Author: Kate Elizabeth

Rugby stalwarts all around Brisbane are limbering up, and Saturday afternoon becomes sacrosanct – it can only mean one thing, the return of Queensland Premier Rugby. At the launch of the season this morning at Rugby House, Ballymore,  new playing strips were revealed and BLK was announced as the premiership sponsor.  This sponsorship should be a great step for premier rugby in Queensland, tying two levels together and allowing clubs to capitalise on scale for things like kits – no small thing with expenses for clubs increasing. The Gold Coast club is now officially the Bond University club and it should…

The ARU last year certainly made things interesting for themselves and fans with one situation after another that required yet another press conference, or the refusal to front a press conference.  This culminated in the appointment of Michael Cheika as Wallabies coach while remaining coach of the Waratahs.  At the time of his appointment Cheika indicated he wanted to engage other Super Rugby coaches to possibly be part of his coaching team – Michael Foley, who has worked wonders at the Force to build some real momentum for perhaps the first time since inception, and Steve Larkham, who stepped…

Both the  Reds and the Crusaders went down in their trial matches last week (the Reds to the Rebels and the Crusaders were bested by the Hurricanes) and both coaches had clearly named sides this week to test out combinations before Super Rugby starts in earnest next week. The most talked about head-to-head for the match was of course Karmichael Hunt,  in only his second start for the Reds and his first at fly-half, against Dan Carter with more than 100 Super Rugby caps under his belt.  The Reds need to find a replacement for Quade Cooper for the next three months…

As the first season of the NRC drew to a close, Brisbane City met Perth Spirit at the spiritual home of Queensland rugby, Ballymore.  It was a humid night in Brisbane and Ballymore filled up nicely as fans flocked to watch their team take on a Perth team who were showing great promise  in their last few matches, particularly in their pack.    Spirit upset Melbourne Rising last week with only their fourth win of the season to go through to the NRC final.  Brisbane City, patchy on occasion, were looking to finish their season with a resounding win and take…

Rugby was always going to be the winner for the derby between Brisbane City and Queensland Country on a glorious Sunday afternoon at the spiritual home of Queensland rugby, Ballymore.  In front of a record NRC crowd of more than 5000 people, it was absolutely mate vs mate, and with the added bonus of the return of Quade Cooper, there certainly was an expectant hum in the air as the McLean stand, and the iconic hill, filled.  The sun was shining (for a change at Ballymore) Red Dog and Reds players were there to entertain the crowd, Lachie Turner did…

Queensland Country have had five days to prepare for this NRC match against the Greater Sydney Rams after narrowly going down last weekend.  On a lovely evening at Ballymore (I do love a night match here), Country could record their first win of the NRC competition or the Rams could find themselves inside the top four, chasing their third win in a row. First Half In a refreshing change for the NRC, neither Queensland Country or the Sydney Rams were wearing yellow.  Instead it was only the ball and Rohan Hoffman as referee sporting that ubiquitous colour. Scrums certainly dominated…

A curtain-raiser for the Wallabies v Argentina test match, this Round 4 match of the NRC was destined to see either the North Harbour Rays or Queensland Country pull themselves off the bottom of the ladder.  In front of a very small crowd, on a slightly slippery track both teams struggled to drive home any advantage. First Half After spending the initial few minutes of the match with images of Twister in my head (check out the North Harbour Rays’ jerseys) flowing nicely into the Justin Bieber Twister meme, I refocused on the play that set the tone for Queensland Country…

This was perhaps the most anticipated match of Buildcorp NRC rugby round 3 – Melbourne Rising top of the table and Brisbane City third placed – both undefeated. It was a match that would see the return of Liam Gill, out since the Premier Rugby Grand Final and more importantly for Wallabies watchers, the return of Will Genia, injured since the Reds v Highlanders match in May. First Half As the clouds scudded across the sky and the temperature dropped, Ballymore was bathed in the atmosphere that comes from more than 40 years of memories – old and young had turned out…