Author: Scott Bryant

If Ballymore is Qld rugby’s spiritual home, then the Rugby-Gods were certainly not smiling on the Reds last night. From the diabolical weather, to the poor crowd, to the result of the game, to the injuries to Rocket Rod and Hynes, there wasn’t a whole lot that went right for the home team. It was a night when the weather not only exposed the short-comings of Ballymore as a modern rugby venue, but also exposed a naïve Reds team.

The Reds head to Ballymore this weekend with a full spinnaker and a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time since beating both the Bulls and Cats in 2006. They face the Auckland Blues who come into the game with mixed form after a loss and a win in the opening weeks. Indeed, the Reds also get a chance to have back-to-back wins against the Blues after embarrassing them last year when nothing went right for the Blues, not even the ground’s lights worked properly! The locals aren’t used to going into games as favourites however this weekend…

The Reds beat the super team of Super rugby last night by 21 points and secured a four try bonus point in the process. Neither event has happen that often for the Reds and the crowd on hand also looked genuinely excited and animated, that is an even rarer event. Season’s past the subdued crowd have been prompted to cheer (or even wake up) via the PA system but last night’s spontaneous applause and adulation as the Reds left the field at half time suggested that the faithful are starting to believe. It seemed worlds away from the boo’s and…

English rock-star flyhalf/fullback, and Josh Lewsey punching bag, Danny Cipriani, today confirmed he has agreed to terms with the Melbourne Rebels. Cipriani becomes the Rebels’ inaugural signing and with a two year contract, has effectively turned his back on English rugby. There had been much speculation about his signing but Rebels coach Rod Macqueen appeared to pour cold water on the move suggesting perhaps he didn’t fit into his vision of what the Rebels team culture would be. Maybe this was just a rouse as today Rod Macqueen seemed to have changed his tune.

Ewen McKenzie has responded to last week’s heartbreaker by bringing in several new players for the Crusaders game, most noteably young blade Jake Schatz, who will start at blind-side flanker. In an effort to sure up a shaky forward pack, Link has also put the cleaners through the bench by dropping James Slipper and Andrew Shaw. There are several other changes for the Reds who will be without veterans Van Humphries and Sean Hardman through injury. Big Kev moves back to lock and Saia Faingaa gets his first chance to start for the Reds after 13 outings from the bench.

Dean Mumm has  been suspended for two weeks for a shoulder charge on Saia Faingaa from last night’s Reds v Tahs clash, while Adam Byrnes and Will Caldwell have been cleared of biting and eye gouging charges respectively. Mummy was charged under Law 10.4 (h) Barging into a Ruck or Maul. Judicial Officer Paul Tully found him in breach of this law and suspended Mummy until Round 4. This means Mumm will miss the Tahs tour of South Africa and crucial games against the Stormers and Bulls. More interestingly however was the decision to clear both Caldwell and Byrnes. From…

There was plenty of blood spilt at Suncorp last night, and most of it was bad. In what was at times a spiteful and petulant clash, three players have been called to front the beak, SANZAR citing commissioner Paul Tully, at Ballymore this morning. Reds lock Adam Byrnes, Tahs lock Will Caldwell and Tahs flanker, Dean Mumm are the players in the dock and in the cases of Brynes and Mumm, they could receive more than a few weeks holiday. Byrnes is at the centre of biting allegations raised by Calwell, while Mumm has been called to account for his…

Watching the first 20 minutes of the Force vs Reds trial match on Friday, it was clear the effect the new interpretation of the tackle laws could have on attacking rugby this season. It was great to see a team taking initiative, playing attacking rugby, and being rewarded for it. The task for the Force was made easier with an experimental Reds backrow, however the intent of the referee to reward the attacking team where possible was clear, but was it fair?

Wednesday This personal development stuff is pretty cruisey. I’m not sure what it really means but with all the coloured pens and butcher’s paper, it’s just like being back in grade 2, except the questions aren’t as hard. The chick who is running it said that I needed to identify my weaknesses and own my actions. I showed her a youtube video of  my weaknesses and actions during the ’08 Reds v Chiefs game and asked her if she’d want to own them? “Fair point” she said as she flipped over another piece of butcher’s paper and moved on to…

The results are in and there are some surprises. When you think Reds and king-of-the-gym, the names Genia and Diggers spring easily to mind, right – wrong. Ok, Higginbotham? nup, Daley? pppfftt, Morahan? he’s a big fella, wrong again. Link? maybe in his prime, but not now. So who’s the one who can kick sand in everyone else’s faces at Ballymore, Ezra ‘Too-Buffed’ Taylor, that’s who!

In an effort to bring sexy back to the Super 14, referees have been given a clear mandate from SANZAR to get tough on the ‘soft’ type indiscretions during this year. The hit list includes the tackled-ball area, formation of a maul, players in front of the kicker advancing, and the old chestnut surrounding the scrum engagement. These four areas were identified by players and coaches during the 2009 Super 14 review as those which needed attention and remedial action taken to open up the game and break the stodge fest that was last year’s season.

In real estate parlance, the Reds are definitely a unique fixer-upper opportunity. Perhaps the for sale advertisement could read, “with a bit of TLC and vision the astute investor could restore this unloved gem from its current state of disrepair and return it to the halcyon days of a by-gone era.” This is the challenge facing new coach Ewen McKenzie and his staff. As with all properties, the foundations are of the utmost importance and it is these foundations that have been so badly eroded over the last five years with a procession (or death march) of coaches and key…

Fresh back from his honeymoon, incumbent Wallaby winger Peter Hynes has been thrust straight into the new season with some gruelling training sessions under the blazing Queensland sun and the prospect of a positional shift in the wind. It appears as though Hynes will be the first choice fullback for the Reds this season after the injury forced retirement of Mark McLinden. Despite looking a little rusty after his off-season break, Hynes is keen to meet the challenge of wearing the no. 15 jersey and sees it as a chance to make more of an impact for the Reds this…

Less than a week after its confirmation as the preferred consortium to run Australia’s new Super 15 franchise, the Melbourne Rebels have announced themselves as serious contenders in naming former Melbourne Storm head-honcho, Brian Waldron, as inaugural CEO. In what can only been seen as a serious grenade lobbed well and truly into mungo HQ, Waldron will take up the post immediately and the prospect of more leaguies following is now a real possibility.

The white smoke has been sighted from the ARU’s chimney to anoint the Melbourne Rebels consortium headed by Sydney business man, Harold Mitchell, as the chosen ones to lead the new Super 15 franchise in 2011. After months of uncertainty and moments of high dudgeon between the ARU and a range of prospective suitors, today’s announcement is the first step in what will be an interesting 12 months for the Rebels as they try to build a team from the ground-up. This fact was not lost on Mitchell who dodged the question when asked how long it would be before

The gap between the ARU and its partners share of the SANZAR broadcast deal is set to widen from US$40m to US$100m, according to reports. The reason for this growing discrepancy is simple – Australian rugby has no third tier. The much awaited SANZAR broadcast deal post 2010 is set to be announced in the coming weeks and the estimated value of the new broadcast rights ramp-up to around $US400M – a substantial increase on the old mark of $US323M. However, of the $77m increase, the ARU is set to only receive $7m. This will leave the ARU very much out in…

This year was a shocker for all the Australian teams. The Force had an internal spat and lost key players, the Tahs alienated a fair percentage of their supporters by playing shit rugby, the Reds, well – they were the Reds and the Brumbies season was struck by tragedy. Although all four teams had poor results season wise, the Brumbies were at least able to produce some inspiring performances and show that with an injection of key talent, 2010 would definitely be a year for growth.

After last week’s successful launch of the Reds new kit, Australian sportswear manufacturer KooGa have scored another big name with the Brumbies releasing their new KooGa designed kit today in Canberra.  When you add to this the company also recently announced it had teamed with the ARU to design and manufacture the new Wallabies jersey, it makes for a pretty impressive line-up. It has only taken eight short years for the Gold Coast based firm to have some of the best recognised sporting teams in Australia wearing jerseys designed by KooGa

The Reds took their first tentative steps toward the launch of the 2010 season by unveiling their new kit for next year. It was rumoured to be something a bit different, and indeed it was with the players looking resplendent in red from head-to-toe. Gone are the usual navy shorts to be replaced by a new dashing red version. Resident fashionista and Reds’ Chairman, Rod McCall, was quick to praise the new kit designed and manufactured by local sportswear company, KooGa. “The red shorts were a big call, I don’t know if everyone’s on board with that, but I like…

This week saw a seismic shift in the IRB’s policy of protecting whistle blowers from criticism levelled at them by aggrieved coaches with IRB referee boss Paddy O’Brien, hanging our very own Stu Dickinson well and truly out to dry. O’Brien took the unprecedented step of apologising both personally, and on behalf of the IRB, to the All Blacks after Stuey sin-binned one of the protected specie for repeated scrum collapses.