Author: Charlie Mackay
A special edition G&GR column written by Kirby Sefo on the state of women’s rugby in Australia has been organised by Charlie, who apparently is John Farnhamesque in his ‘final article’. WOMEN’S RUGBY IN AUSTRALIA by Kirby Sefo My playing career was decorated with the many typical (but aspiring) highs of a female athlete including international dual code representation, professional contracts, multiple club premierships, Super W captaincy along with the feel-good emotions and memories filled up by lifelong friendships made and contributions to long standing legacies created. It also ran parallel to the typical lows of a female athlete including…
In today’s news, we’ll recap the weekend gone with rugby results and women’s rugby in Australia getting the same old treatment from the old boys’ club. You’ll have seen that Green & Gold Rugby has been sold by Matt Rowley to Ponderosa Publishing. As the name suggests, this means that the recently departed group of writers, who formed their own site a few months ago, will be returning from next week as the owners of Green & Gold Rugby. So, for the second time this year, it appears that I’ll be hanging up my G&GR whistle, cards and notebook and…
Morning, folks! Georgia Satellite has kindly written an article for you all to enjoy – many thanks, mate! I’ve added a bit of extra news in terms of matches down the bottom. Happy Monday! Chuck. Sighnaghi, Georgia. Where the sky turns from grey to purple, the purple is actually the mighty Caucasus Mountains beyond the wine-rich Alazani Valley (credit: Georgia Satellite) There’s been much talk about the improvement of Fiji lately, especially relative to the poor recent form of the Wallabies and Wales. But what of one of our other RWC ‘pool mates’, Georgia? Let’s remember that last year they…
Welcome, G&GRs, to Australia’s premier rugby website for another instalment of rugby news. We’ll have a gander at all the matches from the weekend which just about sums up the news, so ‘Happy Monday’ to you all! ALL BLACKS v WALLABIES All Blacks 23 def Wallabies 20 – match report here The Wallabies started on fire as they raced out to a 17-3 lead at half-time in search of their first win in NZ over the All Blacks in over 20 years. I can tell you I was pretty excited when I put my phone down to go and referee…
Boomerang comes back to bite? It’s all doom and gloom for G&GR fans in the news. Even one of the well-received things the team did on Saturday night – the pre-match boomerang acceptance of the Haka challenge – infringes World Rugby’s rules according to Rugby Onslaught . “Where only one team is performing a challenge, no player from the team performing the challenge may cross their own 10m line and no player from the team receiving the challenge may cross the halfway line. It is not mandatory for the team receiving the challenge to face it.” How much common sense…
Welcome to yet another melancholy Monday, folks. Once again the Wallabies have shown promise in areas and for periods of time yet lost out on the scoreboard – plenty to choo on before Choosday! Elsewhere, the Boks have just edged out the Pumas in the TRC, including a critical incident in the first 10 seconds of the match. In the Pacific Nations Cup, Japan defeated Tonga and Fiji beat Samoa. In the Summer Series, Scotland have defeated Italy in Edinburgh. Here’s hoping we can pull ourselves out of a collective Bledisloe-less stupor. WALLABIES v NEW ZEALAND The All Blacks have…
And it’s another Friday, folks. My spirits are not high, going into the weekend’s test matches. I like the look of the latest Wallabies 23 but I’m not confident that they’ve been knitted into a competitive team with a complete game plan and 80 plus minutes’ worth of mental fitness. TESTICULAR FORTITUDE Australia v New Zealand Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne – 7:55 p.m. (AEST) on Saturday, 29 July Ref: Wayne Barnes; ARs: Karl Dickson, Christophe Ridley; TMO: Tom Foley. Australia: 1. Angus Bell, 2. David Porecki, 3. Allan Alaalatoa (c), 4. Nick Frost, 5. Will Skelton, 6. Jed Holloway, 7.…
Concussion Injuries Rugby News has an AFP report that Jake Gordon is out of action with a concussion injury suffered against Tonga (Waratah Gordon’s Toulon stint suddenly ends after concussion setback | Latest Rugby News | RUGBY.com.au). Unfortunately, this has ruled him out of Toulon and puts paid to any slim chances he may have for a RWC appearance as an emergency backup. On this topic, ABC News (Inside the brain of a suspected CTE patient, 3D scans show impact of repeated head knocks – ABC News) has a confronting story of the diagnosis and impact of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy…
Good morning, folks! A slower Newsweek this week, but we come once again to the halfway point and another rugby feast is on the horizon! Let’s see what there is to see. ** we have hopefully fixed the Facebook link. If so, welcome to the refreshed bunch of craparazzi here on G&GR. Chuck has stuck around for Mondays, Newtta for Tuesdays, GoldyLocks on Wednesdays, ParForCourse on Thursdays and Juswal on Fridays. Good to see you back! Bok again The Springboks have rung nine changes to the starting side which was done over by the All Blacks last round for their…
What’s killing the Wallabies: ‘I haven’t seen a ruck stat this low at International rugby’ Rugby Pass has a summary from an Aotearoa Rugby Pod discussion on the Wallabies. The Aotearoa Rugby Pod gave their insights on what is troubling the Wallabies so far and shared their concerns over the complexity of the game plan and the potential free-for-all that has been presented as a selection policy. The consequences of those elements are a lack of clarity on the field and busy minds that aren’t in the best space for critical decision-making. Of chief concern was how those elements were…
Greetings, G&GRs, and welcome to Monday’s Rugby News! Not a whole lot of action this weekend, though the matches that were on certainly had significant consequences with the outcomes. We’ll review the weekend that was in the lead-up to the Bill in Paris, the weekend that was for WXV, and the signing of players in Super Rugby. THE LEAD-UP TO THE PARISIAN BILL We’ll start off on our own shores with reports Michael Hooper is an unlikely starter for this weekend’s game against the Darkness at the MCG. Like all things related to the baby cows, Hooper’s veal is taking…
Welcome to Friday again. There is no Wallabies match this weekend, so cut yourself a slice of sausage and choo on this little lot. TMA SQUADS N’ PODS In yesterday’s news, but dropping a little too late for ParForCourse’s morning bulletin, Eddie Jones named a squad of 33 for the forthcoming Bledisloe Cup campaign: Forwards: Allan Alaalatoa, Richie Arnold, Angus Bell, Pone Fa’amausili, Matt Faessler*, Nick Frost, Langi Gleeson, Jed Holloway, Tom Hooper, Rob Leota, Fraser McReight, Matt Philip, David Porecki, Will Skelton, Blake Schoupp*, James Slipper, Taniela Tupou, Jordan Uelese, Rob Valetini. Backs: Quade Cooper, Lalakai Foketi, Carter Gordon, Andrew…
Many thanks to ParForCourse for his Thursday musings. We’re working on access to WordPress (which is why Charlie has been posting for the others, gotta get the article count up some how!) so they’ll be able to post themselves soon! British & Irish Lions Tour The British & Irish Lions (B&IL announce itinerary for 2025 Tour of Australia at lionsrugby.com) have released the nine-match schedule for the 2025 Tour to Australia including three test matches against the Wallabies (kick off times not yet set): 28 June, Western Force, Perth (Optus Stadium) 2 July, Queensland Reds, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium) 5 July,…
From the news desk of GoldyLocks with many thanks! Welcome to this woeful Wobbly Wednesday – you might be over it, but I sure ain’t. Unfortunately, a lack of international matches this weekend means we’ll need to go hunting for distractions. But old Goldy has magnanimously put in the hard yards on your behalf, so feast your eyes on the following! Quade Nooper Renowned New Zealand rugby intellect Jeff Wilson continues to criticise the Wallabies’ selection of the once-Red roustabout at 10, stating: “I still can’t understand, why is Quade Cooper running this team because he’s not delivering and we…
By Newtta – thanks for the news, chum! SEXTON BANNED FOR REF ABUSE Johnny Sexton will be free to captain Ireland in the Rugby World Cup after receiving a three game ban for misconduct announced by European rugby chiefs on Sunday. But the 38 year old flyhalf will miss next month’s warm-up matches against Italy, England and Samoa, despite “exchanging words with referee Jaco Peyper” after the Champions Cup final nearly two months ago. Fortunately for the rugby world, Rugby Onslaught sources within the hearing have been able to leak part of his interrogation, and it does not bode well…
Good Monday, G&GRs, and welcome to the Rugby News for this week. We’ll have a review of the matches from the weekend gone and the consequences of the results for the sides, some meanderings from club land, and Wallaby players on the move. WALLABIES v ARGENTINA Match report here. Argentina scored in the 79th minute to defeat the Wallabies 34-31 at CommBank Stadium. In a wild finish, the hosts fought back from a ten point deficit to almost pull off a remarkable victory. It started with a try to Samu Kerevi, followed by an incredible 95 metres intercept by Mark…
From the desk of The Masked Avenger. Here are a few things to choo on as we wait for the whistle this evening. The Wallaroos have taken a 45-7 beating from Canada in their last match of Pacific Four series. Their third-place finish qualifies them for the WXV 1 tournament in New Zealand in October–November, joining France, Wales, England, Canada and the host nation. The Junior Wallabies defeated Wales 57–33 in Cape Town and have finished fifth in the World Rugby Under 20s Championship. France beat Ireland 50–15 in the final and South Africa took bronze with a 22–15 win…
From the desk of The Masked Avenger – many thanks! TODAY AND TOMORROW Ready to get the rugby nosebag on? I am! There are two exciting test match main courses being served on Saturday evening, preceded by a tasty tour match at lunchtime today. Plus there are Pacific Four and World Rugby Under 20 Championship matches galore laid out on the smörgåsbord over the coming days – more rugby meals than I can survey here, unfortunately. during the Rugby Championship Test between Wallabies and South Africa at Suncorp Stadium on September 18th 2021 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. (Photo by Stephen…
The Wallaroos appeared to use last week’s defeat against New Zealand as pure motivation when they turned up on a sunny 28 degree day in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The Wallaroos, on the back of a strong performance from flyhalf Arabella McKenzie beat the Americans for the first time in 20 years. The first thing I noticed during the coverage was that this was my first experience watching rugby with commentary from a guy with a North American accent. The caller, whose name I couldn’t find, was on song and did a fine job. Not quite Gordon Bray with…
Thank you to today’s author, Par for Course, for his words of wisdom. Enjoy! Look out for Friday’s News with Juswal, too. Head to the comments section to keep your days filled with anything but work. Jobs are overrated anyway… Michael Hooper Michael Hooper is Out Yep looks like everyone called Hooper is out of Saturday’s test with injury. Michael’s withdrawal was announced late Wednesday. In other World Rugby news, the continuing trend of ‘big name’ players announcing their immediate retirements as Frans Steyn announced his retirement from rugby. Super Rugby News The Brumbies have announced Harrison Goddard has signed…