Author: Steve Lenthall

The Brumbies are hoping that season 2012 is a chance to restore a winning culture after a disastrous 2011 campaign after appointing Jake White to a 4 year contract. The coaching dramas that plagued the team have been well documented but the Brumbies are hoping the appointment of the 2007 World Cup winning coach will bring the team back to the glory days and give the fans in Canberra something to cheer about. White has been in Canberra since July and hit the ground running by holding a series of camps in Sydney, where the majority of the squad were…

Eastwood have snapped Sydney University’s dominance of the Shute Shield with a dramatic 19-16 extra time win at Concord Oval. Uni opened the scoring after 3 minutes through a Daniel Halangahu penalty, but he’d be doing well to remember it after being knocked out attempting to tackle Eastwood flyhalf Pierre Hola shortly after. Eastwood had the better of early exchanges but had little to show for it until they received a penalty after Uni collapsed the scrum. Hola evened the scores at 3-3 with a pen after 8 minutes. The conditions weren’t great for running rugby with the ball difficult…

The call has been made to Ireland to produce a squad of players that can put the ghost of their disastrous 2007 campaign to rest. Ireland have played Australia four times in World Cup fixtures but are yet to taste success, however, the Irish have come close to knocking off Australia on two occasions in the World Cup – a 1 point loss in the 1991 quarter final at Lansdowne Road (thanks Noddy) and the same margin in the pool fixture in Melbourne during the 2003 tournament. Best XV 1 Cian Healy 2 Rory Best 3 Mike Ross 4 Donncha…

The Tuggeranong Vikings have taken out the 2011 John I Dent Cup with a devastating 44-18 win over Wests at Viking Park. The Vikings ran rampant with hat tricks to Colby Faingaa and Isikele Ratulevu, who had his by half time, setting the platform in the seven tries to two win. Wests went into the game as underdogs but that did not deter them as they had the majority of the early possession and got off to a 3-0 lead through Simon Uphill, who was only called into the lineup late this week as a replacement for the injured Jesse…

Even though the World Cup is upon us, there is still some other rugby on to keep us entertained. This Saturday marks the end of the John I Dent Cup competition in Canberra with Tuggeranong taking on Wests in the Grand Final. Tuggeranong booked their place in the Grand Final by taking the short cut after defeating the Gungahlin Eagles 23-12 in the major semi-final two weeks ago, while Wests walked the sudden death tightrope with a come from behind win over Royals in the minor semi final with two tries in the last eight minutes. They then went on…

The scriptwriter couldn’t have planned a better ending to the end of the SupeRugby regular season for either of these teams. The Waratahs have the chance to play finals football if they can secure a win against a Brumbies team that has run into some form of late, albeit with nothing left to play for in 2011. The Brumbies have the chance to ruin the party and despite publicly claiming the tag of ‘spoilers’ isn’t for them, deep down I’m sure that could be a different story, especially after the Waratahs snatched a late win by the length of Sitaleki…

The Brumbies have defeated the Melbourne Rebels 32–17 in a five-tries-to-two bonus point victory, to give a host of departing Brumbies players a winning send off in front of their home fans. The match also marked the return of Rebels rebel Danny Cipriani and it appeared nerves had got the better of him as he knocked on in the opening minute. In his defence the pass he received was less than favourable. The Brumbies opened the scoring in the fifth minute when fullback Christian Lealiifano slid through some weak defence down the Rebels’ left side to score. The Rebels could…

This Friday night sees the resurgent Brumbies take on the Melbourne Rebels in Canberra in the final home game for 2011 in what also doubles as a home farewell for a number of Brumbies players. After producing one of the upsets of 2011 in defeating the Reds last week, the Brumbies will need to be wary of a Rebels team that has already defeated them earlier in the season. Despite leaking 40 points against the Stormers in their previous match, the Rebels will fancy their chances after the inclusion of Danny Cipriani who is returning after six weeks away with…

The Brumbies take on the in form Stormers in Canberra this Saturday in an attempt to keep their home record against the visitors in tact. This will be the seventh clash between these teams in the capital and the Brumbies have won the previous six matches. In fact, the overall records show the Brumbies have won 10 and lost 2 with 1 draw and this should give them some confidence heading into this match. The Brumbies have made limited changes for this week, with the majority of changes occurring in the back row. The home team will be without Rocky…

The Brumbies have packed their bags and crossed the Nullarbor to take on the Western Force in Perth on Saturday night, in what will be Mark Chisholm’s 100th SupeRugby match. After receiving one of the biggest sprays of all time from coach Tony Rea after their loss to the Lions last week, the Brumbies have regrouped to try and recapture the winning feeling – something they have not experienced since a one-point win over the Hurricanes in early April. Rea has made training this week an interesting experience for the squad. An afternoon session was rescheduled to 9:00pm, with all…

The Brumbies’ disastrous 2011 season continued on Saturday night when they were beaten 29-20 by the Lions at a freezing Canberra Stadium. The Lions, who had only won one other game this year, were another team to break a losing record in the capital this year, recording their first win in nine attempts in Canberra. They may have been belted by a rampant Cheetahs outfit only a week earlier, but they showed they had come determined to play and were led by brilliant fly-half Elton Jantjies. The lightweight Jantjies displayed his array of tricks and was easily the star of the…

The Brumbies have finally returned home from their South African trip, and they’ve been followed from Johannesburg by the Lions. The two sides clash this Saturday night in a match that will mark Matt Giteau’s 100th SupeRugby game. Both teams have been underwhelming this year and have the grand total of three wins between them. With the home ground advantage the Brumbies would normally target this a very winnable game, but they’ve had a shocker of a week in trying to prepare for it. The perils of international travel struck and they had to endure an agonising 31 hours in…

We’re past halfway in the 2011 SupeRugby season, and it’s time to have a look at how the Brumbies have fared so far. They boasted a competitive roster coming into 2011, but it’s fair to say the Brumbies have massively underachieved in a season that, once again, promised so much and has delivered very little. With only two wins to date — and unconvincing ones at that — the Brumbies have sputtered their way from week to week. Nobody has been debating whether they’ll win or lose; instead, the critics are asking “how much will they get beaten by this…

The woeful season that is 2011 continued for the Brumbies after they failed to hold onto a half-time lead, leaking 28 unanswered second half points to go down 16–34 to the Sharks in Durban overnight. The visitors came to Durban aiming to atone for their disastrous start against the Cheetahs in the last game. At first it appeared this had been addressed with far more intensity in their play on show in the opening exchanges. The Brumbies aimed to take the game to the Sharks through the forwards and were perhaps guilty of over-enthusiasm, with referee Mark Lawrence penalising them…

The Brumbies continue their African safari with a stop in Durban to take on the Shorks in the early hours of Sunday morning. For those who’ll be up to watch the Stormers v. Crusaders clash, at least watch the first five minutes of this telecast – you can thank me later. For the Brumbies, it will be an emotional return to Durban for members of the squad who were present two years ago and witnessed the tragic sight of team mate Shawn Mackay being hit by a vehicle. After a disappointing effort against the Cheetahs last week, the Brumbies have…

The Brumbies’ season of woe continued as they were belted by a rampant Cheetahs side 47-36 in Bloemfontein in the early hours of Saturday morning. Those who decided that watching 3:00am game of rugby would be great (like me) were probably wondering why they bothered after the first 20 minutes of the match. It appeared that the Brumbies got the kick-off time wrong as the Cheetahs got a cracking start with a monster drop goal from Riaan Viljoen from 60 metres out after just two minutes that would have made Francois Steyn happy. If that wasn’t bad enough, two minutes…

This Sunday afternoon sees the battle of the Australian conference cellar-dwellers when the Brumbies entertain the Western Force in Canberra. The Brumbies are coming off a less than convincing one-point victory over the Hurricanes, which should give them some confidence over a struggling Force side that was comprehensively smashed by the Waratahs last week. The game offers a chance for both teams to gain their maiden win over Australian opposition in season 2011. The locals have had a spring in their step at training this week thanks to their second win of the season. It’s been a long time between…

It was an ugly win, but the Brumbies will take it as it’s snapped a five-match losing streak. It was also the Brumbies’ first win over the Hurricanes since 2006 and interim head coach Tony Rea’s first since taking over the reins. In front of the smallest crowd since 2000, the Brumbies looked set to provide more suffering for their fans when after just four minutes Matt Toomua’s attempted clearing kick was charged down not once, but twice, letting Hurricanes fly-half Aaron Cruden dive on the ball for the opening try. The Hurricanes dominated the opening exchanges but were unable…

The Brumbies have named an unchanged starting line-up for the ‘Clash of the Capitals’ game against the Hurricanes in Canberra on Saturday night. Both teams are having disappointing seasons with a grand total of two wins between them — both over the Chiefs in underwhelming fashion. And that’s not where the similarities end, with injuries to key players taking a toll on their performances. This week the visitors are without injured All Black pair Piri Weepu and Rodney So’oialo, and could also lose Cory Jane who is likely to stay at home for the birth of his third child. Both…

The Brumbies’ 2011 season is over in terms of finals hopes, after they went down to the Highlanders 26-20 in Invercargill on Friday evening. Once again it was a case of missed opportunities and missed kicks at goal for the Brumbies, as they stumbled to their fifth loss in a row. In must be alarming for the Brumbies coaching staff that their players dominated most areas of the stats, but not where it mattered most — the scoreboard. The Brumbies went into the game with three playmakers — Giteau, Lealiifano and Toomua — to try giving the backline some spark. This worked…