Author: Reg Roberts

Team lists for the next batch of RWC games are starting to come in. We will update the below as they are announced. Here are the teams for the upcoming week (remember, all times are AEST): Wedensday 23 SEPTEMBER Scotland v Japan (Kingsholm) @ 11:30pM Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 John Hardie, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson. Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Jon Welsh,…

As the RWC kicked off it was like all involved in the NRC decided to up their game from a try-scoring front in an effort to stay front of mind amongst the spectators. The results were incredible with the four games featuring 49 tries, with the 11 scored in the Rising v Rams game the least in a match all weekend. It made picking a Team of the Week pretty damn difficult, but what the hey, here it goes. [one_third last=”no”] 1. Jed Gillespie  (Greater Sydney Rams) – 1 TOTW appearance Gillespie makes his first GAGR NRC TOTW for season 2015…

Michael Cheika has named his first side of the RWC with seven players to make their World Cup debut. The team features a number of interesting pointers towards the rest of the tournament, including: The reunion of the Pooper (Michael Hooper and David Pocock in the backrow) Scott Sio named to start ahead of James Slipper Kane Douglas to partner Rob Simmons at lock with both Will Skelton and Dean Mumm on the bench Will Genia to partner Bernard Foley, a combination that we have never seen before start a test for the Wallbies Matt Giteau to start at inside…

Brisbane City didn’t have it all their own way despite a scoreline that indicates an easy victory. Whilst the competition front runners won the game 61-29 over the NSW Country Eagles, and retained the Horan-Little Shield in the process, the Eagles had the premiers under the pump in a cracking first half of rugby. First Half NSW Country Eagles entered the match as clear underdogs without gun players Andrew Kellaway, Ned Hanigan, Tom Staniforth, Dashville Kuate and Mark Baldwin, amongst others. A late change to Brisbane City saw them start the game without their inform skipper, Liam Gill, with Waita Setu…

VIBE The match began with both sides clearly showing the nerves after an opening ceremoney that managed to whip the home crowd into an absolute frenzy. England seemed to adjust earlier, however Fiji soon settled and began to challenge the Fijian through a strong scrum and hard running. SCORE England 35 Tries: Mike Brown 2, Billy Vunipola. Penlaty Try Conversions: Owen Farrell 2, George Ford Penalties: George Ford 2, Owen Farrell Fiji 11 Tries: Nemani Nadolo Penalties: Nemani Nadolo, Ben Volavola (18-8 to England at half time) INCIDENTS OF NOTE The first match of a RWC can usually give an indication as to the overall feel of…

To give you a hand with your RWC tipping competition or fantasty rugby games, we’ll keep this updated as teams are announced. For those looking at joining at tipping competition, we have our RWC competition going at SuperBru. Pool name: Green and Gold Rugby Pool code: specpurr Here are the teams for the first week (remember, all times are AEST) Saturday 19 September England v Fiji (Twickenham) @ 5:00am England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5…

How good is this round of the NRC? A Thursday night epic live on FOX SPORTS. A couple of cracking games on Saturday taken to venues that don’t usually get to host high class rugby, and then the Horan Little Shield back at Ballymore (plus a World Record attempt) on Sunday. The Rugby World Cup may kick off this weekend in the UK, but there’s plenty of quality rugby on here in Australia as well. Bring it on! Canberra Vikings v Sydney Stars Thursday 17 September at Viking Park (Canberra). Kick off 7:30pm With the 2nd placed Vikings hosting…

Nelson Dale went along to Forshaw Park in Sylvania Waters to the see who would break their season duck between the Greater Sydney Rams and Queensland Country. Here is his NRC match report, better late than never. The National Rugby Championships (NRC) was taken to the Sutherland Shire for the first time during Saturday’s thrilling round 4 match-up, where Queensland Country beat the Rams 37 to 31. “RAMdemption day” which the event was preemptively dubbed by the Ram’s ‘Horned Army”, did not fail to entertain, however it was the boys north of the boarder who took home the bacon. For the second time this season, an…

Another fine fine week of NRC this weekend past with another to come in Week Five. But before we get ahead of ourselves, here is the GAGR NRC Team of Week Four. [one_third last=”no”] 1. Allan Alaalatoa  (UC Vikings) – 2 weeks in the team Back in the TOTW for the 2nd week running for Alaalatoa as he lead a powerful Vikings pack performance in a tight win over the Perth Spirit. Became the fourth prop forward in four weeks to score two tries in a match. [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. Anara Rangi (Perth Spirit) – 1 Rangi seems to be sharing…

The 2015 Rugby World Cup is now imminent and this week’s RWC Podcast brings Matt, Will and Reg together to discuss the first week of the competition beginning with the first game this Saturday morning, Australia time, between England and Fiji. The games this week are: Saturday 19 September (AEST): 5:00 am – England v Fiji from Twickenham (Pool A) 9:00 pm – Tonga v Georgia from Kingsholm (Pool C) 11:30 pm – Ireland v Canada from Millennium Stadium (Pool D) Sunday 20 September (AEST): 1:45 am  – South Africa v Japan from Brighton Community Stadium (Pool B) 5:00 am…

Ross Briggs went along to Chillingworth Oval in Tamworth to see if the NSW Country Eagles could put a stop to the Sydney Stars’ impressive early season winning streak. Here is his notes on this NRC Round 4 encounter. In what seemed to be much hotter than the stated 23 degrees Tamworth was given the opportunity to watch a cracking match between the Charles Sturt University NSW County Eagles and the Sydney Stars. The game started with plenty of possession to the stars. Their scrum was dominant and they put plenty of pressure on the eagles for the first 15…

As we approach Week 4 of the Buildcorp NRC, the matches scheduled are no less intriguing than they were a month ago. Whilst we have three undefeated teams at the top, and three teams yet to win a game, the quality of the matches on the park remains high and well worth the effort for fans to attend. There’s extra incentive for fans to get out there and get active too. FOX SPORTS are giving away a bunch of the famous NRC yellow Gilbert match balls. All you have to do is take a photo of you supporting your NRC…

Want some exciting rugby to watch? How’s 39 tries and 306 points in a weekend of footy. Not half bad I reckon. The 2015 NRC is throwing up some fantastic performances that it seems unfair to single out just 15 (and change) each week, but that’s what we are going to do. Here is the GAGR NRC Team of Week Three. [one_third last=”no”] 1. Allan Alaalatoa  (UC Vikings) – 1 week in the team Alaalatoa  worked hard as part of a strong Vikings scrum in a dominant wider pack performance. The set piece worked a treat for the Vikings and the tries…

GAGR’s Carl Unger went to Manly Oval to watch the Rising take on the Rays. This is his report. Melbourne Rising overcame a courageous 2nd half fight back by the North Harbour Rays to win 45-40 in a typical NRC try fest. Winter had returned to Manly Oval for Thursday night rugby, shivering cold conditions present with showers that cleared in time for kick off. Both teams traded handling errors early before the Rays struck first with a try to flanker Boyd Killingworth in the 7th minute. It wouldn’t be long before the Rising came back through Jack Debreczeni setting…

As the Wallabies prefer for their first test on US soil since 1976, it’s perhaps a chance to look at some of the interesting statistics and records currently held from Australia v USA test matches. Perhaps we’ll see some new records set this weekend? For the Wallabies Try Scoring: It should not come as any surprise that our all-time leading test try scorer, David Campese, is top of the table with 6 tries, from three games v the US. Worth noting that four of those came in one game in Sydney back in 1983. Of the current squad only Adam Ashley-Cooper…

There are big things happening in the world of Rugby 7s at the moment, and Australia is jumping on the opportunity with the fans sure to benefit. Bigger picture, Rugby 7s will make its Olympic debut in August 2016 in the biggest party town of all – Rio. The Olympic recognition of this format of the game is huge for the game and will hopefully mean the sport continues to grow in numbers and support across the globe. Australia is taking their campaign pretty damn seriously as well. Our women’s program have been recruiting strongly from a variety of backgrounds…

Week 2 produced another weekend of fast and entertaining rugby and perhaps gave an early insight as to how the top four (top three at least) may shape up. Week 3 has the potential to make that even more certain, or blow all tipping out of the water. So let’s get to it – our NRC 2015 preview for Round 3. North Harbour Rays v Melbourne Rising Thursday 3 September at Manly Oval (Sydney). Kick off 7:30pm The Rays faithful should be streaming down to Manly Oval on Thursday night to support their team taking on the Melbourne Rising. Both…

Round Two of the NRC produced heaps more tries across the four games, a couple of upsets, and some cracking individual performances. Here is the GAGR NRC Team of Week Two. [one_third last=”no”] 1. Haydn Hirsimaki (QLD Country) – 2 weeks in the team For the second week in a row, ‘Schmacki’ was the cornerstone of a wonderful QLD Country scrumming performance. One again his team suffered a loss, however Haydn gets his second ‘Team of the Week’ Cap. Not just for his scrummaging either, as Hisimacki tackled tirelessly in a hell of a tiring game.[/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] 2. James Hanson (Sydney Stars) -…

Our man on the ground, Delphy, went to the Spirit v Rays game for us and did this match report. “The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.” The North Harbour Rays channel Mao Tse-Tung to record an impressive win against the more fancied Perth Spirit The Game Morning showers and the threat of a storm meant a smaller than anticipated crowd for the first Spirit Home game of the NRC season.  However, just before kick off the clouds parted and the sun shone down on McGillivray Oval,…

The first round of NRC 2015 produced plenty of entertainment, beginning with the Grand Final re-match on Thursday night at Ballymore and culminating in the first event Horan-Little Shield challenge game down the Gold Coast on Sunday. In between we had a couple of cracking local derbies in NSW and the scene has now been set for another highly enjoyable and competitive season. Can Round 2 match up? Unfortunately, a Barbarians game has robbed us of some of the stars of the First Round, whilst a handful more are off with the Wallabies, but there’s still plenty to be excited…