Author: KARL

Welcome to Hump Day news. That wonderful day of the week where you spend the morning reminiscing about the games from last week and the afternoon looking forward to the games this weekend. Keeping it in the family In a feel good story the Campbells created history last weekend with both brother and Sister playing for the Reds and both members of the winning team so could sing the victory song together in the same dressing room. It wasn’t that long ago that the demarcation line between women and mens rugby was almost like they were two different sports. The…

Welcome to the middle of the week. That day where we still bask in the glory of the previous game but also start to look forward to the game that is happening this weekend. Will our desires be met (not those ones Yowie) or will our dreams be dashed with a dose of reality? “Only responsible decision” Another setback as Moana Pasifika debut is delayed again The debut of the Moana Pasifika team in this years Super Rugby Pacific is again on hold gain. The Auckland based team, who’s players comprise of mainly Tongan and Samoan heritage, were due to…

Welcome to another biassed report. It must be hard because I’m biassed both through being a Kiwi and a referee so two good reasons to hate me before you meet me. Let’s enjoy the news and remember once you read this after 12:00 the week is closer to finishing than starting. Wallabies to be paid more for a win than a loss The ongoing COVID saga has seen RA invest in a new deal for the Wallabies and a talking point is the breakdown of payments where they get paid more for a win than a loss. They also get…

Sorry Team, still not the Hoss and so you won’t get to read his witty statements yet JOC Relinquishes Captaincy Wallabies veteran James O’Connor has given up the Queensland captaincy as a big 18 months looms for test hopefuls. JOC wants to narrow his focus in the run-up to an inbound England tour and next year’s Rugby World Cup. JOC agreed to stand in for the injured Wright at the start of last season. He was extremely proud to do this but found that the extra responsibilities took their toll and adversely affected his game. While he was the Super…

Not the Hoss starting this year. Thought I’d also add a Referee Corner piece so see how it goes. NZ Assigns Referees to Super Teams A referee has been assigned to each of the five NZ franchises this year and will train alongside the team. The referee assigned to the team will not officiate any of the games they play and are there to provide expert advice on the law as part of the team training. Blues coach Leon MacDonald hailed it “a great initiative” and believes it will benefit the teams going forward. He further went on to say…

The referee occupies a unique position on the field. Tasked with managing the game, and let’s be fair, without the referee no game would be played; by law he has the right to make any decision in accordance with the laws of the game. The law that gives him/her this right (6,5.a) also requires him/her to apply the laws fairly. The referee will make decisions based on what he/she sees at the time and will apply the laws as directed by World Rugby and sometimes with some particular country, state, region or even competition direction.  The referee will have to…

Good morning fellow G&GRs This will be my last post of the year, unless something happens over the next few months that I get upset or enthused enough to write about. Thanks for all the support this year I’ve enjoyed doing these posts and sorry if some of my comments have not always been what you, or some of you, have wanted to hear. That’s the great thing about a site like this, it’s full of opinions, and while in some ways opinions can be like arseholes in that we’ve all got one but don’t often feel the need to…

BLL couldn’t make it today so sorry you’ve got me 2 weeks in a row. The view from a Waratah lover Demonstrating how singularly out of touch focussed on NSW players some Waratah supporters can be, professional shit stirrer journalist Gorgina Robinson stepped up the pressure on the Northern tour – as if it needed more – with a nice little article saying that Skelton coming into the team would resolve all the issues of losing players back to Japan. Gorgina says that this years tour will be a Spring tour with “Spice” and “heralds the return of a singular…

Happy Hump Day team. The weekend is coming and while the Wallabies will be travelling and training we do have the ABs vs Wales to look forward to – well for me anyway. RWC 27 Getting closer The clock is ticking on Rugby Australia’s push for $300 million in government guarantees to help secure the 2027 World Cup. Australia’s World Cup bid bosses and RA executives and officials fly to London next week for a series of high-level meetings with a who’s who of international rugby before a January 14 deadline for tournament bids. The United States, ordeal on the…

What’s not to like about Wednesdays; Week half over, Monday a distant memory and beers already getting cold for Friday. This is something everyone on a blog needs to realise before getting upset when others disagree with them. Not looking at anyone in particular either Rennie Extension already? In an article on SMH it appears there is already talk from some about offering Dave Rennie and extension past this current one. Currently signed through to 2023, it is an indication of the growing regard in which he is held that some of the most influential figures at Rugby Australia are…

Is this a dawning of a new age? So the question for most Wallaby fans going forward is, “Is this a New Age going forward, or is it another false dawn that we’ve had so many times in the last 8 years?” I think this is a fair question and one that Rennie himself will be well aware of. First time for 3 wins in a row in the Rugby Championship since 2015 and overall since 2017. Another win on Saturday and the Wallabies will enjoy 4 wins in a row in the Rugby Championship, which is a feeling lost…

Filling in for Yowie today. Sorry I can’t match his sense of humour and smartarsedness (I think that’s a word), and sorry for 2 Kiwi posts in a row on Tuesdays. When I saw the picture below, I immediately thought of Nutta and so couldn’t resist putting it up. Honestly, I almost get more lip from the front rows complaining about each other than I do from the 9’s at times. They all think they’re innocent, and they all think the referee doesn’t know what happens, so they’re safe. ‘He’s an Australian hero’: Cooper set to be awarded Australian citizenship…

It’s Hump Day today, so it’s time to look forward and not backwards. It’s been a hard few days, but I’ve been to Bunnings I’ve got the material for a bridge, and I’m just going to build one and get over everything. Thorn Extends His Tenure As Queensland Reds Coach By Two More Years This is interesting as he has proven to be quite a polarising coach and some people are still not happy with him despite taking the Reds to the finals twice in two years and winning the last time. Brad himself believes there’s still more to do…

Wednesday’s Rugby News looks at players being more mature than administrators, Aussie pathways programs suspension, Foster gets a contract extension, and Ryley Batt’s bid for a third gold medal. At least the players are mature Whitelock and Hooper talked over the phone last week, and there seems to be a fair bit of respect between the two camps that both CEOs should take note of. The captains Hooper, Whitelock and the injured captain Cane were in email contact while the powers that be were arguing about what was going on and why. Hooper initially reached out to both Cane and…

My turn to give it a go. Being a bit technologically challenged this may be a bit different but please enjoy. The good, the bad and the ugly from Bledisloe II – Paul Cully Embed from Getty Images Unlike a lot of Wallaby supporters Cully does manage to find some good points from the game and in particular he points out that Tate McDermott was outstanding at No.9, and Andrew Kellaway again grabbed his chance. Even saying that “Given the Rebel’s outside back prefers to play fullback, he may be the answer to one of the Wallabies’ problem positions” (that’s…

Looking at some of the referee decision in the weekend and seeing some of the comments about these, I decided to look at a decision that appeared to be controversial from the social media posts and go through the process a referee does for managing these incidents. Note: These are my ideas and are not any official answers to any issues or questions you may have. I’m happy to take questions and answer them based on my understanding of the laws and their application, but in no way is this an official answer. Hegarty’s YC and Penalty Try vs Hurricanes…

Once again team these are my interpretations of the direction provided by World Rugby and passed on by the NSWRRA to me. If I’m wrong, then it’s my learnings that got it wrong. Rugby, like many contact sports has recognised that there is a lot more it can do to protect the people playing the game. Over the years as more and more science has gone into fitness, nutrition, strength and conditioning players have got bigger and faster with the consequence that the collisions in the game have got harder. People are also starting to take note of the effects…

Splitting this into 2 actually worked out well as I have been able to add a bit based on what people said after the first one. Hopefully this adds a bit more context to some of what I said in part 1. Enjoy and looking forward to the comments Tactical Refereeing vs Technical Refereeing One of the big emphasis, especially in New Zealand, for referee training is the application of the laws of the game during a game. We are taught to look at both the technical and tactical aspects of applying the law during a game. The main…

The Referee’s View – Well mine anyway  Why I wrote this I saw a post the other day about how much fun it is to take on the job in the middle with all the spectators, most fairly well liberated with an alcoholic beverage or three, questioning every decision you make and despite only getting a one dimension view of the incident still calling you out and explaining why the decision you made was wrong. The vitriol that was provided to Nick Berry after the SRAU final online was a great example of this.  Luckily, for his ongoing peace…