Author: Roscoe Tims

In a long-awaited move, it appears James O’Connor may have decided where his rugby future lies — at the Western Force. Although there hasn’t been any official announcement to date, pending the finalisation of his ARU contract, two of the three franchises that were after his services (Brumbies and Reds) have confirmed that he’s not moving their way. The mail out of the Melbourne Rebels yesterday was that they had also missed out on recruiting him. The ACT Brumbies CEO Andrew Fagan said that JOC’s management has contacted all interested parties to tell them the news, and that he’s staying in Perth on a one year contract. The Melbourne…

The House of Pain on Friday was not kind to the Highlanders. A win would have given them a boost to their finals run and had them edging the Top 6, on equal points with the Bulls. It was the last ever Super Rugby game to be played at the famous Carisbrook venue and they finished it with a loss. It seems the Clan are the Force’s bogey bitch! This was their fourth consecutive win against the Highlanders. And what about that friggin’ awful lime green snot jumper? I think I’m gonna puke…. In a weekend of a few upsets…

The Western Force have been in a holding pattern this year after their near-wooden spoon experience of 2010. They’re in 12th position, five points above the bottom-placed Lions. It’s unlikely their remaining three matches will make too much of a difference to the final standings. And it could have been different. I count six matches the Force were in a good position to win: Round 1: v. Reds 21–20 Round 4: v. Blues 22–22 Round 7: v. Rebels 26–25 Round 12: v. Waratahs 20–15 Round 14: v. Brumbies 13–13 Round 15:  v. Hurricanes 34–28 They lost to the Crusaders in…

David Pocock is rightly considered a potential candidate for the future captaincy of the Wallabies. Whether that happens sooner or later is in the lap of the Gods. There’s no doubting he’s a fine young bloke with leadership qualities and a sense of social justice. That’s obvious by the wonderful charity work he does in his home country, Zimbabwe. However, by publicly declaring his support for Julia Gillard’s carbon tax in an advertisement placed in yesterday’s national newspapers, he does himself a disservice. This advertisement is part of a political campaign funded by the trade union movement, the Australian Conservation…

Now, I don’t want to be too negative (who, me?) but there is a bit of bad news with this Force v. Canes match-up. Yes, this Round 15 game is being played over in New Zealand on Friday night – Palmerston North to be precise. Have you ever been there? Palmy, as it’s colloquially known to the locals, is the Hamilton of the lower North Island. This place is about as lively as a blowfly on a winter’s day. There’s actually a main avenue in town called Ferguson Street and an agricultural university called Massey. These people love their farm machinery. This is…

Sitting in the stands at nib Stadium, Jake White would at least have been pleased that the Brumbies were showing some vital signs of life. ‘Stinger’ Rea’s effort at defibrillation last week has delivered, to some degree, the desired result. A faint pulse showed up in their 13-13 draw with the Western Force. In fact, it was probably a little bit more than that. The Brumbies were the moral winner of the match, holding out a determined Force who had both the momentum and field position to win it. That they didn’t is an indicator of just where their deficiencies lie.…

The political wars are hotting up in the rugby ‘ruling classes’ with the usual suspects revolting again. The target of course is ARU CEO John O’Neill. Self-interest is always at the heart of these stoushes. It’s like the history wars played all over again, black armband and all. Let’s make it clear right from the start, I’m no ARU or O’Neill apologist. But it seems to me that in their latest attempt to leak so-called ‘bad news’ to their journalist of choice, these Vic Rugby alickadoos and fellow travellers are fostering dissent right at the time when Australian rugby should be pulling together. Sure, O’Neill might rub some…

In the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music, the Austrian Nonnberg Abbey nuns mused about how to pull effervescent young novice Maria into line. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria they sang, eventually packing her off to the Von Trapps to see whether life outside the Abbey would do the trick. The Melbourne Rebels have a similar problem with overseas signing Danny Cipriani, who has every mountain to climb to regain respect from his club and teammates over his off-field goings-on. And it’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll be packed off too. I mean, he’s 23, not sixteen going on seventeen. The…

Que será será – whatever will be, will be. I think that encapsulates what’s going to happen at the SFS on Saturday night, don’t you? It could be that sort of strange circumstance. Here we were four weeks ago and the Waratahs hammered the Force in Perth by 31 to 3. The Force line-out was a shambles and they were seriously beaten at the breakdown. Drew Mitchell and Luke Burgess were both outstanding. The headline read: Force Deflowered by Dominant Waratahs. Now, a month later and it’s been sort of turned on its head. The Waratahs have been playing scratchy,…

In a US Presidential election it’s called the big mo’ and it’s about who has the momentum at various points in the campaign, and importantly, at the business end. Saturday night’s entertaining Western Force versus Canterbury Crusaders encounter was very much like that. The Crusaders came out of the blocks like Usain Bolt, scored two quick tries to Israel Dagg and were leading 15–3 after 15 minutes. Their sense of purpose and intent was overwhelming. They threw the ball around enthusiastically and with plenty of width and pace. The fact that they had the players to do this was already…

David Pocock and Richie McCaw both return to action this weekend in a mouthwatering loose forward encounter. We’ve got Force Test players Poey, Richard Brown, Ben McCalman and bench man Matt Hodgson locking horns with No. 8 McCaw, George Whitelock (one Test) and Matt Todd, who is surely a Test player in waiting. Not only that, the long awaited Rabbit O’Connor/Sonny Bill Williams encounter is upon us. Two players with completely different skill sets, styles and attributes, both creative in their own way. One has fast feet, the other brute force. One has a hairdo to die for, the other…

The Brumbies are the only Super Rugby team I’ve known who have had three coaches in one season, to wit Andy Friend, Tony Rea and now Jake White. It must be getting a bit crowded with Jake now in the business of hiring and firing while ‘Stinger’ is still ostensibly doing the business. Oh well, ’tis of their own making, but let’s hope it doesn’t unsettle the players too much. No doubt their famed culture will get them through. In a sensible move the Brumbies relocated to Cape Town to train this week before flying up to the bustling metropolis…

The Bulls have had a disappointing Antipodean tour and will be pleased to voetsek back to South Africa after an upset 21–26 loss to the Western Force. They’ve never won their last tour match in Super Rugby and the record remains intact, much to the delight of Force fans. There could be a babbelas or two in Perthfontein this morning…. You knew something special might be on the cards when the Force began the match with some ferocity. They dominated all facets of play in the first 10 minutes. However, it was Bulls who ended up the winner of the…

I have a feeling that the Bulls might adjust their tactics this week against the Western Force. Well, if you were the coach, wouldn’t you? Their traditional strategy hasn’t really worked on this tour apart from that first-up win against a weak Hurricanes side. Putting up the box kick or bomb and waiting for a mistake from the opposition is passé in Australia and I dare say the Force will have been training all week for this very eventuality. Teams have worked the tactic out and put capable players in positions to defuse the threat. Last week it was Will Genia…

I don’t know about you, but to me all this chopping and changing by the Brumbies’ halves was a little too smart by half. So we had 10 to 15, 15 to 12 and 12 to 10….or was it 15 to 10 and 12 to stay where he was? Buggered if I know. I guess Bernie picked up this daft idea from Eddie Jones. It was called ‘Total Rugby’ in those days and I don’t think it worked then either. I wonder which one of them was supposed to pick up David Smith, as he powered off Willie Ripia’s shoulder…

UPDATE: The word is spreading like wildfire. In what could the second bombshell of the week, James O’Connor may be heading to the Melbourne Rebels to join fellow Wallaby Kurtley Beale. Although none of this is confirmed, media reports are suggesting he could be signed by Monday. If this is the case, the big question on everybody’s lips is where does that leave Danny Cipriani? Is this an indicator that he may not return to complete his second season with the Rebels? If he’s staying at the club it’ll all be costing a motzah, but what a backline this would make! It…

Welsh international and Rebels vice-captain Gareth Delve will be joining us on Tuesday night at 8:00pm (AEST) as a Special Guest for a LIVE recording of the G&GR weekly podcast. Log on at our live page and participate in the wang-on. Ask Gareth some questions on the blog or Twitter? I can’t wait to find out: If you need a license to drive a golf buggy down the M1? Are leeks performance-enhancing? How good a sort is Katherine Jenkins? Is Abergavenny the Bloemfontein of Wales? What would you do if you were Tom Jones for a day? Is Rod Macqueen a cross-dresser? Tune…

Deflower: (tr. verb) to destroy the innocence, integrity, or beauty of; ravage; violate; despoil or force – amongst other things. Yep, the Waratahs did all of that at Fort Nib last night to a hapless Western Force. In the process, the Tahs consigned the Force to the dustbin of 2011 Super Rugby history – which means this year they’ll be fighting it out with the Lions and Cheetahs for die hout lepel. The Tahs are tracking at No. 2 in the Australian Conference, three points adrift of the rising Reds and fifth overall. Not bad for a team that stumbled…

The moment has arrived when the Force’s marquee signing, Willie Ripia, is finally free from injury and making his long-awaited debut. Ripia is an exciting player with a bit of that ‘X-factor.’ He can manage a game, take the ball to the line and has a cultured boot, although there have been question marks about his consistency. The Force will be mightily relieved that he’s finally on the park in this most important match-up; however, I wouldn’t get too carried away this early. In a surprise move for some, coach Woody Graham has selected Rabbit O’Connor at fullback and switched Cameron Shepherd to the wing. This shouldn’t…

It’s that old head versus heart thing. What do you think our chances are of beating the All Blacks in the RWC Final? As an Australian I’d like to think we’re in with a chance of actually getting into the Final and competing against Sir Richie and the ABs (forget this choking crap — it’s in NZ). Do we have the team this year to actually make it into the Final and Bring Back Bill? I think it’s a moot point at the moment. Let’s say we beat the Irish and top our pool. That’ll mean a probable Welsh Quarter-Final. Without dismissing the threat, I can’t see…