Author: Groucho

This isn’t a preview of the World Cup semi-final against Argentina, Brian Smith has already done a very good job of that. This is a call to arms. There was a time of despair, after the last-gasp win over Scotland, when I thought there was no way the Wallabies could possibly beat Los Pumas this week. The Argies had just played like demons to steamroll the Irish. We’d played like drains against Scotland. It was a long, dark tea-time of the soul, except the tea was breakfast tea, due to the game being played in distant Mordor. But I came…

It’s on! A wonderful World Cup, full of drama and reversals, has reached the knockout stage. Australia have finished top in Pool A and will face Scotland in the quarter-finals at Twickenham on Sunday 18 October. Wouldn’t we have liked to read those words a few months ago? Twickenham has suddenly become a home away from home for the resurgent Wallabies: now the scene of two momentous, but utterly different wins. The game against England was mostly about the pressure we applied, and some razzle dazzle off the back of that. The game against Wales was mostly about the pressure…

Like the two unassuming lads who join forces to evict the overbearing bully from the party, Wales and Australia now get to compete for the beautiful girl. The fact that it was the bully’s party, and the girl is called Bill, are mere bagatelles. Watching Australia push England out the door with a firm Argentinian shove was worth the price of admission to the party on its own. Sir Clive Woodward, Brian Moore and Danny Cipriani can still be heard, whining in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Wales and Australia get to party! This is the 38th game between these two proud…

Who would win in a fight between an eagle and a wallaby? The USA Eagles face off against the Australian Wallabies at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday September 5, rekindling one of the oldest rivalries in the sports history of both nations. These teams first played in 1912, at Berkeley, with the Wallabies winning closely 12-8. Since then, Australia has gone on to win all seven games, the most recent by 67-5 in Sydney. It’s a very different story in the 7-man version of the game. The Eagles Sevens recently trounced Australia 45-22 to clinch an HSBC Sevens World…

This is slightly different to the usual Green & Gold Rugby blog post. Instead of writing about Australian rugby, we’re going to try to do something to help promote it.The Wallabies play the USA Eagles at Soldier Field in Chicago on September 5. As well as being a fully capped test match, with all that means for our players, it’s a pivotal event for the commercial fortunes of both unions. A sellout crowd is reputedly worth $1m to the cash-strapped ARU.And yet the game hasn’t been energetically promoted.We believe this is due to cost. The kind of campaign that AIG…

If there is a word guaranteed to rile rugby purists, it is “product”. Rugby is a sport, they say, a way of life, a tradition. It is a game played by hard men to win glory, not by marketers to win a quick buck. But without marketers, where would we be? In the words of astronaut Gus Grisham: no bucks, no Buck Rogers. Without bums on seats there would be no wages for professional players, and no money for the grass roots. In this new age of professional sports, rugby would die. So, how are we doing? We know how…

As I watched the Barbarians game last night, barely kept awake by Phil and Brendon’s Archie and Jughead comedy routine, a frightening thought came to me. Four short years ago we saw the Wallabies, seemingly baffled by their 49-0 trouncing of the Springboks two weeks before, revert to a field position game and stick with it for the remainder of Knuckles’ tenure as coach. They went from one of the most exciting teams in world rugby to one that kicked away possession from first phase play whenever they were in their own half of the field. Why did the Baa…