Author: Jack Norton

Ewen McKenzie has been appointed Wallabies coach, with reports the announcement will be made official by the ARU tomorrow. It is understood that he will take the reins immediately, having been given the task of forging a squad and gameplan for the Rugby Championship and will coach the side until at least the 2015 World Cup. The announcement comes as a result of the ARU deciding to release Robbie Deans from his two-year contract extension six months before it was due to finish.

The Super Rugby Player of the Year is done and dusted. The John Eales Medal was handed out before the Wallabies even flew out for Europe and the IRB have thrown around a bit of tin in their recent awards. But we here at Green and Gold Rugby like to leave our player of the year awards until as close as possible to the actual end of the year. And here we are. Christmas is upon us and we are set to announce our fourth annual G&GR Wallaby Player of the Year. But first some background. Methodology: After each Test…

It was déjà vu all over again in a game of two halves as the Wallabies just scraped home against Italy 22-19. The déjà vu was in the consistent inconsistency we’ve seen from the Wallabies in the last five years. L’Oreal could make millions selling anti-aging creams to us rapidly greying/balding/wrinkling fans. The two halves couldn’t have been much more different, the Wobs scoring all of their points in the first and the Italians coming home very strongly. At the end it felt more like a loss than a win and, truth be told, the Italians deserved it. Anyway, to…

The Wallabies have started their European tour in the worst possible way, being comprehensively beaten by France in Paris. For the second game in a row the men in gold failed to score a try in a 33-6 drubbing. While Adam Ashley-Cooper should probably have been awarded a late try — he was ruled to have been held up — the scoreline doesn’t reflect quite how badly the Wallabies played. It was a non-performance for the ages and had the feel of inevitable loss after barely 20 minutes. Heads were down, there was no chat, little enthusiasm and the French…

It’s a bit late but here they are — the player ratings from the third and final trans-Tasman clash of 2012. What a game it was. If you’re one of those people who think you need tries to have entertainment, give yourself an uppercut. The Wallabies were rank outsiders and no one expected them to get close, let alone draw the game. Even watching those last 10 minutes again a few days later was intense. At the time it was heart attack material. The intensity, the scoreline, the defence and the passion were what Test rugby is all about. I could…

Sydney University have taken out the 2012 Shute Shield

The Wallabies have lost 27-19 to the All Blacks in a miserable and mistake-ridden performance in Sydney. It was only two tries to one but the scoreline didn’t reflect the match. The All Blacks left three or four tries on the park and were much more dangerous in attack and rock solid in defence. Australia weren’t in the game during the first half, it looked more like an opposed training run for New Zealand, who had almost all the ball and controlled the pace of the game completely. While the ABs looked dangerous, they let the Wallabies off the hook…

A last-gasp Daniel Halangahu penalty secured a 26-23 victory for Sydney University over Northern Suburbs at North Sydney Oval on Saturday. With both sides deadlocked at 23-all and reduced to 14 men, the Shoremen were in possession when the final siren sounded.  But their decision to run the ball backfired when they conceded a penalty allowing the Waratahs fly half to kick the winner. Elsewhere in round 13, Manly also stole a late win, grabbing victory over Southern Districts after prop Elvis Taione crashed over to complete his hat trick and seal victory with the last play of the game,…

Round 12 of the Shute Shield gets under way this Saturday (July 14)

Eastwood have held on to top spot after securing a 35-31 victory over Southern Districts, despite playing the majority of the match with just 14 men. A red card to in the first half didn’t stop the Woodies from holding on to grind out a 35-31 win over Southern Districts at T.G. Millner Field. The win was a courageous one for Eastwood who looked to have too much to do, after a red card to flanker Aisea Namoa allowed Souths to turn a 12-point deficit into a six-point advantage. But the Woodies played to their strengths, keeping the ball tight…

Jack and Sam have a chat to retiring Melbourne Rebel and one of G&GR’s very own, Michael Lipman. The artist formerly known as Barbarian, Hugh Cavill, then joins us to wrap up the June Tests and look ahead to this week’s local derbies. Podcast Powered By Podbean

The Wallabies have come away 20-19 victors with another hard-fought win

Thanks to Nick Halfhide and the NSWRU for the content for this week’s preview. Waratahs flankers Chris Alcock and Jono Jenkins will go head-to-head on Sunday afternoon when 2011 Shute Shield grand finalists Eastwood and Sydney University battle it out at University Oval. With Eastwood holding the number one spot and second-placed Uni trailing by just two points, the winner will also earn top spot in the Shute Shield ladder, with just one further round to play before the change in format starts after next week’s round. The pair will be among 16 Waratahs who will all be looking…

That’s better! A win makes rating the players much more fun but not any easier. The Wallabies put together a well-rounded team performance without any real superstar stand-outs. Will Genia and Berrick Barnes combined very well, but the pack laid a solid platform for them. The centres were hard and direct. The whole team defended very well and discipline was very good. Lots of players could have been a point higher or lower but I’d say they were fairly even across the board (or field). Player Rating Comments Benn Robinson 7 Another solid performance from the Cat. Looked comfortable with…

With the Wallabies’ season off to such a cracking start, who can’t wait to get stuck into rating some of the star performances from the first ever Test in Newcastle? If the rest of you don’t mind I’m just going to read and re-read that first sentence until I believe it. Some of you might venture beyond these first couple of lines and, while you’re free to do so, I wouldn’t recommend it. … Last night’s game was depressing for so many reasons. It was depressing because the Wallabies lost. The weather was depressing. The game itself was depressing —…

The ARU has just announced the Wallabies ‘train-on’ squad. Thirty-nine players have been named, including 15 who have never been capped. The state to state breakdown reflects the size of each province more than it does peformance in 2012 with 11 players each fromr the Reds and Waratahs, eight from the Brumbies, five Rebels and four from the Force. We will have to wait until next Sunday to hear who will make up the rest of the squad and who’s in the 22 for the Scotland Test in Newcastle. The size of the final squad is unknown and the make-up…

Amongst the flotsam and jetsam from the Waratahs sunken season, I’ve been trying to find some positives for this week’s game against the Cheetahs. The best one I can come up with so far is that at least one team with ‘tahs’ in their name will win. Actually, that’s not true and there are a couple of things to look forward to for the clash at altitude in Bloemfontein. One is the return of Drew Mitchell for the first time since his ill-fated World Cup comeback. Schmoo has been named at 11 and seeing him back on the field really…

The Waratahs’ slim hopes of making the finals have been blown away by the Stormers in Cape Town. In a less-than-clinical performance from both teams, the Stormers came away with a 19 points to 13 victory. The Stormers completely dominated the first half, with two tries and 71 per cent possession in the opening 40 minutes. Joe Pietersen scored their first try with a simple overlap coming from a lineout just outside the 22 and break from Gio Aplon. The Tahs had almost no possession, and whenever they got their hands on the ball Berrick Barnes automatically kicked it away.…

With every loss another nail goes into the Waratahs’ coffin, and there have been a lot of nails this season. Tonight’s game against the Bulls at home is a real must-win for the Tahs. To be any chance of making the finals they can only afford to lose against the Stormers in South Africa, and even then their chances of either topping the Aussie conference or picking up a ‘wildcard’ finals berth seem slim. Coach Foley (pretty poor nickname, please suggest alternatives below) has made a number of changes to the Tahs side. In his first start for the year,…

Hang on, didn’t this just happen? While it mightn’t feel like it, we’re somehow already up to week nine of Super Rugby and the Tahs-Rebels clash was waaaay back in week two. A lot has happened since then, but I don’t think many of us predicted things to pan out quite as they have. The Waratahs are third in the Australian conference and the Rebels are fourth. The Rebels put in their worst performance of the year against the Brumbies last week and are unlikely to do so again. Both Cippers and JOC played especially poorly last week, and you…