Author: Lee Grant

The National Under 20s Championships concluded last weekend, and a squad of 29 players was chosen yesterday for the upcoming Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions Under 20 Championship, which will be held at Bond University in Queensland. Australia and three other teams who will compete in the World Rugby Under 20s in June—Japan, Samoa and New Zealand—will play each other on three match days: 1 May, 5 May and 9 May. The Aussie boys will arrive early to have training sessions and workshops. Winning the tournament will be on the agenda but the boys will have the World…

5. Rugby Briefs No, these are not brief stories about rugby; they are stories about rugby briefs. Israel Folau is not as happy as people imagine he is about his salary and top up, and he’s had to think about how to earn some extra coin. He’s already got a part-time job as a bouncer at Rugby HQ and now he’s making money with his backside. It’s not what you think: he is a male model for a brand of undies and he has to wear a pair of rugby shorts a size too large so that if he gets…

NSW looked like the team to beat at the Under 20 National Championship yesterday when they defeated the Australian Barbarians Under 20s 45-9 at Viking Park in Canberra. After doing the hard work in the first half and leading 16-6 at half-time, they scored 29 points to 3 after the break. The Barbarians made it hard for themselves when a player who had received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle in the first half got a second for one that was late. This meant that they had to play a fit team, in form, with only 14…

Here is a list of the players we felt played best in their positions during the five matches of Six Nations. “Bardon”, “BabyBlueElelphant” and myself had a virtual sit-down to choose the team. There weren’t too many fights because we lived in different parts of the world. “USARugger” chipped in with some comments too – guess where he lived? We resisted the temptation to play players in positions other than that in which they played, otherwise we might have included three fullbacks. We did not consider players who played once or twice only; we didn’t pay any regard…

The 2015 National Australian Under 20s Championship started yesterday at Viking Park in Canberra. Three Aussie teams competed: city sides from Brisbane and Sydney plus a third chosen from the rest of Australia, including the country areas of NSW and Queensland. Two visiting Under 20 teams, from Tonga and Fiji, also participated in the Championship. Queensland 36 – Australian Barbarians 29 Because they were from all over the country, the Baas didn’t have an opportunity to train together but they arrived a few days early and last Thursday had a warm-up game against Tonga, which they won on…

The most promising youngsters in Australia are gearing up to compete in the 2015 National Under 20 Championship to be held in Canberra from 21-25 March. City teams from Queensland and Sydney plus a third team called the “Australian Barbarians”, made up of the top players from the rest of the country, will be banging heads against each other and sides from Tonga and Fiji. The Pacific nations won’t be bringing too many shrinking violets to Canberra, the last I heard. All the boys will want to win for themselves and their team mates, and to get crowing rights,…

Three lineouts that sunk Ireland Lineout one In the 22nd minute Ireland were down 3-12 but they had their best attacking chance with a 5-metre lineout. A maul drive was on the cards and Wales wouldn’t compete, right?  Wrong. Openside flanker Sam Waburton was hoisted in front of skyscraper Devon Toner of Ireland and won the ball at the back. Ireland got penalised anyway for interference, and incidentally, Rory Best threw the ball skew—to the Wales’ side—it would have been a scrum for Wales at worst.  Warburton nabs Ireland throw      . View image | gettyimages.com Lineout two In…

The Waratahs Gen Blue team slugged out a tough 24-all draw against the Argentine Pampas XV at the TG Millner field yesterday. Although the locals had not attempted penalty goals in 79 minutes, they tried one to win on the bell; but it missed. The match was an opportunity for the Waratahs Super Rugby reserve players to start in a match during a bye week. For the Pampas XV it was a good hit-out before starting their campaign to win the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Challenge starting in Fiji on March 10. The Match It was a game of two…

The Rotorua connection Two school chums played each other for the first time in a test match at Twickenham on Saturday and neither of them was born in the country they represented. Both were born in Rotorua, went to the same high school and played for the same junior club. One was a no. 8, Dylan Hartley, who moved to England when he was 16 and was first chosen for England at 22. The other was fullback, Kelly Haimona, recruited by the Italian national side when he was 25 and becoming eligible when he was 28. Hartley, a hooker…

The NSW Country Cockatoo Colts came to the Kippax Field at Moore Park to play the NSW Generation Blue Colts in an Under 20 trial match on Sunday and they gave a cracking account of themselves to a team that had more training and conditioning than they had. It was to be their only trial match before going to the so-called Southern States U20 Championship in Adelaide from 20-25 February. Teams from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, ACT, NSW Country and Qld Country will play three matches apiece in matches  that are selection trials. The results of the Adelaide matches…

There were some good things and bad things about the first round of Six Nations on the weekend. Here are six things that sizzled or sucked.  Not by design, but they are mostly about the first game of the round. Three things that sizzled. England were hot They were the best team on the weekend and although they looked on a slippery slope when Wales got an early lead they bullied their way back. If the early Rhys Webb try created by no. 8 Taulupe Faletau was a brilliancy for Wales—after he mined the ball out of his retreating scrum…

The Waratahs beat the Chiefs 38-36 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium last night but it would have been the visitors who felt happier about the trial because they performed well with an inexperienced team. The Waratahs scored six tries to four but brothers Marty and Damian McKenzie kicked four penalty goals between them for the Tribe to get close. Had Damian kicked the last one from 45 metres and in front near full-time, they would have won the trial. Serves them right for not backing themselves going for tries earlier in the game. First half The Waratahs started quickly with Taqele…

The NSW Generation Blue Colts Under 20 side is gearing up for the business of defending its title in the National U20 Championships in Canberra from 20 – 25 March. On Sunday they play in their first trial match, against NSW Country Colts. In charge is ex-Waratah and Australian Sevens’ player Tim Rapp, who is also running the Gen Blue senior side. With him is another full-timer, Brad Harrington, in charge of strength and conditioning, and set-piece and defence coach, Matt Bowman. But there is a bigger agenda and it’s not all about the Championships,  According to Rapp: We are…

Winger Taqele Naiyaravoro staked a claim today for starting in his first Super Rugby game in two weeks’ time, against the Force. He scored two tries and made two others with a Jonah Lomu-like performance as the the Waratahs had their first hit-out at the Parramatta Two Blues’ home ground at Granville Park. The Waratahs took on the Randwick, Sydney University and Parramatta clubs who took turns in playing 30 minute sessions against the Super Rugby side. Six Wallabies, or ex-Wallabies, played as did eight lads from either the Wider Training Group or the NSW Under 20s Gen Blue squad.…

The Waratahs ramped up their training yesterday preparing for their first trial at Granville Park on Saturday afternoon. They will be having three sharp sessions of 30 minutes each against fresh teams from the Randwick, Sydney University and Parramatta clubs. The 90 minutes of play will be split between the contracted players, the wider training group and a sprinkling of promising players from the NSW Gen Blue Under 20 squad. The youngsters didn’t have to worry about fitting into the Waratahs’ system. They had been training for the Under 20s national competition in March and received the same training content…

It’s the time of the year where everybody is spruiking the chances of their team in the upcoming Super Rugby competition, but deep down they know that their team sucks in some areas. Here is a Green and Gold Rugby assessment of the suckiness of the Australian teams. Don’t take it too seriously: it’s a bit of dubious humour and yeah – we know we left a lot out, but space did not allow a full reckoning of suckiness. Melbourne Rebels The Rebels suck. They were the bottom team of the competition last year and have never finished higher than…

The NSW Waratahs headed for the hills near their training ground yesterday. After a short training session they trouped over to near the parking lot of the Moore Park Golf Course, but it wasn’t for a relaxing nine holes for the players: they had to attack the infamous terraced north-west slope and race against three team mates in pods of four—time and time again. The session was part of the regime masterminded by the Waratahs’ Athletic Development Manager Haydn Masters. The Waratahs were one of the fittest teams in 2014 yet to this observer’s untrained eye Masters and his crew…

Last Tuesday the Waratahs had a hit-out before their Christmas break. “Hit-out” was the right description of what happened because there were several big hits as players competed for later favouritism. Although they were wearing their body suits a few ended up with dings. Because of the NRC and the need to rest players, the Waratahs’ pre-season is shorter than is normal, and starting later, as it is for all Aussie Super Rugby teams. With only five weeks of training before Christmas, instead of ten, it is more condensed and the hit-outs are happening earlier. All the healthy contracted players,…

Of the southern teams the All Blacks won all their games as expected and Argentina did well winning two out of three.  But the two other teams from The Rugby Championship stumbled as the Springboks lost two matches and the Wallabies three. Australia The Wallabies had a Titanic year, but I’m thinking of the ship that sunk—and it hit a few more icebergs on tour as well. It was difficult for new coach Michael Cheika to make a difference at short notice, and changing a few deck chairs was never going to help. The Aussies had their worst tour since…

Wales 12 – South Africa 6 After 16 consecutive losses to the Springboks, Wales beat them in a test match where neither side played well because the tension of the game for all players overcame their skill level under pressure. At the end it became a contest where neither team wanted to make the last mistake of the match. After playing poorly against Fiji, Wales threw everything they had against the All Blacks last week; but in the end it was too much as they wilted in the last twelve minutes as the Kiwis scored three tries. South Africa started…