Author: Graeme Forbes

Anyone who’s played in a final, in any sport, will tell you that’s what it’s all about. They will also tell you it’s a rare opportunity, something many people never experience. They can tell you it’s also the weirdest week of the season and that’s because it doesn’t matter how good you’ve been over the course of the year if you don’t back it up the very moment it counts then no one is going to remember you just for trying hard. It can be hard to focus and prepare for finals. Teams will not want to focus too much…

On occasion heavily criticised, on occasion praised, the quality of attacking play during Super Rugby AU has been both interesting and quite divisive. The clear steps teams have made on Defence has been huge. A return to the values of the 90’s and early 00’s when Aussie teams were some of the best defensive units around. If you’ve read Eddie Jones Biography he continually references how much defence was a focus of those great teams, the ’99 wallabies, the ’02 Brumbies etc… It’s obviously been a huge focus. You still need to score more points than the opposition though so…

Defence has been a big focus in Super Rugby AU and compared to the more open fare displayed elsewhere it’s understandable that this may be seen as a negative. But we need to keep in mind that with inexperienced teams finding their feet, which very clearly the Super Rugby AU sides are, Defence will always be the first focus. Defence is generally the first thing we’ll notice. It’s a more immediate fix than attack, at least in getting a noticeable result, but it’s also something that teams can grow into and seeing the Super Rugby AU teams develop has been interesting.…

You win by scoring more points than the opposition. Defence wins matches  and any other number of tropes. There are really only two overall objectives in the sport, score as many points as you can, stop the opposition scoring more than you.  It’s really that simple. Whilst great attack will rack up points, winning gets a whole lot easier if you have a defence that does its job well. In this aspect the Waratahs vs Brumbies was an interesting game not least because the score, but also because defensively both teams returned similar stats: Waratahs 87% Brumbies 89% Diving in…

There is something about the set play and Australian Rugby, it’s in the DNA. Personally I’m a big big fan of strike moves and in both the Australian games yesterday we saw two fantastic tries attacking the transition zone. The Brumbies exploited the space at the tail of the lineout for Muirhead’s try and the Waratahs sent Maddock over for a cracker right through the gaping chasm left by the Reds. That space is going to close up pretty quickly now it’s been exploited so openly but there was enough in both those tries to flag up there is plenty…

Welcome back Rugby. We’ve missed you. I guess it was only fitting that the Country that managed to get back up and running again first was New Zealand I mean they literally lead the way on every other aspect of the sport, so why not this? The result was two superb games of Rugby. Error strewn? Yes. Penalty rich? Also a yes. But within all that we saw everything the sport has to offer. 11 tries, using the full range of weapons available to the team. Set pieces used as attacking weapons and launch platforms. Goal Kicking and drop goals…

Back in 2014 one of the key to the Waratahs Super Rugby Title was the Foley/Beale axis. In many ways it was a blueprint for the Wallabies assault on the world cup the following year, with Giteau slotting into the 2 playmaker instead of Beale. Since the World cup it’s been clear that with first Giteau and then Beale being out of the equation the Wallabies have struggled to fill that position, and it’s been clear in how Foley has struggled at both Super Rugby and international level with an additional decision maker in the 12 position. Sure Chieka moving Foley…

As part of the fallout from the 1st Rugby Championship game its been interesting to hear the Australian coaching team talk. Stephen Larkham – “I don’t think it was necessarily a poor performance, there were just too many errors” It’s an interesting comment and in truth I get what Larkham is trying to say, that if they cut down the errors they’ll be there or there about. But that just doesn’t translate to what the paying public saw. While there are many areas in which the Wallabies failed on Saturday, for me (and I’d imagine pretty much everyone else) defence…

Accuracy of execution is everything in Rugby. You can play the most stifled and restrictive game plan ever devised and if you’re accurate in your execution you’ll likely come out on the right side of the score board. So, in a weekend where the New Zealand teams once again showed that executing simple skills accurately and at pace delivers results at the highest level, let’s all take a few moments to admire the control, composure and passing accuracy from the Reds Wallaby halfbacks. Granted they are small inaccuracies but between them Frisby and Cooper made 7 passes in the…

I’m pretty sure that after the frankly awful June series and the hit and miss Rugby Championship, Cheika and co. would have been quietly pleased with the prospect of being 3 for 1 heading into the final game against England. Whilst the Grand Slam would have been nice, let’s be realistic – it was probably never an achievable objective for this developing Australian side and it was always likely they were going to struggle against one of England or Ireland, if not both. So here it is. The final game of the year and it’s a biggie for both sides.…

You probably feel like we have been here before. Certainly in the time I’ve been writing for Green and Gold Rugby I’ve looked at the Wallabies kicking from hand on a number of occasions and yet we always seem to come back around to the same place. Much like Charlie Brown and the Football gag, despite knowing what’s going to happen, Australia never seem to learn their lesson and once again are left lying in the dirt, questioning why they fell for it again. Appalling metaphors aside, for whatever reason the Australian coaching team seem unable to address some fundamental flaws…

About 15 minutes into the first test I nearly turned the TV off, I’d had enough. Another hiding down South, and it being courtesy of England’s nemesis the Wallabies was making it all the more painful. Yep, another test series gone. It wasn’t even the thought of losing the series that was making me angry, it was the way Australia were coasting through the abject English defence, literally scoring tries for fun. 15 Minutes and we’d had a try apiece from Hooper and Folau as well as Foley’s disallowed try for crossing. Gustard’s new look England defence was getting found…

Once again we take a look at some of the key moments in the first Australia vs England match up in our Anatomy of a Test series. We start at the very beginning. Kick off – 4:20: Two sides laid bare. As with most tests we can tell a lot from the opening exchanges, and this is no different. From the kick off Greg Holmes gets pinged for rolling away and England clear their lines and from the ensuing lineout England work two phases before Fardy rips the ball from Vunipola and Australia immediately counterattack. Straight away we see the plan is…

You may have seen our anatomy of a try posts, pioneered by our resident English analyst, The Dead Ball Area. Well, we’ve decided to take that a step further and apply it to WHOLE TEST MATCHES by picking out what key areas of play through the games. What better test to try it out on than the Wallabies victory over England in last year’s World Cup? Enjoy – Ed. 00:00 – 3:00 – Kick off to Exit: 3 minutes that defined the first half You can tell a hell of a lot about a game in the opening few minutes and this…

If they took a poll, 99% of England fans over the last 10 years will have been tearing their hair out at the quality of England’s back play.  Poor decision making, bad passing, equally bad running lines. Even when England have generated quick ball (and that’s been scarce enough – read about the forward pack here) the backs have struggled to offer anything outside of straight running and setting the next phase. Embed from Getty Images There have been a couple of glorious days, sure, and small glimpses of what might be. Ultimately though the issues have been systemic throughout…

Last week we took a look at the coaching set up for England’s tour to Australia. Now we’re going to continue our in depth look at England by running through the England Squad for the tour, highlighting some key players as well as those who you should look out for during the series. Today, the forwards.  As part of the agreement between the RFU and the Premiership Rugby Clubs at the beginning of each year the RFU name an Elite Players Squad and an England Saxons Squad. That essentially gives the England Coaching staff access to all the named players for pre-agreed periods…

Leading into next week’s test, resident Englishman Graeme Forbes takes an in-depth look at the England Coaching setup lead by Eddie Jones.

Now the dust has settled on Kurtley Beale’s £1.5m ($3m Aus) deal we give you the skinny on his new club Wasps: Just who the hell are Wasps? Embed from Getty Images Wasps are a club based in Coventry in the Midlands of England (about 100 miles from London), they play in the Aviva Premiership. Formerly London Wasps they are one of the oldest clubs in the English game and one of the founding members of the Rugby Football Union. Formed in 1867 when Hempstead Football Club split (the other team formed was Harlequins RFC). They’ve had financial issues in…

Looking at the match stats from the Stormers vs Waratahs it’s pretty clear the stormers dominated the Tahs everywhere except the scoreboard. They had a better tackle completion rate, 99/17 compared to the Tah’s 132/31. They had 59% possession. They conceded fewer penalties, beat more defenders, made more turnovers. They pretty much came out on top in all the key areas, except that elusive score board. Yeah sure, the Stormers had a red card, and it obviously had an impact on the ending of the game, but what it really comes down to is being efficient and accurate with the…

One of the main highlights for me this year has been the way the not so obvious teams have stood up and given great accounts of themselves. The Lions in South Africa and the Rebels in Australia have both shown they’re on the right path to doing something in the next couple of years. I think we often forget the Rebels are a relatively new outfit – they only started in 2010 – and I think with the quality of teams in Super Rugby we sometimes get ahead of ourselves expectations wise when a team like the Rebels gets a result.…