Author: Mst

Well, what can we say, after a horror round this week’s Tuesday Top 5 does a little CSI on what happened, revisits the weekly questions about contact while players are in the air, and what’s on the menu for the last round of Super Rugby 2016. What the hell was that? It’s a bit like that well known “morning after“ talk. It seemed like a good thing beforehand. You brought your “A” game, you were excitedly looking forward to it but it started badly and just kept going downhill from there and ended badly. Well, as awkward as it is…

The Cheetahs and Force were both looking for a win to add some respect to a poor season. The Force, with their key play maker Jono Lance back from injury and under Interim Head Coach David Wessels would have been feeling optimistic that they could come away with a win. Adam Colman was a late withdrawal with Rory Walton coming in to the starting line-up and Matt Philip to the bench. First Half The game started with some good intensity, but for Rory Walton a little too intense, leaving the field after the first minute for the blood bin, returning…

It will be an interesting trip to Bloemfontein for the Force coming off the back of the June break. With Interim Head Coach David Wessels taking over the reins of the team for the remainder of the season and the buzz of having new Wallaby blood in the side the Force will be wanting to get some results to close out the season. Similarly the Cheetahs have struggled this season and will also be looking to finish the season on a high. It will be an interesting match up to see if the Force can contain the running game of…

In this week’s Tuesday Top 5 the June test window closed (on some fingers!), what we can make out through the settling dust, Super Rugby’s back, Women’s rugby and another card controversy. Congratulations to England They signalled their intent. They gave us fair warning. They came, conquered and they walked away with the spoils. Congratulations to England, now the second ranked team in the world, on a historical series win. Kudos to the fact that they were able to walk the talk! They won the battle on and off the field. But it’s not a dead loss for us Aussies.…

The opening round of the June internationals provided us with some unexpected results, interesting refereeing decisions and some cracking rugby. Refereeing With the northern hemisphere whistle blowers taking control of the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springbok’s games it was always going to interesting to see how the game would be refereed and also how the quickly the SANZAR teams would adapt. All of the games had moments that left some of us scratching our heads. In the All Blacks versus Wales game, what looked like a certain try to TJ Perenara was called back for a forward pass. After TJ…

The test window has opened and with games kicking off on the weekend, this weeks Tuesday Top 5 gives you some test match “thinking points”. 1. Crowds and grounds With the ARU bank balance a hot topic of debate over the recent past, scrutiny always come to bear when the Wallabies are playing to see if the ARU are grabbing ever potential dollars on offer. So with the Reds reporting attendance figures on the decline, will Queensland rugby supporters front up for the Wallabies or will it be a hard sell? With mixed reports about ticket sales it’s hard to…

This week we take a look at some of the missing fundamentals, how the top 3 Aussie teams are looking for the run home and wonder what is going on with the Kiwi teams. Fundamentals and game IQ Each season we hear the reports of the Kiwi teams, in particular the Chiefs being innovative with the rules and in general game play and the flow on effect through the other Kiwi teams.  We also hear about how NZ rugby has in the past recruited Aussies like Michael Byrne, the ex AFL player as a skills coaches helping them improve their…

In beautiful Invercargill rugby weather the Brumbies and Highlanders faced off both looking to get their seasons back on track. The Brumbies made a late change, with Blake Enever being replaced by Lausii Taliauli on the bench. It wasn’t a good start to the night for the Brumbies when their bus broke down on the way to the match and the team had to arrive in taxi’s. The night didn’t get much better for the Brumbies. First Half With both teams coming off losses it was the Brumbies who made a positive start to the match. They showed their attacking…

This week we take a look at European rugby, try and understand the rule book and see how the Aussie teams are travelling after round 9. European Cups This weekend saw the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup and Champions Cup. In the first Challenge Cup semi-final Montpellier, with a plethora of ex-super rugby stars in action, beat the Newport Gwent Dragons to make the final. They scored 1 try compared to the Dragons 2, but penalties made the difference with Demetri Catrakilis kicking four. Embed from Getty Images In the other semi James Horwill’s Harlequins easily beat Grenoble 30-6. The…

This weeks Tuesday Top 5 starts out with the sad news of a forced retirement, what’s going on in Super Rugby and European news. Ita Vaea Retires from Rugby On Monday afternoon the Brumbies made the shock announcement that Ita Vaea would be retiring from playing rugby, effective immediately. The 27-year old said he made the decision for the benefit of himself and his family. Vaea overcame massive challenges to make his long awaited comeback for the Brumbies last year after sitting out the entire 2013 and 2014 seasons due to a blood clot on his heart. During that time…

In a match that was closer than the score suggests, the Western Force has gone down to the Highlanders in an enthralling but error- and injury-riddled affair. First Half The Force got off to a flying start, after taking advantage of a one man advantage with Highlanders prop Brendon Edmonds down injured. A kick chase put Patrick Osborne under pressure close to his own line, with Dane Haylett-Petty capitalising and diving on the loose ball for the first try of the match. Peter grant converted to make the score 7-0 to the Force with three minutes gone. Embed from Getty…

The Force will be facing a tough challenge in the Highlanders under the pressure cooker roof of Forsyth Barr. Last week’s heavy loss will have the Force wanting to restore some pride, while the Highlander’s will be aiming to dismantle another Australian team. THE FORM The form guide on this one does suggest the possibility of an upset with the Force being a past bogey team for the Highlanders at home. The positives for the Force are the Highlanders haven’t beaten them in New Zealand in nearly a decade! They have won four of their five trips to Highlanders territory…

World Record Breakers Not content with having such accolades as playing in the Top 14 Championship, the Heineken Cup, European Champions Cup, a Rugby Championship and a Rugby World Cup next to his name, Drew Mitchell decided he wanted to add the title “Guinness World Record Holder” to an already impressive list of accomplishments. After a tough decision about which record to go for, including suggestions from followers on Twitter such as fastest 100m wearing clogs (or something similar), the record he attempted to smash was the most apples crushed with a bicep in one minute. Yep … a bicep.…

In what was the epitome of a game of two halves, the Highlanders have taken out a close match against the Waratahs. There was a lot of hype pre-match about this being a “grudge match” and a chance for the Waratahs to get revenge for the semi-final loss last year, but all that was forgotten in the drama at Allianz Stadium.. First Half At the ten minute mark it was the Highlanders who drew first blood with a set piece play off a line out, with Rob Thompson breaking through the line and offloading to Ryan Tongia who scored the first…

This weeks Tuesday Top 5 has us talking weather, Sevens and everybody’s favourite … a falcon. Round 3 Report Card Brumbies C Poor game for a second week running, struggling to execute against a determined Force but still getting the wins even if they are ugly. The Africa trip is an important one to show they are the real deal and not let the past history of good season starts then a drop off in form haunt them. Force B+ Finally carried out on their threat to play rugby, and running rugby at that! The Blue Army will have renewed…

Its back! Super rugby 2016 has kicked off and just as the dust settles on round one the Tuesday Top 5 is kicking off.  We have new kids on the block, first look at the Aussie teams, the new (and old) rules, how to make a debut and when quantity equals quality. 1. New Kids on the block Welcome Super 18 with the entry of three new teams (well one being on familiar face re-joining) kicking off a new era for Super Rugby. First to strut their stuff were the Jaguares who are expected to be towards the top of…

Embed from Getty Images In an historic day of rugby in Tokyo, the Lions over-powered the Sunwolves in an entertaining  and competitive game. First half The game got off to a scrappy start, going end to end with both teams having opportunities in attack but being let down by handling errors. The Sunwolves took the chance to register their first ever points via a penalty from Pisi. The Lions had an opportunity to level the scores at the ten minute mark but Janties missed a penalty shot from right in front of the posts. The Lions were starting to exercise…

Sunwolves; the sun represents daybreak and the new challenge of Japanese Rugby. The Wolf represents the team’s playing style, which will be speedy, a pack like single unit with fearless fighting spirit. The hash tag reference in the title represents the twitter tag line used by their marketing and one feels there will be a lot of traffic for the team on the Twittersphere. Fresh from validating their credentials at the Rugby World Cup, and with a new level of confidence Japan embarks on creating another chapter in their rugby history with the Sunwolves joining Super Rugby. The Sunwolves…

On Tuesday night, the rugby community collectively had a “What the….” moment when we read the words “Pocock to take 2017 off to study”. We are used to hearing the usual rumours and speculation around contracts but this time it was different. Subconsciously we knew “it” existed but I don’t think any of us were ready for “it” to be a reality. Especially not if it involved David Pocock. So now we wait for the official announcement from Pocock, Pulver and yet to be named Godfather, that after many hours of hard labour, and an awkward birth, they welcome in…