Author: Nic Darveniza

Queenslanders will never forget their eight-in-a-row era of State of Origin dominance but the New South Wales Waratahs have just eclipsed it with a streak of their own, securing their ninth win in a row over the Queensland Reds. The 52-41 win at the old rivals’ Suncorp Stadium proved a shoot-out for the ages as a 15-try scoring bonanza snapped the Australian conference record for most-points scored in a game. Four tries in a row, two either side of the half-time break, proved enough for the Waratahs to accelerate clear of a Queensland side who never backed away from the challenge.…

Welcome to Green & Gold Rugby’s Day Three coverage of the 2018 Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens. The men, knocked out of medal contention with a 17-26 loss to England last night, will contest the 5th-6th playoff against Scotland at 1:33pm. The women will battle either New Zealand or England for Gold at 2:42pm. Australia (Women) vs New Zealand, Gold Medal Playoff, 2:59 pm Two halves of football weren’t enough to separate Australia and New Zealand in the Gold Medal playoff, requiring a lungbusting period of Golden Point to find the winner. It was a battle of titanic proportions, boiling down…

Welcome to Green & Gold Rugby’s Day Two coverage of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament. Our Men kick off their tournament at 9:31am AEST against Samoa, backing up against Jamaica at 1:11pm AEST. Our Women step up for their final pool match against Fiji at 7:21pm, before the Men return for a blockbuster clash with England at 8:05pm. Stay tuned here for our running coverage of Day Two! Other Matches MEN 9:31am – Australia 24 defeated Samoa 7 9:53 – England 38 defeated Jamaica 5 10:15am – Kenya 26 defeated 10 10:37am – New Zealand 54…

Welcome to Green & Gold Rugby’s coverage of Day One of the 2018 Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament. Australia’s women play two pool matches today, against Wales at 5:37pm AEST, and England in the final match of the day concluding at 8:30pm AEST. Stay tuned for a full match report and photographs from GC local Stephen Tremain. Other results from Day One: 4:31pm: Canada 29 defeated South Africa 0 4:53pm: New Zealand 45 defeated Kenya 0 5:15pm: England 17 defeated Fiji 5 5:37pm: Australia 34 defeated Wales 5 BREAK 7:11pm: Canada 24 defeated Kenya 12 7:33pm: New Zealand 41 defeated South Africa 0 7:55pm:…

The Queensland Reds have defeated the Brumbies 18-10 for their first win of 2018 in front of 11,034 fans at Suncorp Stadium. The Reds overcame the suspensions of captain Scott Higginbotham and lock Lukhan Tui to showcase a fighting spirit absent from that organisation for years. Queensland were held tryless through 80 minutes, but three penalty goals apiece to halves James Tuttle (10, 24, 57’) and Jono Lance (65, 71, 80’) were enough to eclipse the visiting Canberrans. Brumbies try-scorers Joe Powell (30’) and Naisarani (75’) brought the Brumbies within five-points to ensure an exciting finish, but discipline would prove…

Queensland coach Nick Stiles has this morning confirmed rumours that out-of-favour flyhalf Jake McIntyre has signed with French Top 14 club Agen. News broke in the French press early this morning that McIntyre would join the club based in France’s south-west once his contract with Queensland is completed at the end of this season. Stiles was full of praise for the departing playmaker who steered the ship for Richard Graham in a disastrous 2015 season at the helm of the Reds. “Jake is an absolutely quality individual and a great example to other players about how to prepare for a football game,”…

Australian Sevens stalwart Nick Malouf has signed a one-year deal with the Leicester Tigers in the U.K’s Aviva Premiership. Malouf departed the Sevens campus at Narrabeen this week after four years, 30 tournaments and an Olympic Games campaign in Australian colours. Malouf made his debut in 2012 under Michael O’Connor and was one of the last remaining veterans of the O’Connor era of Australian Rugby Sevens. A 186cm, 98 kilogram front rower in the shortened form of the game, Malouf will likely transition into the centres or wing in a powerful Leicester backline in 2017/18. The 24-year-old Brisbane product will link with former…

Queensland and New South Wales may be gearing up for Rugby League’s State of Origin next week but there can be no questioning the dominance Western Australia holds over the Queensland Reds in the Rugby Union code. The Match King Wally Lewis, Queensland’s ‘Emperor of Lang Park’, might have a challenger to his mantle in the shape of the Western Force, victorious 40 points to 26 over their eastern rivals in front of 12,040 bitterly disappointed fans at Suncorp Stadium. The hapless Reds proved the architects of their own execution as a near-constant stream of errors followed a near-total lack of…

This week’s edition of UN-AUSTRALIAN ACTIVITIES takes us to Dunedin, Bloemfontein, Buenos Aires and Hamilton for four quality Super Rugby matches. The Highlanders’ returned with a vengeance and looked good doing it against the Stormers in our Match of the Round. Match of the Round: Highlanders 57 Stormers 14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UKn1yWieo South Africa’s most expansive side took on New Zealand’s most natural entertainers under the roof at Dunedin’s Forsyth-Barr Stadium but were shown up 57-14. The Highlanders rolled to their biggest ever win in classic Kiwi fashion, punching nine scintillating tries through the Africa One conference leaders. An electric first half…

Quade Cooper is done sitting on the sidelines. The mercurial flyhalf paid the price for a reckless high-tackle in Johannesburg with a three-week suspension but returned to steer Queensland to a flashy win over the Southern Kings in Round Nine. Despite cooling his heels with a frustrating bye since then, Cooper is confident that the Waratahs are ripe for leapfrogging at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night. “You only have to speak to guys around the team like (Former State of Origin representatives) Karmichael [Hunt] and Brad Thorn to feel the energy coming off them in the lead-up to a game…

The Queensland Reds have defeated the visiting Southern Kings for the first and final time in Super Rugby, 47-34, in front of 11,336 fans on Easter Saturday. Queensland fans wept tears of joy as the team flashed back to their 2011 heyday in the second half by slamming home four top-drawer tries within 21-minutes to lock up a sorely-needed victory. Ahead 47-17 in the 61st minute, Queensland took their foot off the pedal and could only watch on in horror as the Kings’ back-three stole away their winning bonus-point like a thief in the night. The Match The match seemed…

Late on Sunday evening the Australian Men’s Rugby Sevens team took down their sport’s fastest-growing powerhouse in the third-fourth playoff at the Hong Kong Sevens. The Hong Kong tournament has been slim pickings for Australia since last taking home the Cup in 1988, and finishing with the bronze medal constitutes one of the nation’s strongest performances at the Sevens’ showcase event. As the team walked the grounds of Hong Kong Stadium for their lap of honour, the buzz surrounding the Australian success was drowned out in the press by the furore of SANZAAR’s announcement that an Australian Super Rugby side was…

The Australian Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) have slammed the Australian Rugby Union for their role in the pending demise of an Australian Super Rugby Franchise. Chief Executive Officer Ross Xenos penned a letter to media voicing the concerns of RUPA and the players they represent. “Australia’s professional Rugby players are incredibly frustrated and deeply disappointed by today’s confirmation that the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has voted to axe an Australian team from Super Rugby in 2018 and beyond,” Xenos said. “Having signed Australian Rugby up to a competition which reduced local content, diluted tribalism and disrespected fans with its lack of integrity,…

8:30pm AEST – AUSTRALIA 26 DEFEATED USA 19 HONG KONG – Australia have secured a third-place finish behind Champions Fiji and Runners-up South Africa with a 26-19 win over the United States of America. Head coach Andy Friend thrust every youngster he could find into the starting team and could only sit back and watch as they made short work of the U.S. defence. With only one player older than 21 in the team, the Baby Aussies dominated possession to produce two tries inside four minutes. The United States hit back against the run of play to shore up a 14-7 halftime scoreline…

4:44pm – AUSTRALIA 12 DEFEATED ENGLAND 10 Australia have defeated England 12-10 in the final match of Pool A at the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens to secure top seed ahead of the Cup Quarter-Finals. In a battle that pitched crowd favourites England against their very public enemies, Hong Kong’s favourite bad guys triumphed again to continue Australia’s undefeated run at the tournament. The transition of 20-year-old Henry Hutchison from the wing into the halves continued to bear fruit for the coaching staff as the speedster crossed for both tries in the key win. Head coach Andy Friend was impressed with his…

AUSTRALIA 22 DEFEATED SAMOA 19 HONG KONG – The Australian Rugby Sevens team have kicked off to a winning start at the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens, edging Pool A rivals Samoa 22-19 in the first game of the tournament. Opening the first half with a try to Henry Hutchison and closing with another to Boyd Killingworth, Australia entered the break with a narrow 10-7 lead over a Samoan team enjoying a Rugby renaissance after years in the wilderness. Australia quickly added their third and fourth tries for the game in the second half before conceding two in return with the…

The Queensland Reds U20s are back-to-back National Champions, defeating NSW Gen Blue 49-19 at the home of Rugby Union Queensland, Ballymore Stadium. Adding the 2017 National Championship to a trophy cabinet chock-full of grassroots Rugby titles will provide the Reds’ long-suffering fans plenty of hope for the future of Queensland Rugby. Indeed, Queensland have never lost an U20s fixture in the first two years of its current format. First half-tries to University of Queensland reps Sam Edwards (two), Will Eadie and Angus Scott-Young, matched by a flawless 6/6 goal kicking performance from scrumhalf Harry Nucifora, delivered the Reds their second…

In the final years of the Ewen McKenzie era of the Reds, the Queenslanders boasted Australia’s strongest record against New Zealand Super Rugby teams. Suncorp has continued to prove a tough place for Kiwi’s to travel, demonstrated again tonight by the in-form Hurricanes. The Reds produced a defensive effort reminiscent of the Wallabies pool game again Wales in 2015’s Rugby World Cup but could only watch as the Hurricanes put the foot down in the final 10 minutes to pull off a key away win. The Match A barrage of incisive kicks kept the Queensland faithful on the edge of…

With one lucky win and one “atrocious” loss to their name in the Nick Stiles-era, the Queensland Reds have the opportunity to right their steadily listing ship when they host a Crusaders B-team in Brisbane on Saturday night. The benefits of the deeper squad available to the Reds in 2017 has afforded Stiles the chance to kick some of the team’s serial under-performers to the pine while also adding some tactical punch. A failure to bend the line against the Force was the major shortcoming Stiles hopes to correct tonight by pushing Kane Douglas, Chris Kuridrani and Adam Korczyk to the bench in favour…

The Queensland Reds U20s have started 2017’s Super Rugby U20s championship with a bang, disposing of the visiting Melbourne Rebels U20s 30-13 on a 31 degree scorcher at Brothers Rugby Club in Brisbane. The Reds exploded out of the gates, piling on 34-pts in the first half with tries to Liam Wright, Sam Edwards and Harry Hockings and a perfect 5/5 goal kicking display from scrumhalf Harry Nucifora. The influence of debutant head coach Brad Thorn’s legendary conditioning training kept the young Reds firing deep into the second, outlasting the Rebels to secure a strong first-up win. “It was solid,”…