Author: Guest Writer

It’s time to welcome back that prolific contributor to the pages of G&GR, Mr AllyOz. Over to you Oz. We’ve heard plenty of calls to get rid of the Giteau Law. Our stocks at home are thin, we are losing our best players to the cashed up French and Japanese teams, or so the story goes. But a comment from Keith below the excellent Wednesday news from Yowie prompted me to review just who we might be missing out on. I’ve tried to prepare as comprehensive list as possible, but I’m likely to have missed a few. I’d love to…

Another guest article from South Australia’s own, Mr Craig Basford. If you’d like to support your local club, drop us a line by clicking ‘submit story’ below. Over to you Craig, and thanks again to Bobbi Devine Rugby for the images in this story. The thing about overnight success is that it’s usually anything but. From players and teams that achieved sustained success to the those who took their one chance when it came, they all have many moments that led to that one chance, many people who sacrificed for that chance. When the Woodville women took the field in…

Another week, another guest writer. Thanks for the article from Craig Basford and brilliant images from Bobby Devine Rugby Pics (find on Instagram) Science tells us that the flow of time is not constant. Science tells us that time can speed up and slow down relative to the object experiencing it. Just thinking about it can hurt our brains, but on occasion we see in action what science can sometimes struggle to explain to the layman. On Sunday, all who were at the U16 grand final between minor premiers Woodville and the 3rd placed Brighton witnessed time slow down as…

Big thank you to regular contributor AllyOz for his article below. Take it away Oz. Many of you have probably already seen this but I have started watching the first season of Chasing the Sun on Rugby Pass TV. (This is a little like when I discovered Radiohead in 2011 about 15 years after everyone else did….putting me in the same boat (pun intended) as Captain James Cook who discovered Australia 60K years after the first inhabitants and a couple of hundred years after a few Dutchies. Anyway, the first couple of episodes have been fantastic and if anyone hasn’t…

It had to happen folks, G&GR has gone global. Great piece for your consideration by guest author and ling time lurker ‘Duke’ from the good ol’ US of A. It gets better after the first sentence. Take it away Duke. The Reds are the best Australian rugby team. Because I said so. Of course there are other opinions, but we don’t really have a way to settle it. Sure we could look at the end of season ladder, but that doesn’t really account for how a team performs in the cauldron of finals footy. If only there were an Australian…

By guest writer Corbyn Holznagel. There are few places in Australia that can be described as rugby strongholds, but if there was such a thing, surely the Darling Downs would be podium finishers. They love their rugby on the Downs, so much so that these true believers in all things Australian rugby (well mostly) are celebrating their 60 years anniversary in 2024, and it’s sure to be another great year of footy. In 1964, a courageous group of rugby lovers got together, sharing stories of wool prices, header machines, too much rain, not enough rain, and a rugby comp for…

Good morning Gaggerlanders, and welcome to the first of many contributions from our new Hospital Cup and Queensland Country Rugby contributor, Colin Holznagel. Big shout out to Stephen Tremain for some great photos as well. The Setting Fifty years since Brothers and Randwick first met in an Australian Rugby Club Championship, the two heavyweights of Australian club rugby were back at it again at the famed Crosby Park to do battle for the silverware and state-based boasting rights for another 12 months. The hill at the old ground was packed, steakburger aromas filled the air, and rugby supporters of all…

Welcome back special guest writer and prolific G&GR commentator, Mr AllyOz. And to clarify is not paid by the word… Here are some short summaries after a quick run around of some of the major rugby news sites. Eddie Jones: coaching genius or court jester? Nick Bishop provides some more analysis of the Eddie Jones saga, with comments from Stephen Moore, who thinks Joe Schmidt, Ronan O’Gara or Dan McKellar would make good Wallabies coaches. Nick also goes into his personal encounters with EJ in 2015, when Eddie brushed aside a 75- page analysis by him, and in 2019 when…

Another week, another guest article from G&GR regular and guest writer, Mr AllyOz. Super Rugby Pacific didn’t get an ideal start. It was born of necessity and rushed into existence to ensure meaningful competitions for players. The introduction of two new sides to add to the existing ten teams from Australia and New Zealand added a fresh dimension to the competition. As well as beefing up the local competition, the teams were designed, at least in part, to provide pathways to professional rugby for people from Pasifika nations, including Fiji, Samoa and Tonga and, thereby, help improve their international importance.…

By guest writer and G&GR stalwart, AllyOz. Follow the Money Joe I read an article in The Australian a few weeks back by Robert Craddock, one of their regular rugby league and cricket writers. Craddock suggested that while the decision to employ Eddie Jones seemed to be outgoing chair Hamish McLennan’s worst, the decision to poach Joseph Sua’ali’i on a $1.7m pa, three year deal could be worse still. Craddock argued that Sua’ali’i’s signing could trigger a revenge NRL buying spree of rugby’s best talent, supported by salary cap concessions from the games governing body. I’m not that worried about…

By guest writer Rhys Bosley In the late 80s and early 90s when I first came to Australia from New Zealand, I was as engaged as any other Queenslander by the titanic State of Origin matches of the time. How could I not be, with Mal Meninga, Alfie Langer and most of all the King, Wally Lewis, battling the dastardly Blues and pulling off a miracle series win right on full time? Despite being from a foreign land, supporting the Origin was one of the things that made me feel like a Queenslander. I was also inspired by the great…

It’s with much pleasure we submit this article from long time G&GR member Adrian, and it’s a timely piece at that. And it’s with much thanks and a pure coincidence too, to fellow G&GR member, ‘Wonky Donkey’, that we are permitted to use his cartoon ‘Must be the Monet’ as the feature image. Welcome to the G&GR crapparazzi gents and take it away, Adrian: For years, followers of rugby (rugby union) have seen themselves in competition withrugby league. Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) most rugby league followers don’t know that there’s any competition going on! Recently Spiro Zavos wrote…

It is with great pleasure we post the following opinion piece from G&GR stalwart, legend and frustrated rugby fan, Mr Hugh Cavill. Take it away Hugh. Opinion. There’s an old saying that people like to roll out at times like this: the night is always darkest before the dawn. But I’m here to tell you that while it’s pretty damned dark, don’t expect the sun any time soon. Why? The people that got us into this mess are still behind the wheel, despite them telling us otherwise. What we actually need is a CEO who is devoid of any links…

Woodville wins first junior flag in 30years! Big shout out & thanks to Craig Basford for the article & images provided. There was the briefest of silence immediately following the final whistle. The sort of brief, uneasy quiet in the space between a bomb going off in the far distance and the soundwave hitting you. Then it hit, the guttural roar of 23 U14 players who had just seen off the previously undefeated Brighton. Then came the shock wave of coaches, family and friends rushing the ground sweeping them all up and the chant of ‘Woodies, Woodies’ ringing around Brighton…

Article provided by KB from the Apple Isle I was disappointed I couldn’t make it to the final. A 500km round trip is a bit hard on a poor old pensioner (who is not really on the pension and not that old) and who drives a diesel guzzling ute at $2.20 a litre. So much of this report comes courtesy of TAS Rugby News – so thanks to them. Anyway, it was a top of the table clash as minor premiers Launceston Tigers (season of 13 wins from 14 starts) faced off against second placed Taroona Penguins (also on 13…

UPDATE: Brisbane’s Iona College has fallen short of their Rugby Heritage Cup dream last night in Pontlevoy, going down 40-20 to New Zealand’s Condor Sevens team in an entertaining final in France. The Rugby Heritage Cup is a global schools rugby sevens competition celebrating 200 years since the birth of the code, and is acting as a lead-in to the Rugby World Cup in Paris. Every nation competing at the Rugby World Cup was invited to nominate a boys team and a girls team to compete in the event in a ‘celebration of rugby’ that also challenged the teams in…

Today we welcome via a referral from Charlie a new contributor to G&GR: Anaseini Wailutu. Anaseini has significant involvement in rugby in both Australia and New Zealand, and today has the following post (hopefully the first of many): AU and NZ women’s rugby Do you remember that scene from Back to the Future I/II when Marty McFly returned to 1985 and he went home, over the gate and climbed through his bedroom window only to find it wasn’t his bedroom or the reality he knew? Well that’s kind of what it’s like on the other side of the ditch for…

This report from Michael Westlake from the tournament in France. Australia’s representatives at the Rugby Heritage Cup in France, Brisbane’s Iona College, are through to the world semi-finals after defeating Tonga College 35-15 in their quarter-final last night (Tuesday) in Pontlevoy. The Rugby Heritage Cup is a global schools rugby sevens competition celebrating 200 years since the birth of the code, and is acting as a lead-in to the Rugby World Cup in Paris. Iona finished on top of the ladder after the round of pool matches, winning all three of their games convincingly against teams from Argentina, England and…

Join with us today for the 8th instalment of the history of the RWC by guest writer and now honorary NSWelshman ‘Damo’. Been a Herculean effort from our Northern Comrade, engaging and terrific reading. Thankyou D-Man & take it away: Saffas make it threefa. When: 20 September – 2 November 2019 Hosts: Land of The Rising Sun Winners: Saffas Runners up: SDs Third: ABs Fourth: Boyos RWC 2023 kicks off in a little over a week. Excitement if you’e a rugby fanatic and trepidation if you’re a Wallabies supporter. I’m definitely in both camps there. And with the tournament looming…

Black to Black Wins. In Brief When: September 18th to October 31st The Hosts: The Mother Country Winners: Nigel Owens AB’s Runners Up: Aussies Third: Saffa’s Fourth: Argies And, so, we come to the penultimate version of the RWC Chronicles, 2015, with not only RWC 2023 looming, but also the imminent end of RDU, which has bookended the Chronicles and is soon to be consigned to the list of fascinating historical short stories, along with the likes of the Leyland P76, Mal Meninga’s political career and France’s 1940 defensive line. Looking forward to RDU reverting back to our old friend,…