratahs had the weight of possession but couldn’t break the spirited Brumbies defence, while the visitors took almost every chance they were offered. In the end I thought the game (and the season more broadly) boiled down to one word: enthusiasm. The Brumbies hit every ball at pace, ran wide with gusto and tackled their hearts out. The Tahs were slow, ponderous and narrow. As usual. They had plenty of ball but lacked the creativity or attitude…

I enjoyed the June Test window. It was a lovely break from the weekly grind of Super Rugby, and allowed us to whet our appetites for international footy before the Rugby Championship kicks off. It also provided a number of revealing insights into the state of Australian rugby, on and off the field. Here are just six: 1. Berrick Barnes is Alec Baldwin. OK, so this one might be a stretch but stick with it. Baldwin is a good actor, but does his best work in an ensemble cast where he can feed off the good work of others. Think…

Since his selection caused a bit of controversy I thought I’d have a closer look at the performance of Sitaleki Timani against the Welsh. I gave him a 6 in my player ratings, and after going through his efforts with a fine-tooth comb I probably stand by that. He played a solid second-rower’s game: made his tackles, took a few hit-ups, threw a couple of nice offloads (one of which created a linebreak for KB). According to the stats on ESPN Scrum, Timani had six runs for eight metres gained, 10 tackles at 100 per cent success rate (although SMH…

I’ve watched the game a few times now, and think I may be ready to attempt the player ratings. Overall I thought it was a solid win with no one having an abject shocker. Also, no one really played the house down — it was a good old-fashioned 15-man effort. So I think the ratings may reflect that. So there it is. Nothing too high, nothing too low. But I imagine I will now be vociferously torn a new one by angry punters, as seems to happen every week at player ratings time. Bring it on…

I thought the Wallabies’ first try on Saturday was a real cracker, one of the best we have scored in years. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked. It was intelligent rugby — attacking the Welsh in different channels at every phase. It showcased everything that Bob Dwyer loves to talk about: good support of the ball carrier, quick realignment, smart use of the football, great speed of execution and people running onto the ball at pace. It involved the whole forward pack and a couple of the backs too. I have broken it down by phase: 1. Barnes receives clearing…

Here are my usual ten things to chew on of a Tuesday afternoon. 10. What a difference four days makes. And a bit of dry weather. The Wallabies came out and played like we all hoped (but nobody expected) they would. They picked a team for an up-tempo game and played it very well. Sure they were blessed with moments of luck (such as numerous Welsh handling errors in our 22), but that is just the rugby gods giving a bit back after Tuesday night. Each Wallaby try was well taken and we came away deserving winners. Now we turn…

The Wallabies bounced back from their humiliating loss on Tuesday to post an impressive victory over a strong Welsh outfit at Suncorp. They played with speed and skill, clearly revelling in the dry conditions. It was a real belter of a game with high quality footy on show for the whole 80. Will Genia had a barnstormer, directing the Wallabies like Polanski at his finest, setting up a try and scoring one himself. He showed he is the talisman for the Wallabies and if he stays in this form then we will be hard to stop this winter. Wales put…

The Wallabies play Wales on Saturday as they attempt to make up for a humiliating loss. Luckily we’ve been in this position plenty of times under Robbie Deans so you would suggest this may be something we have built into our rugby DNA. The Welsh have brought their A-team, and I dare say this is the strongest Northern Hemisphere side we have had on our shores since the 2003 World Cup. They are Six Nations champions and are brimming with confidence. With only one major loss due to injury (damaging centre Jamie Roberts) they fancy their chances of recording their…

Welcome to the Tuesday Top 10, your weekly source of erratic ramblings on all things rugby. 10. This week we start in Newcastle, as we so often do. It’s hard to know quite what to make of this test tonight. Hastily cobbled together as a favour to the Scots, it’s forecast to be pissing rain and blowing a gale. We are fielding a bits-and-pieces side with limited training time. We are playing on an unfamiliar ground with a new captain. These aren’t exactly positive signs. That said Scotland are ranked 12th in the world, and we should be able to…

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Tahs… it did. The Canes put them to the sword at the SFS in front of a paltry crowd of 13,372. While the home side had their moments they never really looked like scoring, and were let down by some shithouse handling in the opposition 22. The Canes feasted on these errors and scored three tries in the last 20 minutes to take 5 points in a 33-12 win. The first half was a rather uninspiring affair, with both sides trading penalty goals for the first 20. There were…

This is the Tuesday Top 10, the weekly column where I make your dreams come true. That is, if you dream only of second-rate analysis and fairly lame jokes. 10. I’m struggling for motivation this week. I don’t quite know why, but the current hypothesis at the moment is I’m getting a bit tired of Super Rugby. My Waratahs are failing, and whilst the other Aussie teams are travelling nicely (bar the Force) I can’t help getting a little sick of it all. If only there was some sort of break, a ‘window’ if you will, where we can take…

Welcome to the Tuesday Top 10, the soapbox where I air my deluded and one-eyed ramblings on everything rugby.   10. This week was a big one for Aussie rugby. With the June tests rapidly approaching the game needed a shot in the arm to get the viewing public fired up. Thankfully both the Rebels and Reds delivered, beating top tier NZ opponents in fine style. With a few big names to come back and what promises to be a free-flowing series against Wales you can just feel the momentum slowly building. Now if only the Tahs could do their…

Heartbreak. An all too familiar feeling for Tahs fans in 2012. The Bulls scored a try in the 77th minute to take tonight’s game 27-24 in front of a crowd of 17,368. The home side was the better team for much of the game, however will rue a couple of costly late errors that opened the door for the Bulls. Poor goal-line defence was also evident, with the Bulls scoring three tries from their only three attacking opportunities. It was Heritage Night at Allianz Stadium, with the Tahs looking resplendent in dark blue, a tribute to the 1937 team that…

Welcome to another round of half-baked opinions and wildly erratic predictions, otherwise known as the Tuesday Top 10. 10. Let’s get straight to the Will Genia debacle. This was a monumental clusterfuck from all parties, but oddly enough I think they are all better off the way things have panned out. The Force are cashed up with Nathan Sharpe heading out next season, so it was mystifying to me that they were looking to spend all that money on a halfback (albeit a pretty good one). Have they not watched their own team play for the last five years? They…

The Crusaders put yet another dent in the Waratahs’ finals hopes, taking out their Sunday afternoon clash 37-33 in front of a healthy crowd of 30,663. The Waratahs will be ruing some simple missed tackles in the backline that contributed to each of the visitors’ tries. The locals battled amiably and played the most expansive game I have seen from them this year. The backline was given free rein and often delivered breaks and half-breaks. However, the Crusaders managed to keep scoring tries as they always have, and in the end the Tahs couldn’t keep up. There are plenty of…

Welcome to the Tuesday Top 10, where I mindlessly rant about ten subjects from the previous weeks.   10. When I tipped the Brumbies to be finals candidates people laughed at me. At least that’s how I remember it anyway. OK… maybe not. But people should have known that when I said they would be ‘wooden spooners’ I secretly meant ‘conference winners’. In scoring five tries against the Bulls at Loftus they proved they are not just an early season flash-in-the-pan. Sure, three of those tries were scored after the Bulls had it won, but it is an impressive feat…

It was back to business as usual for the Waratahs with a solid win over the Rebels at the SFS. Both teams had their moments but the Tahs were always just that little bit better than their southern counterparts, who struggled to get into gear in both halves. The home side will be ruing not picking up the four try bonus though, while both sides will be anxiously awaiting the prognosis on both injury and suspension. The SFS was in great nick. The weather was good. There was both pomp and ceremony, with a military marching band outside and a…

The Tahs are coming off a win for just the second time this season, and face the daunting task of heading to Hamilton to take on current comp front-runners the Chiefs.   The visitors have named an unchanged 22, and you would think this continuity can only be a positive. McKibbin, Barnes and Carter added much needed starch to the inside backs against the Sharks and they will need to be on their game again as they take on arguably the comp’s best 9-10-12 combination at the moment- Kerr-Barlow, Cruden and SBW. Not to mention the battle up front,…

Ten things that have caught my attention over the past few weeks: 10. How close is the comp this season? Of the seven games on the weekend, six were decided by a converted try or less. This has been the case for every round, with multiple games going down to the wire each weekend. Already three have been decided by tries off the last play of the game. It’s a tipsters nightmare, but a rugby fan’s dream. The historical ‘minnows’ are all putting forward good showings, while sides written off in pre-season (eg Hurricanes and Brumbies) are making a…