Author: Reg Roberts

After a prolonged period of angst among the Super Rugby community, SANZAAR have finally made official their plans for 2018 and beyond. Read the full statement below: “SANZAAR has announced that the Super Rugby tournament has been restructured and will kick-off in 2018 with a three conference, 15-team format: five teams from New Zealand, four from Australia, four from South Africa, one from Japan; and one from Argentina. This restructuring by SANZAAR represents a crucial step in its strategic planning process that has included a comprehensive assessment of the economic and sporting environment under which its tournaments (Super Rugby and…

The Reds are bordering on the tour from hell fresh on the back of their spanking at the hands of the Lions last weekend which included a season ending injury to skipper James Slipper, a suspension for flyhalf Quade Cooper and a whole lot of yuk in terms of game play. Meanwhile the Jaguares seem to have found their Super Rugby groove after the letdown that was their debut year in 2016. The Argentines are sitting on the top of their conference having just dropped the one game, against the Stormers in Round 2, while enjoying big wins against the…

Reds Crusaders games at Suncorp Stadium have built up a certain mythical feel about them of late, more on the back of that amazing 2011 Grand Final than anything more recent.  There’s no doubt the Reds entered the game under the most pressure, on the back of their poor showing against the Force in Round 2. Coach Nick Stiles didn’t hold back on his team early in the week and backed it up by making three critical changes to his starting side with Japanese international Hendrick Tui making his first start for the season, while young lock forward Izack Rodda and…

It was just a couple of weeks ago we saw one of the greatest collection of international rugby players seen in one city congregate in Brisbane for the Global Tens tournament. This weekend we see another collection of rugby prominence assemble in that same city for an event smaller in profile, but perhaps more significant in meaning. While a majority of the rugby focus has been on the first round of the Super Rugby season, there should be a curious eye cast at an inner northern suburb of Brisbane, where one of the most famous clubs in Australia is doing…

The Queensland Reds completed their preparation for the 2017 Super Rugby season with an impressive 32-13 win over the Melbourne Rebels at Ballymore on Valentine’s Day.  The four tries to one victory just two days after a draining Brisbane Tens campaign (for both teams) is the final match for both teams before their Super Rugby campaign commences next week. First Half: With both teams naming almost full strength squads this match would be a key determinant for each coach’s final line up. The Rebels made their intentions known early by attempting an early penalty goal, which kiwi flyhalf Jackson Garden-Bachop…

Hot off the success of the sold out Sydney Sevens last weekend, another shortened version of the game between international teams played over multiple days kicks off this weekend in Queensland – the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens! Tens hey? So what’s that? It’s all in the title really. Ten aside rugby played over ten minute halves. It’s by no means as prominent as 7s rugby is, but it has a reasonable presence around the globe. In Australia at least, it seems to have been the domain of the corporate world as a staff engagement activity, but it seems to most…

Simon Parmiter travelled took in the Waratahs v Brumbies trial and provided this match report for us. Sweltering conditions greeted the Waratahs and Brumbies at Glen Willow Stadium in Mudgee, NSW for their pre-season trial match with the mercury still in the high 30s at kickoff. The heat and the threatening storms didn’t deter the locals though, with over 6,000 people packing the ground near to capacity and providing a fantastic atmosphere. The match promised to be an interesting one with the Brumbies bringing along a near full-strength team, while the Tahs, in their first hit-up for the season, rested…

Finally! Rugby in Australia is back. While there has been some lower profile Super Rugby trialling going on, the Australian rugby season now doesn’t officially start until the Sydney Sevens and it’s all happening this weekend. Last year’s event was an absolute hit with the packed stadium being treated to perhaps the best Australian mens’ performance of the year as they came within seconds of defeated New Zealand in the final. This year, thanks to some heavy lobbying by the ARU, the Women’s Series has been included in the tournament giving Australians the chance to see our Rio Olympic champions…

The third leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series kicks off this weekend, almost seven weeks since the last event wrapped up in Cape Town. The extended break over Christmas has enabled some teams to review and refresh before the hectic run home. For our struggling men’s team, this approach was necessary yet we can expect a torrid time in Wellington this weekend. Season so far: Embed from Getty Images South Africa lead the way so far in season 2016/17 having finished runners up to Fiji last year. They took home the chocolates in the opening tournament of the…

Ok so it was a tough year for Australian Rugby fans. Nine losses is never a fun outcome particularly when almost half of them are from the ‘old enemy’ in England (unfortunately, we’re kind of used to the NZ losses). As Hugh Cavill pointed out on our podcast last week though, it must surely go down as one of the hardest international years of rugby Australia has ever had, such was the quality of the opposition. The lowest ranked team we ever faced was Scotland who was ranked 9th at the time. In fact 11 of our 15 games were…

The Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) have recently completed their annual survey of players from this year’s NRC and the results are worth considering. All up over 120 players responded to the survey request on a variety of questions related to this year’s competition. Some of the interesting results are as follows: Quality of Competition 90% of players said the standard of play increased in comparison to Club Rugby 88% of players saying the distribution of talent across teams was improved due to the reduction to eight teams These two stats seem to go hand in hand as cutting the…

Wallaby coach Michael Cheika has selected former Melbourne Storm winger, and eventual Melbourne Rebels winger, Marika Koroibete, in the Wallaby squad to tour the UK and Europe departing today (Friday). The selection has caused quite the stir considering Koroibete is actually yet to play rugby union in Australia. Now I’ll admit I was one of the ones who got caught up in the selection dynamics and banged out a few angry tweets on my keyboard. One of my theories being, selecting Marika for the Wallabies was a bigger affront to the Wallaby jersey than the infamous clown cartoon that featured…

We are just days away from the culmination of what has undoubtedly been the most intense, highest quality and, I’d suggest, most news-worthy Buildcorp NRC since inception. For the first time ever, we will have a Grand Final that doesn’t take place at Ballymore as Tamworth becomes the centre stage for the big match. It all kicked off just eight weeks ago and it’s fair to say that this weekend’s two competing teams, the NSW Country Eagles and the Perth Spirit, each kicked off their season in style. The Spirit opened the tournament with a win that many considered an…

With the Grand Final in Tamworth this weekend what better time is there glance back at the 2016 Buildcorp NRC season and look at some of its best individual performers. So let’s get to it and name our Green and Gold Rugby NRC Team of the Year for 2016, on the way revealing our NRC Player of the Year, as voted by our GAGR correspondents who covered each match of this year’s tournament. 1 Pettowa Paraka – Brisbane City Brisbane didn’t perform to the levels that NRC fans have come to expect this year. In fact they didn’t even have…

It was a cracking day in Sydney today for the second semi-final in the Buildcorp NRC and a very impressive crowd of rugby supporters had flocked to Pittwater Park to be a part of it. The battle was between the 2nd placed Sydney Stars and the 3rd placed Perth Spirit to see who would be heading to Tamworth next week to take on the NSW Country Eagles. First Half: The Rays were in control from the kick off with Jack Dempsey taking the kick off and putting on a strong charge before Matt Lucas boxed kicked with the wind at…

And then there were four. It’s been a fairly widely held belief that this has been the highest quality NRC since inception, and the quality shows no sign of abating this weekend. Despite the closeness of the competition, there’s no denying the top three teams were the best performers of the competition this last seven weeks. The Melbourne Rising have snuck into fourth sport despite losses in their last two games, holding off a largely disappointing Vikings outfit and a fast finishing Rams. Oh what the Rams could have achieved with another couple of more weeks of preparation. With the…

The St George Queensland Reds have named a 38 man full-time training squad for their 2017 season and its one that features a number of returning Reds players. Scott Higginbotham is the latest big name, returning to Ballymore having departing the Reds for the Rebels back in 2012. Higginbotham got a taste of life back in the fold at the end of last season when he played the NRC for Brisbane City, and will now return to home following his season with the NEC Green Rockets in Japan. The wide running skillful backrower joins Quade Cooper (finished 2015), Stephen Moore…

I’m going to say it up front. This is the least certain I’ve been about a TOTW this season. I’m not sure why. It was a really interesting round of rugby and I do feel that, in at least three of the games, there were real team performances which makes it tough to isolate individuals. Perhaps I’ve got too many players from one team (a losing team), perhaps I’ve got too many from a game between the two bottom teams, and perhaps I did the wrong thing by picking a bench player. Maybe I’ve stuck with some known stars instead…

Brisbane City have denied QLD Country the Andy Purcell Cup for the third year running with a NRC record 58-52 record scored at Ballymore today. The loss left QLD Country nailed to the bottom of the ladder for the first time in the NRC having finished the previous two years second last. For Brisbane City this will be their first NRC without a finals campaign, nor indeed the premiership trophy, as they recorded just their second win of the year to finish just two points above QLD Country. The match was what you would expect between teams made up of…

This is exactly the type of final round you want in a competition. Plenty of action, no doubt, and plenty to play for across all teams participating. All but two teams are still a chance of making the finals, which is awesome. Then we’ve got a Horan Little Challenge match (between the Rams and Eagles) and of course Green and Gold Rugby’s own new Benn Robinson Bell will be awarded.  As a reminder, here’s the table as it currently stands. To further add to the excitement of the final round, the NRC will pay tribute to the important role that…