Author: Lee Grant

Rob Horne is confident that he will be ready to go when the Waratahs play the Queensland Reds in their Super Rugby opener at Allianz Stadium on 27th February. After suffering a painful injury to his left shoulder ten minutes into the game against England in the Rugby World Cup, Horne was mentioned as a possibility to play against Scotland in the quarter-final. But it wasn’t to be, and as Horne explained: I did everything I could to get myself back in the selection frame but it’s hard to get back into a winning side. Surgery was on the cards…

The terrorist attacks in Paris in November led to the postponement of five games in the European Rugby Champions Cup. Last weekend one adjourned game was played in each pool, after which all teams would have two pool matches remaining. Some would be lame ducks if they lost. The ERCC (previously called the Heineken Cup) involves 20 teams from the three major competitions in Europe, divided into five pools. This season the Top 14 and Pro 12 have seven teams each in the tournament, and the Aviva Premiership has six. Embed from Getty Images Jonathan Davies passes the ball…

The Waratahs were pleased today to announce that Cliffy Palu and Matt Lucas had returned to the Waratahs’ squad. Palu, who has 121 Super Rugby caps for the Waratahs, was due to play in Japan but was unable to, following the hamstring injury he suffered playing for the Wallabies against Uruguay in the Rugby World Cup. He was close to having an operation and when it was resolved that he wouldn’t go to Japan he accepted a one-season contract at the Tahs but would go to Japan to fulfil the second year of his overseas contract obligation. When asked to…

Since this is a religious season for many it may be timely to send players a Christmas message. If they follow these great truths of the sport they will perform with a Holy Spirit in The Game They Play in Heaven, and vanquish their un-Godly opponents more often than not. The Ten Commandments of rugby 1. Thou shalt use it or lose it – and in rugby also. 2. Thou shalt not pass the ball to a team mate about to be belted by a mighty enemy—unless he owes you money, or has rodgered thy belovéd. Embed from…

The Waratahs Under 20 squad had their first hit-out yesterday at Moore Park as nearly 50 players played three “halves”, swapping teams and sometimes, positions. After weeks of getting flogged by the trainers it was time for the lads to take it out on each other, often against their best mates. No quarter was given to anybody because, mates or not, they were competitors for the spots they were after in the NSW Under 20s team that will play in the 2016 Super Rugby Under 20 competition. Mixing the players up led to misunderstandings but there were some eagle-eyed assessors…

The Waratahs Under 20s squad is hitting their straps after weeks of being flogged at training and are heading to their first hurdle of surviving a cut in the new year. About 60 promising lads were at the Bus Loop training field yesterday, soaking up the content from Waratahs’ coaches Cam Blades and Chris Malone, and Under 20s assistant coach Matt Bowman, under the direction of Head Coach Tim Rapp, who is also an Australian assistant coach in 2016. But there were keen contests in exercises with rivals all over the field. Though it was in the late afternoon it…

New Waratahs forwards coach Cameron Blades has challenged his forwards to step up to the mark in the 2016 season. Although the Waratahs’ scrum had some good moments in 2015 after Mario Ledesma arrived late in the piece, Blades said that the Tahs were only tenth in their scrummaging success rate last season and their lineout was worse. The challenge to improve the scrums would not be helped by the move of tight-head prop Sekope Kepu to the Top 14 for Bordeaux, where he arrived recently with Waratahs’ team mate Adam Ashley-Cooper. Angus Ta’avao replaces Kepu in the squad and…

The graysonline.com Australian Sevens Development Tournament was held at Conolly Park, Wagga Wagga, on the weekend. Queensland won the trophies in the Girls and Boys Youth U17 division, while NSW won the Womens’ Open contest. It was all about the development of aspiring players and it was pleasing that the ARU was looking to the future at the same time that the best Australian men and women players were performing in Dubai. The teams The Girls Youth Under 17 competition had seven teams – from the ACT, Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia plus two from NSW. The Girls played…

View image | gettyimages.com The Australian Womens’ Sevens team put down an emphatic marker for the Rio Olympics in the desert sand in Dubai, when they beat Russia in the final 31-12, in the first round of the 2015-16 HSBC Sevens World Series. Day One There was a sensation in the first game in Pool A when Russia (seventh in the 2014-15 standings) thrashed last season’s Series’ winners, New Zealand, 33-7. Wow !! Canada, second in the standings last season, looked shaky also going down to Fiji 10-24 in the opening game of Pool B; but like the…

Part VI of Not Set Pieces covers the TMO, law crackdowns, the semi-finals, quotes of the week and the team of the semis. Waiting for the TMO View image | gettyimages.com The TMO The TMO was over-used at the beginning of the RWC, not only in frequency, but also in the time that was needed for each review. It was used for some trivial matters as though the officials were scared to miss anything. This would make more sense in the NFL where every scrimmage is a set piece and the actions more discernible, and in rugby league where…

Not set pieces Part V goes into quarter-final interviews and quotes, the emotions of coaches, national anthems, and even a bit of rugby. Heyneke Meyer – wears his heart on his sleeve View image | gettyimages.com Best Quarter-finals’ coaches to watch 1. Heyneke Meyer (South Africa) – looks like he will blow a gasket but until he does you have got to love the guy the way he wears his heart on his sleeve and shows his obvious passion for the game and his team. Class act. 2. Daniel Hourcade (Argentina) – was better than Meyer in involving…

The Springboks might have recovered from their horror start to the Rugby World Cup against Japan, but the ghosts of Brighton will still be with them when they appear at Twickenham for the Quarter-final. Wales will have their own doubts—about their inability to beat the Wallabies, who had just 13 men for eight minutes—and their failure to score two tries that looked like “slam-dunks”. Wales View image | gettyimages.com Liam Williams is injured so George North returns to the wing enabling 20 year-old Tyler Morgan to play in his third test, at outside centre. In a horses-for-courses selection switch, skipper…

At the end of the pool games only eight teams were left. Here are some of the best and the worst things of the pool stages. Best team performance Japan – they did the unthinkable and defeated the Springboks and later beat Samoa and the USA. Winning three out of four should have enabled the Brave Blossoms to make the Quarter-finals; after all, France got through to the 2011 Rugby World Cup [RWC] Final after losing two pool games. But it wasn’t to be. Scotland also won three, losing only to the Springboks; they should be congratulated for…

There was drama during the week in the Rugby Word Cup including set play, but some items were not set pieces. A tale of two coaches It was the best of times and the worst of times at Twickenham for two coaches on the weekend: it depended which coach they were. They had different tales. Stuart Lancaster, the England coach, had little hands-on coaching experience before joining the national set-up. Michael Cheika, the Australian coach, got Leinster to win the Heineken Cup, and the Waratahs to win Super Rugby—both for the first time. Lancaster reportedly has a style that…

There have been a few tasty quotes in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Some suited my weird sense of humour, some were right on the money—and one wasn’t even said. They were Not Set Pieces. Commentators France v Romania The Oaks’ flanker has a good run but is tackled by his French counterpart: Andy Gomarsall: “It was Le Roux who saved France’s bacon.” Simon Ward: “Francis Bacon? I don’t think he played rugby, did he?” Argentina v Georgia A lineout was forming but referee JP Doyle went running back to the other side where the play had come from,…

Most of the major teams at the Rugby World Cup except the Aussies and Scots have played a game as I write this.  There has been a lot of fine rugby and some astonishing passages of play; but some of the actions were not set pieces. TMO Madness Some early games of the 2015 Rugby World Cup [RWC] have been spoiled by the TMO being over-used. It started from the first game between England and Fiji when referee Jaco Peyper and TMO Shaun Veldsman seemed to conspire to drag the game out. One sequence was right out of…

 We thought it would be appropriate to add some special awards to the excellent GPS season review produced by Richard Edwards Although all the players were concerned most about contributing to the performance of their team, we thought there were some that deserved special mention—and there were some special tries scored, and a special game, worthy of comment. 2015 GPS Season Highlights Player of the Year – Charlie Smith (Scots) Most Valuable Player – Fergus Bragg (Shore) Rising star – Luke Edwards (Shore) Game of the Season – Newington v Riverview (Stanmore), Rd.10 Try of the Season –…

Last years winners, Scots, were tied with Newington, going into the last round of of the GPS competition. Both were favoured to win but if one team lost the other would likely get the chokkies. Would this happen or would the Championship be a tie between these two recent powerhouses of GPS rugby—as happened in 2013?? We’ll save those games for later, but meantime Shore would meet an ailing Joey’s team at Northbridge in the other match. Shore v Joeys     by “Gary Owen III”  The final round at Northbridge was blessed with wonderful conditions for what…

No shocks were predicted in Round 9 of the GPS: joint leaders Newington were expected to account for winless Shore at Northbridge, and although Kings were improving, Joeys should account for them at Hunters Hill. Riverview were to play “giant killer” in the last two rounds, against both joint leaders, and had every chance to win at home against Scots in Round 9, but they would have to play their best rugby. Riverview v Scots     by “Crackerjack” A cliche, maybe, but this one would indeed “be a game of two halves”. First half Bucolic sunlit hillocks greeted…

Round 8 of the GPS was not expected to present too many surprises. Riverview would surely prove too strong for Kings who were monstered by Newington last week, and Scots should account for Shore who had not won a game yet. But Joeys played well losing at Scots in Round 7 and could threaten undefeated Newington if they could play at the same level. They went down by three points in Round 3 in soft conditions at Stanmore but would have felt more confident of bothering New on a hard track. Scots fans would have been making calls to friends…