Author: Scott Bryant

1. Benn Robinson 7 – One of the few forwards who were able to match it with the All Blacks, he was outstanding in defence and held his side of the scrum up well. 2. Stephen Moore 8 – Further enhanced his reputation with another solid all round game in trying conditions. Accurate line-out throwing mixed with good, hard direct running and some deft passing. 3. Le Fuse 4 – Joubert’s bunny…..say no more.

Much has been made of the fact the Wallabies haven’t won at Eden Park for 23 years however not as much has been made of the fact for the first time in a long time, the Wallabies finally look to have a team capable of correcting this travesty. That is not to say the Wallabies will start as favourites in this weekend’s test, but there seems to more than a hint of foreboding emanating from Nu Zulund which suggests even the home team thinks the Wallabies have a decent chance of winning. So what are the match-ups that will be…

Finally there appears to be some signs of life at Ballymore with today’s announcement that Dan’s, both Herbert and Crowley, along with Tim Horan, will all play an active role in the re-floating the sinking ship that is Queensland Rugby. Herbert will fill the newly created General Manager role incorporating team management and player negotiations, while the two Dan’s will become consultants in player development and identification. One of the major problems with the Reds has been the lack of full-time administration since the professional era, so the hiring of Crowley and Helmut as consultants rings more than a few…

I decided to analyse some of the key stats from both the Wallabies 1st test against the Eye-ties and the match against the French. I used these two tests as my sample as the Wallaby team was largely the same, with some positional tweaks. It produced some results that might point to how the Wallabies plan to go about playing in the rain and mud of Nu Zulund as opposed to the dry tracks of Seth Efrika

Lost in the noise of Lote getting punted from the ARU, was the news this morning that Brisbane Bronco’s wonder boy, Karmichael Hunt is looking to move to rugby. In a delicious irony, as one former Bronco leaves rugby, a current Bronco is looking to join it. After a fairly turbulent off field career, Hunt will not play rugby in Australia as the ARU’s High-Performance Unit Manger, David Nucifora stated earlier this year.

1. Benn Robinson 8 – Fat Cat was outstanding last night.The scrum was solid and his work around the field was reminiscent of his Super 14 form, two pilfers confirm this. 2. Squeeky Moore 6 – Again the line-out wasn’t what it should be but Moore proved once again he is head and shoulders above TPN.One of the few Wallaby forwards to make an impact and dent the French defence. 3. Le Fuse 6 – Seemed to get the rough end of the pineapple by getting penalised at the scrum.Had one particularly inglorious moment when he head-planted right on the…

What a difference a week makes – both for Mathieu and Godwin. It is said that sport and politics should never mix, but the parallels between the cases of Bastareuad and Godwin Grech have blurred that line. Rugby followers were shocked last week at the news that Les Bleu centre, Mathieu Bastareuad, had been assaulted outside the team’s Hotel after spending the night on the piss with his team-mates. French team manager, Jo Maso, evoked the confected outrage of Liberal Senator, Eric Abetz, as he prosecuted the case for Bastareuad in the press.

What a change it is to finally get excited about an early season Wallabies test match! The French team have proved on successive weekends against the AB’s what an uncompromising unit they are, being unlucky not to beat the AB’s twice instead of once. Marc Lievremont has made seven changes to the team which clearly enjoyed themselves after the second test in Nu Zulund. Sadly however, two of the most influential French forwards, Louis Picomoles and the Caveman, have had to be replaced through injury. In a somewhat strange move, the halves combination has also been replaced in an effort…

From the team’s inception, the Brumbies have always seemed to have a strong culture, perhaps not always positive, but a strong culture all the same. When you look back on teams of the past and the coaches that have lead the Brumbies, you can almost align a particular culture with each coach. For the Macqueen era, it was based on innovation and challenge, Fast Eddie brought a hard-edged professionalism that delivered the first Super 12 title to the province. The Nucifora era was one of player power and independence, which not only saw another Super 12 title won by the…

Watching the early season Wallaby games, I have been heartened by the form Luke Burgess and the surprised by the under-use of scrummie back-up, Josh Valentine. After getting a decent run coming on for the injured Burgess in the Baa-Baa’s game, Valentine has been largely ignored by Deans in a move that may suggest Deans has his eyes elsewhere in his search for a second scrum-half for the Tri-nations squad. In the last two tests against Italy, Valentine has only played about 10 mins of the 160 available. Of these 10 odd minutes, it must be remember that Valentine was…

1. Pek Cowan – 6 Made his debut and earned praise from Deans for his performance. Did OK at the set-piece but didn’t provide near the impact around the ground of the first choice props. 2. TPN – 4 Wayward lineout throwing under very little pressure is once again his weakness. Good in the open field but lacking in key aspects of being a hooker. 3. Ben Alexander – 6 Continued his transition to become a tight-head replacement and was far more solid than last week’s cameo. Still managed to get involved with some useful close quarter running. 4. James…

Obviously, after last week’s test, both Robbie Deans and Nick Mallet came to a gentlemen’s agreement that both would field their second XV’s for this week’s tests. The Italians have made plenty of changes to their team which makes them even harder to comment on, such is the unknown nature of the players. The only real interest will be if Gowie can make a better fist of his second start after a less than convincing performance in Canberra. For the Wallabies, the changes made to the team provoke plenty of interest. Key among them

During the week I was fortunate enough to speak with Wallabies strength and conditioning coach, Peter Harding. Harding joined the Wallabies last year after spending several years involved with the English Institute of Sport and various European Rugby teams including Clermont and London Irish. Below is an outline of the training and fitness schedule for the Wallabies that will be the template for the entire season with the only adjustments being made for travel or fatigue issues.

Without going over the top in his praise of the Wallaby performance, Robbie Deans seemed fairly comfortable with how the Wallabies were progressing. “The performance was solid, I guess that’s the way you’d describe it. The Italians were physical and we weren’t perfect around the contact. That’s probably not surprising given we haven’t done a lot of it but it was a really good workout and we’ll be better for that game”

Below is some of the comments from each coach from last nights after match press conference. Robbie Deans “It was a great work out for us, essentially, very physical which we always anticipated. Off the back of a game where we got a lot of latitude in (the Baa-Baas), that was a really good physical workout. We were a little bit inaccurate around the contact but in a contest where we struggled to get any momentum, we were still able to score 5 tries, so you can’t fault that”

Driving around Canberra you realise there are some magnificent buildings in our Nation’s Capital, the War Memorial, both Parliament Houses’, the National Gallery and Al Baxter’s favourite, the National Library. Then you have Canberra Stadium – what a bastard of a place. My night didn’t start well having to park three suburbs away and foot it after enduring a traffic jam of New York proportions, but the biggest shock was saved for the so called press box which had neither a roof, nor walls, and consisted of some trestle tables and plastic bbq chairs.

Off to the Captain’s run, not much of an event but John Eales was there so I guess it meant something. Started at 11.00 am and the lights at Canberra Stadium had to be turned on, so shit was the weather. Warm-up took longer than usual as it was so fucking cold, James O’Connor copped a pass fair in the boat-race from Robbie. Luckily it didn’t leave a mark so he’s still got the boyish good looks that can make or break an endorsement contract. The rest of it went off without a hitch and the fastest the players moved…

All this week the talk has been about the Wallabies being ruthless and executing their plans against the Italians. There have been times in previous years, particularly in early season games, when the words ruthless and Wallabies could not have been used in the same sentence. Speaking before this week’s test, Matt Giteau stressed the need for the Wallabies to keep the pressure on opponents after they had established a lead, something they failed to do last year. “You get opportunities and being more ruthless as a side is something we need to focus on. It’s good to get to…

Contrary to reports this morning that gun flanker, Rocky Elsom, would not be available to the middle of the Tri-nations due to a knee injury, the Wallaby camp has confirmed that this is the absolute worst case scenario. Although Elsom is expected not to play in the early domestic test series against the Italians and Frogs, he should be more than ready to roll for the first game of the Tri-nations.

Wallaby training was a real eye opener, Gits and Richard Graham are the toughest men in the set-up, shorts straight off the bus in minus 4 degrees, inspiring stuff. Saw some old bloke sitting under the awning of the Easts’ club house. “Poor bugger” I thought, “He’s been there all night”. It wasn’t until the end of training that I realised it was Courier-Mail journo Jim Tucker, who’d flown in that morning and was unable to move as he was frozen to the seat. Training went well with the forwards putting in some great line-out work. Jim Williams filled in…