Author: KevinO

What difference one game makes. Now, with a few crucial injuries to Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony and the suspension of Sean O’Brien this Irish team could be left licking their wounds with another Quarter Final exit. The Irish are also sweating on the fitness of Fly half Johnathan Sexton and Utility back Keith Earls. Even with Ireland losing these key players Joe Schmidt has developed a pool of talent for Ireland to choose from. Rhys Ruddock has been called into the squad to replace O’Mahony, even with only 5 tests under his belt the 24 year old still has a lot of…

In the most important match of Group D, Ireland faced off against France in Cardiff. for the 4th time in World Cup history, with France having won the previous 3 meetings. Both teams have been relatively unchallenged in the group entering the match  undefeated. With the loser coming up against New Zealand next week nothing less than fire works was expected from this match. First Half The match started at an electric tempo from both sides, France dominated possession in the first 10 minutes but where unable to capitalise on two kick able penalties. Ireland opened the scoring in the 12th…

Ireland cruised through a spirited Romanian side. THE VIBE The Irish made hard work of the Romanians. The first half opened promisingly with Ireland dominating the possession but struggling to break the Romanian’s defense to put the points on the board, in the 15th minute it looked like a piece of Simon Zebo magic had Ireland’s first try except his toe was still in touch when he regathered the ball. Tommy Bowe eventually scoring the first try in the 19th minute, Keith Earls scored in the Ireland’s second try in the 29th minute. With Ireland only scoring only two first half try’s you…

THE VIBE Ireland cruised to a bonus point win, a yellow card to Canadian captain Jamie Codmore opened the floodgates with Ireland eventually running out winners by 50 – 7. Ireland scored 7 try’s to Canada’s 1. The Candian’s fought hard in the second half but were well out of their depth, Ireland who are known to struggle in games like this have really laid down a marker in Pool D. THE SCORE 50-7 (29-0 at half time) INCIDENTS OF NOTE Jamie Cudomre’s yellow card really hurt Canada, Ireland scored a couple of try’s while they had the man advantage.…

Here it is – the G&GR writers’ Super Rugby team of the week for round 18. The Waratahs and the Force had wins whilst the Brumbies, Rebels and Red would be disappointed with the way they finished out the Regular season. But who made the team of the week? [one_third last=”no”] 1. Ben Robinson Was a tough week to pick some props, going with both Tahs for there defensive efforts, might not have had the upper hand in the Scrum all night but they did a lot more work around the park then the rest [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. James Hanson The best…

The Sharks have broken their losing streak in the most scrappy game of the season, in what looked like good conditions both teams made loads of mistakes. The end of the season can’t come soon enough for these two tired teams. The Match In a very scrappy first half both sides made plenty of mistakes – knock ons and turnovers costing both sides territory at keys times in attack. Laurie Weeks saw Red in the 28th minute when he landed a few punches on Jannie du Plessis who had struck Weeks in the back of the head. Sithole scored the…

Scott Higginbotham and the Rebels broke records at AAMI Park in Melbourne as they dominated the visiting Blues at the end of the game. The Match The Rebels came out with a lot to play for tonight and they started the game well with fullback Sam Harris scoring his first penalty of the night in the fifth minute. The Blues dominated the next  few minutes for a while before Colby Fainga’a scored a great try on counter-attack. The Blues struck back with one of the set plays of the season, when Francis Saili got a sweet inside pass and made…

Here it is – the G&GR writers’ Super Rugby team of the week for round 12. The Waratahs and the Rebels had wins whilst the Brumbies and Force lost but who made the team of the week? [one_third last=”no”]  1. Toby Smith Was a big game for Toby against his old side and he really stood, held the Scrum against the monster in Tameifuma and did some good work around the park. Is always the quite achiever in the Rebels pack. [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. Tolu Latu Came on early as Polota-Nau went off injured and did not look out…

Yes, that’s right. Rugby returns to the Stockade on a Saturday night. This is the toughest game we have left for the season and with only one win in Melbourne this season the Rebels faithful will be looking to take down there biggest scalp of the year.  After all the last time the Kiwi’s came to Melbourne on a Saturday night we all remember what happened. The Rebels coming off a heart breaking loss to the Waratahs on Anzac day at ANZ Stadium, in a courageous performance. In horrible conditions the Rebels rallied back against a Wallabies packed Waratahs side…

For the first time this season an Aussie team will play a South African team when the Rebels face off against the Lions. By a fluke that happens sometimes in Super Rugby match scheduling, and the demise of the Lions for one year, the Rebels have played the Lions only twice before – at Ellis Park. THE FORM The Rebels are coming off an away win over in Perth, where for the first quarter of the match it looked like they were going to put on a cricket score. The Force rallied back and the Rebels managed to hold onto…

Here it is – the G&GR Super Rugby team of the week for round 2. With a split of two wins and three losses for the Aussie teams, who makes the team this week? [one_third last=”no”] 1. Scott Sio The Brumbies scrum was good but lost dominance once Sio went off. Was leaning to wards Toby Smith who also had a good game. [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. Stephen Moore A typical Stephen Moore game, scrummaged well, strong around the park and throws were good. Wallabies need Moore fit leading into the RWC. [/one_third][one_third last=”yes”] 3. Sam Talakai Reds scrum smashed the Force, won enough penalties…