Author: Scott Bryant

You get the feeling talking to Lote that he has had enough of being dropped.  Sure the first week he may have been thinking that it was just a short term thing, but it is almost as if the reality not being selected in consecutive tests is sinking in. His non-selection last week for the Baa-Baas game was not something he was expecting. “The first I knew of it when was the team was read out at the team meeting last Tuesday, there wasn’t any warnings.  Then bang, twenty minutes later your out there and training.”

We follow Juan Cote as he lives the Growden dream (no, not that one) and reports from deep within the Wallaby and Italian camps in Canberra. Touched down in Canberra 20 mins ahead of schedule which  meant I could make the 9 am press conference at the Wallaby hotel. Called the media manager and sweet, I was in – about to make my Wallaby debut. Shared a cab into town with a climate change expert – Canberra is such a high brow place. He talked about food security and the troubles facing South West Western Australia, the diminishing aquifers, Emissions…

In a move that will surprise many, it appears as though the Brumbies have pulled out of the race to sign up-and-coming Wallaby fullback, James O’Connor. Whether this is just a bargaining play by Brumbies chief Andrew Fagan remains to be seen, however Fagan has indicated the Brumbies are no longer in the hunt to sign JO’C. This statement was certainly backed by Coach Andy Friend, who spoke to G&GR before he flew to Samoa to lead a series of training sessions with the Samoan RWC train-on squad. Friend seemed to be more than comfortable with the options available to…

1. Benn (two n’s) Robinson 7 – Didn’t show any of the flashy stuff he produced in the Super 14 but you get the feeling this wasn’t part of his brief for the game. The scrum looked good which is his job, he did it well 2. Squeaky Moore 8 – Managing to combine the open field running of Jeremy Paul with the set-piece consistency of Michael Foley, the best Australian hooker since Tom Lawton 3. Al Baxter 7 – Can’t remember him doing much except the shit work at the scrum and line-outs, but like ‘Two N’ Benn, did…

UPDATE: You can see some pretty strange highlights of the game here As expected Australia has completely done a number on Canada winning by a huge margin with everyone scoring plenty of meat-pies. Richard Kingi and Kurtley crossed for 4 each in a game where the Aussies lead by 31-0 at halftime and well and truly went on with the job after the break.

When Brock James left the Western Force to head to France to play for Clermont in the Top 14, it caused barely a ripple in Australian rugby circles. In the pre-Gits era of the Force, James, Scott Daruda and James Hilgendorf, had all been used as fly-halves without much success. Leaving Australia as a failed Super 14 player at the age of 24, it was not expected that anymore would be heard of the former Sydney Uni/GPS (Brisbane) fly-half – but how times have changed.

Never has a game of rugby been more of a dress rehearsal for higher representative honours that this one. On both sides of the ledger there are players who have reason to go at the game with all the fury that only the motivation of being left out in the cold can bring. The Baa-Baa’s warmed up last week by dispatching a second string England and, despite traveling to the other side of the globe within a week, are certainly talking the talk of a team that wants to disgrace their second nation within seven days. What strikes you most…

The under 20’s begin their campaign in this year’s IRB under 20 World Cup tomorrow night playing Canada in Fukuoka, Japan. The Australian team is choca-block full of players with regular Super 14 experience and it is with high hopes they would go into this year’s tournament, mind you, we all thought the same thing last year which turned into an unmitigated disaster. Of particular interest is the selection of Matt Toomua ahead of Kurtley Beale at fly half with Kurtley named as the starting fullback.

The vagaries of South African rugby selection have once again surfaced with the naming of the 28 man squad to take on the best of British in the upcoming test series. While most of the squad is fairly predictable, it is the inclusions of the sublimely named Chilliboy Ralepelle and uncapped Earl Rose that are most notable. One player who should feel justifiably shattered is Bulls’ fullback, Zane Kirchner.  Kirchner produced some champagne rugby during the Super 14 that has clearly gone unnoticed by the Bokkie selectors, who have instead opted for the fickle talent of Rose.  

So it is possible to have your cake and eat it too? With Wallaby Phil Waugh lining up against his Wallaby team-mates this weekend, Robbie Deans will get to see whether it is Waugh or David Pocock who will partner George Smith as flankers in the Wallaby match day XXII. Phil Waugh’s recent contract extension with the ARU proves that Dean’s is still a fan of Capt Blood, even though it seemed he was well past his international used-by date on last season’s end of year Wallaby tour. Looking at the stats

With talk of key players jumping ship from HMAS Ballymore, the announcement of James Horwill’s re-signing for two years was a cause for celebration among long suffering Reds’ supporters. Although Horwill had strongly hinted a few weeks ago that a deal was all but done, the recent machinations with Rocky’s future, MMM pulling the pin and speculation about Digby Ioane, had made plenty nervous that key people like Horwill may also look to ply their trade elsewhere.

Fresh from helping Leinster to its Heiny Cup victory on the weekend, ARU media has announced that Chris Whitaker will join the Baa-Baa’s for their one off game against the Wallabies in Sydney on June 6th. It will be a triumphant return for Whitaker, who will play his first game on Australian soil since leaving the Tahs at the end of the 2006 Super 14 season. The inclusion of Whitaker comes with the withdrawal of French scrummie, Dmitri Yachvilli, and will no doubt have the NSW crowd in raptures. Indeed it may be a case of the NSW crowd cheering…

Being a fervent supporter of the Reds, I’ve become used to disappointment over the last few years, but nothing could quite prepare for the disappointment I felt this morning to read that Madness McMeniman is heading overseas next year and that Diggers may well join him. Ok, Madness leaving is sad but understandable, even he has admitted that the ARU’s offer was more than reasonable, but it appears as though he is looking to re-invigorate his injury prone career. This desire, plus the financial muscle of overseas clubs is just too much for him to pass up, however at the…

  It appears the Brumbies have wasted no time in looking toward 2010 with the news that Clyde Rathbone has been released from the franchise. Effectively this is a decision that will more than likely end the 28 year-old’s Super rugby career. It’s sad, as we never quite got to see the best of a player that had plenty of talent and courage.

While it is hard to argue with the majority of the Wallaby selections announced today, there are a few players that could feel a bit unlucky. The selection of Matt Hodgson in front of Ben Mowen and Mitchell Chapman was a bit of a surprise as was the inclusion of Quade Cooper and one wonders what Will Caldwell has to do to get a chance. A big surprise for me was the fact a specialist fullback was not chosen, sure, O’Connor and AAC have spent a fair bit of time there this year, but someone like Cameron Shephard might feel…

Well, that’s it for another year, with no Aussie teams progressing to the finals, we can start the post mortems. Below are some stats so you can see how each of teams performed relative to each other and perhaps why they performed so well, or in the case of the Reds, why they were so shit!!!

Many months ago, before the interstate game between the Reds and the Tahs, Lote Tuqiri was at pains to point out the merits of the Tahs ‘win ugly’ style. In response to a barb from the Reds’ Quade Cooper about the lack of enterprise in the Tahs play, Lote returned serve with a pretty decent ‘fuck you’ to the Reds. “I know I would rather be entertaining the crowd come Super 14 semi-final time rather than entertaining friends at an end-of-season barbecue. So we will see where that puts them at the end of the year”  

Final Score: Reds 28 – Hurricanes 37

It’s not often that the Waratahs would hope the Reds have a win, but tonight will be one of those nights. A win by the Reds would go along way to securing the Tahs a finals spot, so long as a few other results drop as well. There has been a pretty positive vibe around Ballymore during the week which was further enhanced with the news that Mungo McLinden, Berrick Barnes and Kev Horwill all being passed fit to play against the Canes. Speaking to G&GR after Thursday training, Phil Mooney liked his teams’ chances for this week

If ever there was someone born to play for Queensland, it would probably be Andrew Shaw. While his lineage is well documented, perhaps his potential as a solution to the on-going problem of filling the vacant Reds open-side flanker position is not. This week against the Canes, Shaw gets his second chance at a starting spot. After a solid debut last week against the Saders, Shaw is looking to build on his performance with a view to getting the nod for the vacant open-side spot next year.