Author: KARL

Welcome fellow G&GRs for another great article from Dave P with good analysis that demonstrates how much rugby IQ there among us.With the Wallabies’ struggles in attack over the past few games I thought I’d write an article on the basics of rugby. While at the elite level rugby is very nuanced, it comes down to two basic principles: 1 win the contest (kick-off/scrum/lineout/tackle) and, 2 attack the space (NOTE I said space, not spin it wide). The Wallabies have a solid scrum (especially under current law applications), the lineout is becoming more reliable and skills are improving with regard to…

Redemption for 2016 was on every Kiwi’s mind, while the Irish were hoping the local support would help them to continue to take the game from New Zealand and get another win. Leading into this game the ABs, despite coming 2nd in the Rugby Championship, had not looked like a settled team all year. The French B team gave them a couple of scares, although to be fair their B team had some decent players in it, and while they managed to beat the Wallabies twice to retain the Bledisloe Cup, they lost in Argentina for the first time ever…

Here’s another great article written by Dave P. Well done mate it’s a cracker. So what went wrong with the Wallabies post the ‘golden era’ . 2001 Wallabies are World #1, have just beaten the Lions, won the Bledisloe 2-0 and have won their first Tri-Nations title following Kefu’s try in John Eales last match. Rod Macqueen had retired following the triumph over the Lions. Many people place the decline of the Wallabies at the feet of the newly appointed coach Eddie Jones but that would be unfair as the seeds for the decline were planted several years earlier, though…

Morning fellow G&GRs. Sorry about the late post, I was out last night with a mate from the army who I hadn’t seen for years and by the time we’d stopped remembering things it was just too late to get in front of the computer. The copious amount of beers probably didn’t help either. Catching up with mates I served with is something I will never turn down, it’s one of the best mental health approaches I have and resets things in a big way. So sorry, but not sorry. Besides, having a Kiwi in from the side and a…

Welcome fellow G&GRs on this Hump Day. No test this week, although the As are playing Japan, I’m hoping they win this game and the Wallabies win a week later, that’d make me very happy. The last games of the Rugby Championship have been done to death and we just have to accept that we see things differently with the referees and how they adjudicate the games. I was happy with all the refereeing of the games in the Rugby Championship and while there may’ve been a couple of decisions that I wondered about, none of them cost any team…

Welcome to Hump Day fellow G&GRs. We can put last week’s game behind us (let it go!) and look forward to this weekend when the ABs aren’t playing in the Eden Park fortress. I was at that game and it was a fantastic atmosphere, there was a group of Australian supporters in front of us and the banter between them and us was great. Interestingly neither us nor them had too many issues with the referee. There were a couple of ‘What was that for?’ moments but generally there wasn’t much and I was really surprised when I saw the…

Good morning G&GRs, a fantastic week of rugby just gone with great wins for the Wallabies and ABs and with both the Wallaroos and Black Ferns getting to the quarter finals of RWC2025. Let’s hope the good fortune continues. Both the Argies and Boks will be hurt after those results, and will be plotting a backlash against the result so this week the games will be even harder. The Rugby Championship is certainly producing some great games and I’m personally looking forward to sharing the joy with my fellow Australians for 1 more week. After that, sorry, but I’ll then…

Welcome fellow G&GRs, a bit of a let down last weekend and now with a week off to hopefully get some injured players back we can start looking forward to the next round of the Rugby Championship. The next two games are at home and so that should at least add a bit in our favour. I’m pretty sure that at the start of the year if you’d told me the Wallabies would win one against SA at their home and only narrowly lose the second I would’ve gladly accepted it. While we are all disappointed the clean sweep didn’t…

Welcome fellow G&GRs and another week of rest before the main course arrives with the start of the Rugby Championship this weekend. The entree has been digested and while not totally to our satisfaction, it gave us enough that we can believe the main course may also be to our liking.The Wallabies take on South Africa in Johannesburg while the ABs tackle Argentina in Cordoba. Both games should be good and tight as we try to establish some dominance for the championship. It’s an interesting year with the Argentinians having beaten the Lions in their opening game and the Wallabies…

Happy Hump day fellow G&GRS in a week that’s been great with the celebration of a good win by the Wallabies. It’s certainly been better than the previous couple and a great way to lead into the Rugby Championships. Let’s hope the Wallabies can continue their form going forward – except against the All Blacks of course. Well for me anyway. A tough couple of matches coming up with the Dutch Dirt Farmers in South Africa followed by two against the Argies at home. Then a home and away against my All Blacks. Great to look forward to.Referee CornerThis is…

Happy Hump Day fellow G&GRs, time to start putting last week’s disappointment behind us and look forward to the redemption of this weekend. What changes will Joe and Andy make to the teams? How will they change their tactics? And most important of all: can the Wallabies take this one? Personally, I think they can, but they need to start winning the contest and their backline needs to synch much better than it did last week.This Lions tour does seem a bit different from previous ones; the last Test was more 1N v 3N as Wales weren’t represented for the…

Happy Hump Day fellow G&GRs, with the Lions touring not only do we have the weekend to look forward to we also have tonight. If the Brumbies lose by more than 11 does that make the Tahs the best Super team in Australia? Asking for a friend. The sheer scope of rugby going on at the moment is just awesome, it doesn’t matter who your favourite team is, or who you hate, they’re all on the field somewhere. Personally, I don’t read too much into the June internationals as they always seem more of a trial than a real game.…

Welcome fellow G&GRs to another Hump Day news. There are midweek games as well as Saturday games during the Lions tour so let’s get a coffee, read the news and start focussing on how this afternoon’s game will go. The Lions look the real deal with 23 internationally classed players in every team they field, which makes for a challenge for their Australian opponents. But we’re Australia, full of misfit immigrants from countries around the world which aren’t as good as us and, as mentioned elsewhere, the Lions wish their ancestors had been sent to such an awesome land rather…

Welcome to semi-finals week. The qualifying finals are done and dusted, we’re all set for the two games to decide the grand final game. Chiefs at home to the Brumbies and Crusaders at home to the Blues. I must admit credit to the Blues, they snuck into the finals as the last team having lost more games than they won, managed a last second win against the Chiefs and are now competing for a chance to make the grand final. Love them or hate them, their journey has been one of resilience and tough work. Will it be enough? My…

This was always going to be a close game with 3 against 4. While the history is on the Brumbies side the Hurricanes won last time they came to Canberra, and so it proved with just one score being the difference in the end. Obviously harder for me to write this than if the score had gone the other way but, despite my team losing and me sulking for another off season, it was a great game of rugby and demonstrated why this game is so much better than some of the other codes. Congratulations to the Brumbies for their…

No Yowie today fellow G&GRs. My understanding is the court case was brought forward, but I may have got that wrong. I must admit the feel of Super Rugby seems to have grown this year. I’m loving that so many games are being turned and the favourite teams are not necessarily winning. Personally loving MP’s growth and while Ardie is a huge part of it, the culture and game that Tana has brought into the squad seems to have lifted all of them. Another big week coming with the season on the line for some teams and their ability to…

Good morning fellow G&GRs, time to put last week behind us and start looking forward to this week while hoping “our” team can rise to the occasion and get the win so we can hold a moral superiority over others for another week. I really enjoy this part of the season as the games seem to mean a bit more. At the start of the season we can accept a loss knowing that over the course of the competition we can always even things up a bit. But now it’s the dirty end of the competition where a mistake could…

Welcome fellow G&GRs to another Hump Day news. Some great rugby on the weekend and I was especially pleased to see my Canes win in Canberra. It wasn’t expected but they played some great rugby. The weekend had some good games: Reds over the Blues, Chiefs getting their mojo back, MP defeating the Drua and the Crusaders showing how last year was an anomaly. Time to put that behind us and start looking forward to this weekend and hoping “our” team gets it done this week.Referee CornerThere were a couple of incidents last week. However, the first good point was…

Welcome to Hump Day fellow G&GRs, that time of the week where we can start putting last week’s results behind us and start looking forward to what will happen this week. Personally, I was happy to put the Canes result behind me on Saturday, and I dare say there were a few Chiefs supporters who felt the same while most of the Waratahs and Brumbies fans will still be bathing in the success of their team until the next kick off. Fair call to them as well, if the Canes had played half as well as they did I’d be…

Welcome fellow G&GRs. It’s hump day, at midday we can put last week’s games behind us – although Hoss did that on Sunday – and look forward to next week’s. Will our team fare better, can they even improve on last week? Time will tell but for me seeing the Canes win a close one in Dunedin was certainly a relief.Referee CornerI must admit I’m finding it pleasing to see the referees continue to allow the game to flow with minimal input from TMOs. When the referees have called the TMOs in, the reports have been succinct and on the…