Author: HJ Nelson
HJ Nelson
Rugby tragic, who combines his two hobbies of rugby and photography.
Nudgee have won the 2023 QLD GPS Rugby Premiership with a 37 – 7 win over The Southport School at Southport. A win to TSS would have resulted in a possible 4 way premiership with TSS, Nudgee, Churchie & Toowoomba Grammar sharing the title, however Nudgee College proved too strong, winning their 44th Rugby premiership. Nudgee started strongly with tries to Prestyn Laine-Setu and Cruz Lemming, before TSS narrowed the lead to 14-7 with a try to Mason King. The second half was all Nudgee College with tries to Nicholas Conway, Macarius Pereira and James Duggan. The try to winger…
The Wallabies overcame a 5th minute Red Card to winger Marika Koroibete to record a nail-biting 33-30 win over France at Suncorp Stadium. In front of a vocal 34,164 crowd Noah Lolesio kicked a 78th minute penalty to break a 30-all dead-lock, and allow the Wallabies to retain the Trophes des Bicentenaire The Wallabies got off to the worst possible start losing Filipo Daugunu to an arm/hand injury in the first 2 minutes. Worse was to come with Marika Koroibete being red-carded for a dangerous tackle on French captain Anthony Jelonch. In a decision to be debated for months…
Urged on by a crowd of 41,637 at Suncorp Stadium, the Queensland Reds have claimed the 2021 Super Rugby AU championship. In a frantic final 10 minutes, Reds Captain James O’Connor produced the winning try to produce the victory for the home team After scoring the first points of the game through a James O’Connor penalty, the Brumbies took the lead through a Tom Banks try after 12 minutes, and stayed in the lead until O’Connors try in the 85th minute [one_third last=”no”]The Game Changer The yellow cards to Darcy Swain and Luke Reimer in the final few minutes when…
The Queensland Reds have secured a home Super Rugby AU Final with a 24 -22 win a 5th straight win over the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium Hunter Paisami was a late withdrawal with a calf injury, giving Josh Flook a start. and bringing Lawson Creighton onto the bench. Brumbies were unchanged, welcoming back Allan Alaalatoa and Scott Sio The Brumbies got their rolling maul rolling early, and Folau Fainga’a crossed after 5 minutes. The try was reviewed for a foot in touch, but the Reds were probably lucky the try stood, otherwise Taniela Tupou could have been in the…
Greg Holmes led Force out in his 150th Super Rugby appearance, over 100 of them for the Queensland Reds. The Reds came out of the blocks strongly, with Tate McDermott scoring the first try for Reds from a dominant scrum The Force struck back through their own scrum penalty, converted by Jake McIntyre The Reds then looked to have butchered at try with Jock Campbell not passing to an unmarked Suliasi Vunivalu, however Hunter Paisami barged over from the breakdown, as Sean Maloney called it “Running out of defenders to run at before surrendering to the try line” The Reds…
The Queensland Reds left it to the last 2 minutes to take the lead in their Round 2 Super Rugby AU match, defeating the Melbourne Rebels 23 – 21. Alex Mafi’s second try of the night levelled the scores, with James O’Connor’s conversion giving a narrow lead. The Rebels had a chance to snatch it back in the last 30 seconds, but Matt Toomua’s boot, accurate all night, pushed it wide. The Match The first half was a snooze-fest, with the only highlight Hunter Paisami’s tackle on Matt Toomua. The Super Rugby AU referees continued their crack-down on off-side (and other…
The Queensland Reds lived up to some of the Super Rugby AU pre-season hype, with a comprehensive 41-7 win over the NSW Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium in the opening round of the 2021 season. The game also featured the first Red Card under the new Super Rugby AU laws, which allow the red carded player to be replaced after 20 minutes. The Waratahs got the perfect start with an early try to Jake Gordon, after a Jack Maddocks drew in 3 defenders before popping a pass of the deck to Gordon who scooted down the vacant sideline to score. Gordon’s…
Was fortunate enough to get Media Accreditation for the Suncorp Stadium Bledisloe, which has become increasingly difficult in a Post-Covid19 environment. Thanks to Rugby Australia and GAGR for the access Great to see a big crowd at a Rugby game again, and Suncorp Stadium retain its status as a Wallabies fortress, with 7 straight wins, with the last loss being against England in 2016. Also, good to see the next generation of young Wallabies stepping up and playing with confidence against the All Blacks Gallery
The Aussie Women have started Day 2 with a win, to ensure they qualified for the semi-finals. While the Aussie Men were overpowered by an impressive USA, losing 43-7 to be knocked out of the semi-final race. The second session for the women was very disappointing with Canada knocking out the Aussie women in the Semi Final, as they did last weekend in Hamilton Results Women The Women held out a fast finishing French team to ensure they will make the Semi-Finals. They will play Canada in SF1, while New Zealand will play France in SF2 Australia 14…
A scorching hot day in Sydney for Day 1 of the Sydney Sevens tournament at Parramatta’s BankWest Stadium. Both Aussie teams off to a good start with comfortable wins in all their Saturday Pool Games – if it’s possible to be comfortable in 44 degree heat. Results Women Australia 33 (Tries: Charlotte Caslick 2, Ellia Green 2; Conv: Sharni Williams, Ellia Green 3) defeated Spain 0 Charlotte Caslick scored with her first touch, and scored a double along with Ellia Green Australia 34 (Tries: Charlotte Caslick 3, Shan Parry, Sharni Williams, Dom Du Toit; Conv: Sharni Williams 3) defeated Ireland 0…
The Queensland Reds will take away no Super Rugby Competition points from their 57-5 win over the Melbourne Rebels in a trial game in Gladstone today, but Coach Brad Thorn will be reasonably happy with their performance The Reds were dominant throughout the game, particularly in the first half, against an under-strength Rebels team testing out the strength of their extended squad. Score Queensland Reds 57 (Tries: Daugunu 5, Paenga-Amosa, Hegarty, Mafi, Sorovi, Cons: Hegarty 6) def Melbourne Rebels 5 (Tries: Gicquel) at Marley Brown Oval, Gladstone on Friday, January 17, 2020 Takeaways 1. Queensland were Red…
A run-in with a over-zealous security guard prevented our man on the ground in the South of France from filing a report on the first game of the Junior Wallabies U20 World Championship. Thankfully ‘Anonymous Rugby Supporter’ got himself media accreditation for Game 2 and was able to get these photos to us. After a disappointing loss to Wales in their 1st Round Pool A game, the Junior Wallabies have bounced back with a good 54 – 19 win over the Japanese U20 team. With only the top team from each of the 3 pools, plus the next…
Australia and New Zealand unsurprisingly won their Round 2 games of the Oceania U20s Championship, setting up a winner-take all Final on Saturday, at Bond University. Australia v Tonga Australia scored at over a point a minute for the entirety of the game. Standout on the scoresheet was Matt McTaggart with 4 tries. Trevor Hoesa led the forwards well, and late call-up Will Harrison kept the back-line ticking over. As writing match reports is not my strong point, I have borrowed some forum comments from our man on the ground, “The Honey Badger” Team last night started really well.…
Round 1 of the Oceania U20s Championships at Bond University produced some (predictable?) one-sided results, with New Zealand and Australia recording convincing wins over Tonga and Fiji respectively. Australia v Fiji Australia looked very slick in the early stages of the game, running in 3 quick tries to Fraser McReight, Mack Hansen and Tate McDermott, and were out to a 19-0 lead after only 15 minutes. The Aussies were made to work a bit harder for the rest of the 1st half, picking up a try to Len Ikatau running on to an Isaac Lucas pass, and then…
Orange Emu’s home ground has certainly changed since I was last there in the 1980’s. Field in great condition, a fancy new grandstand, all amenities. This is no nostalgic flashback though. Cold, wet, muddy, built in a swamp – I hated the place. Mind you, I hated most Central West grounds in Winter – Bathurst, Lithgow, Oberon, and don’t even get me started on Blayney – if you were lucky it was only raining – and no snow or sleet. Probably a bit of an insight there about why I now live in Queensland. Memories of Endeavour Oval aren’t helped…
The Wallabies left it until the last 5 minutes to wrap up a 40 – 27 win over the Azzuri. Two late tries secured a victory, after the Italians were only trailing by only 1 point, and another upset had looked a distinct possibility. The Match Afternoon rugby returned to Suncorp, with the Azurri looking to get their first win over Australia, and the Wallabies looking to erase the memories of last weeks upset loss to the Scots. Wallabies started with a string of handling errors which put them under pressure, and were lucky not to be down 10-0,…
On a Black night for Aussie Super Rugby teams, sandwiched in between losses to Rebels, Reds, Waratahs, and Western Force, the Junior All Blacks handed out a rugby lesson to the Australian U20s side in the final of the Oceania U20s Championship. The New Zealand U20s defeated the Australian U20s side 43-6 in the final match of the 4 team tournament at Bond University on the Gold Coast. Australia fielded a similar side to their Round 1 team who recorded a comfortable win against Samoa, The main changes being Rebels-capped Jordy Uelese starting at hooker, and Harry Nucifora at half…
English Sevens star, Ben Gollings, is doing his bit to promote Sevens rugby in Australia by donating his time to a coaching clinic for Indigenous girls on the Tweed Coast recently. Gollings, who now lives on the Gold Coast with his Australian wife and family, is the all time highest point scorer on the World Rugby Sevens circuit, scoring 2,652 points in over 70 tournaments. With over 200 tries scored, Gollings ranks with Waisale Serevi, Seabelo Senatla, and Collins Injera as one of the greats of Sevens. Despite retiring in 2011, he still remains over 500 points clear of his…
For those impatiently waiting for the rugby season to start again, here is a quiz to keep you busy, for a few minutes at least. Name the following players, based on their wrist strapping (and some other subtle clues.) Some are easy, some not so much. Post your guesses in the comment section below. Prizes include … well, nothing really, except the respect and admiration from your peers. Player A Player B Player C Player D Player E Player F
For Day 5 of the Queensland Reds pre-season training they took the opportunity to combine a training session at Bond University with a trip to Schoolies on the Gold Coast. In front of the local TV media, Coach Nick Stiles was keen to point out that Bond University is not on-board with the Reds as a merely a sponsor, but as a integral partner. The Reds made use of the facilities at Bond Uni gym, before a training session on the rugby field. For some present, it was their first opportunity to see new recruits, such as Caleb Timu and…