Author: Jamie Miller

On Thursday night, AEST, I was chatting to a mate of mine in Sydney. I commented that I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Cheika pulled out something a bit left field with the Wallabies RWC squad selection. Quite. The Selections All the headlines will focus on the personnel. It’s hard to really mount an effective case for why Kane Douglas was included in place of stalwart and ex-captain James Horwill. It seemed to me (and I’m not a Queenslander) that Horwill was probably playing better during the Rugby Championship than he had for a long time, possibly since 2013. He…

Almost exactly four months ago, I looked at the likely contenders for the Wallabies World Cup squad. With the impending announcement, it’s worth comparing the then to the now. Emphasis on likely. This isn’t who I would choose. In any squad, it won’t just be about individuals, but balance. Will the Wallabies take 18 forwards and 13 backs, or 17 and 14? (I think the former, based on Cheika’s focus at the Waratahs.) Tournament regulations say that injured players can either be carried until they recover, or definitely replaced. They can’t be replaced for a few weeks by an out of…

Three changes have been made to the All Black team’s starting line-up for Bledisloe II at Eden Park this Saturday. As widely forseen, Ma’a Nonu returns from injury for Sonny Bill Williams, who was fairly ineffective in Sydney last week and also picked up a knock, while Sam Whitelock is included in place of Luke Romano. Elsewhere, and less expectedly, Victor Vito has been picked at 6. The athletic Hurricanes number 8 gets a final chance to impress the World Cup selectors. If the ABs only take 5 backrowers, Vito will be up against Liam Messam for that fifth spot. Jerome Kaino is relegated to the…

A few months ago, I wrote that the Wallabies’ pre-World Cup preparation was far from ideal. A new coach with new systems. Coaching staff still unclear. Best team still unknown. Lots to sort out. And time was very, very short. Most rivals had been sorting through the options, weighing up different ideas, since 2011. Above all, I therefore suggested, the compressed preparation would be about answering questions. How many of these questions would be answered? Would the five pre-World Cup games remove at least some unknowns, allowing the coaches to focus on the few outstanding areas? Ultimately, I suspected that there just…

View image | gettyimages.com Argentina have claimed their first ever win in South Africa, relegating the Springboks to the wooden spoon in the Rugby Championship. The Pumas rode a dominant scrum, some inventive first phase play, and intensity in contact to register a deserved 37-25 victory in Durban. The Pumas and the Boks play fairly similar styles, and while this was Argentina’s first RC win over South Africa, three of the last five meetings between these teams have seen the Boks triumph by seven or less, and one was drawn. The match was also notable for some really mediocre refereeing…

The All Blacks defeated the Boks 27-20 overnight in a predictably physical clash in the Rugby Championship. It was classic 2011-15 All Blacks: a fairly unremarkable performance, coupled with a couple of well-taken tries, getting them over the line. The Boks dominated the match for 60 minutes and had every chance to win. They faded heavily in the last 20, looking utterly demoralised and unable to seize a game that was within reach right up until the final play. South Africa had the best of the early play, swamping a ruck only to (correctly) be penalised for going off their feet.…

Recent news reports notwithstanding, the hot news is that Kane Douglas may very well be heading back to Oz to link up with the Wallabies shortly. Yesterday, the illustrious Sydney Morning Herald reported Michael Cheika as saying that if Douglas was to sign with a Super Rugby team, the big lock would come under strong consideration for the national team. Having played only 14 times for the Wallabies, Douglas comes nowhere near the “Giteau clause” exception to the ARU’s policy of selecting only home-based players for the Wallabies unless they’ve played 60+ tests and held an ARU deal for 7+…

Whoop, there it is. Michael Cheika has put his cards on the table for this year’s Rugby Championship and World Cup Wallabies Squad.

So here’s a story about maul law reform we’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now. Green & Gold Rugby’s unparalleled network of sources can tell you that moves have been afoot at the highest levels to more strictly enforce the existing laws on maul formation. The World Cup referees attended a pow-wow in France a few weeks ago. Our sources there tell us mauls were overwhelming the main topic of discussion. The result is two World Rugby directives governing maul refereeing  and a couple of other directives which, though attracting less attention right now, could be important on the field…

Wallaby coach Michael Cheika has announced his initial Wallaby train-on squad for the test season. Twenty-two players from the Rebels, Force, and Reds were named and will assemble in Brisbane on Monday 22 June. Another twenty-three players from the Brumbies and Waratahs will be added to the squad when their Super Rugby campaigns finish, for a total of forty-five. Cheika added that overseas players like Matt Giteau will not be considered for the train-on squad, but are in contention for the Rugby Championship group, likely to be thirty-five strong. Exclusions A few things can be read into the squad. Jake Schatz,…

There’s been a lot of talk about whether tomorrow’s Reds v Waratahs game will be the last time we see Quade Cooper in a Queensland shirt, or indeed in a Super Rugby match. A lot of this is the usual irresponsible speculation, citing precisely no sources and no facts. Now, I am a New South Welshman and a rabid Tah fan. I was at the SFS when Lachie Turner skinned Rico Gear and Leon McDonald. I saw Shaun Berne, who couldn’t hit a barn door, slot a 45 metre kick over after the siren to beat the then dominant Crusaders.…

Last week, we looked at rookies and bolters, with an eye on Michael Cheika’s preliminary World Cup squad to be announced in three weeks’ time. Today, it’s the turn of the veteran Wallabies, or more specifically, the veterans who are under real pressure to keep their spots. Wycliff Palu Cliffy first appeared for the Wallabies in just his second year of Super Rugby, way back in 2006. He turns 33 in July. Since his debut, he’s usually been the first choice at number 8 when fit – which hasn’t been all that frequently. In nine previous years, he’s made only…

In a few weeks, Michael Cheika will gather a preliminary squad on the Sunshine Coast. Here’s a run down of the Wallabies rookies and bolsters

Last week we looked at the forwards who should be Wallabies World Cup Squad. Should, not are. All 18 of them. The big news was the omission of Scott Higginbotham (too inconsistent), Sam Carter (too little mongrel), James Horwill (too much of a liability), Benn Robinson (too ugh), and probably Benn Alexander (ditto). Plus I put my neck right on the chopping block by calling for David Pocock to be made team captain. But what about the 13/14 backs who will be called upon? Like last week, the foundation of the thinking is that Australia has nothing to lose: we need…

A hard truth: no-one thinks the Wallabies are a serious challenger in this World Cup. Nor should they. Since the Lions series in 2013, they haven’t won consistently against any of the contenders, save Wales. Numerous top players who otherwise would be in contention for the Cup squad have headed overseas. We have a new coach, new systems, new everything. ‘There was a lot of explanation to me [from the players] about how they played on Spring Tour in attack”. That’s Stephen Larkham, the new attack coach. Fair enough, but hardly ideal. One could talk forever about who is responsible…

So. Kurtley Beale has escaped with a $45,000 fine and no suspension (the Tribunal ruling that he had effectively already been suspended). But was this a great day for rugby, with the light of truth shining forth on the dark mess of the past few weeks? Hardly. The Tribunal found Beale guilty of a ‘serious violation’ of the ARU Code of Conduct for sending an offensive photograph to an ARU employee. Crucially, however, the Tribunal also found that ‘evidence did not establish that a second, more offensive text and photograph had been sent by Beale’. This was the key to…

No more puns, I promise. It’s been a weird week. Not because of the texting scandal. Or the coach being forced out. Or the simply bizarre predicament of the ARU being forced to agree that Michael Cheika could coach both the Wallabies and Waratahs simultaneously in 2015, which has “clusterf*ck” written all over it. No, it’s been weird because Alan Jones referred to John Eales as “overrated”. Doubtless, if the classy, two-time World Cup champion, one-time World Cup captain, allowed his guard to slip for a minute, he’d tell Alan the feeling was thoroughly mutual. Where to from here? Let’s…

How should the Wallabies go about try to resurrect themselves out of this darkest hour for the code?

What’s working and what isn’t, where do changes need to be made, and how can we get the Wallabies to where they need to be for the 2015 Rugby World Cup

In exactly a year, England will take on Fiji at Twickenham in the first match of the Rugby World Cup. Where are the Wallabies?