Author: Nutta

PREVIEW Gudday Cobbers, I typed ‘greatest sporting rivalries’ into Doctor Google the other day, and of the first ten lists that came up, 8 of them included the All Blacks against the Springbok in their Top10. Even the shamelessly American sites, with their infatuation and preoccupation with only themselves, included the ABs v Bokke in their Top10. And so if you need to be told, if you didn’t already know, be assured that when South Africa meet New Zealand on the rugby field for the 106th time this coming weekend, it’s recognised around the world as close to the absolute…

Hey All, Over the past few weeks I’ve articulated some pretty solid criticisms of RA, and particularly its board of directors. Those deliberately harsh words were triggered in the moment by the dismal results of the Wobblies at the 2023 World Cup. But it’s more than that: it’s the culmination of years of the pent-up frustrations of a lifelong rugby fan watching a slow motion train wreck that everyone could see coming, yet was still allowed to happen. It’s the manifestation of finally being sick to the very back teeth of having our collective goodwill and loyalties abused by 20+yrs…

Ahoy there Cobbers! I pen these thoughts mid afternoon on Monday, in a wierd, vibey haze induced no doubt mostly by the sleep deprivation of the weekend just passed, multiplied by the beef kebab for lunch, offset by the grainy, semi-cold flat white from the angry barista in the downstairs foyer area of our multi-level and multi-business office block. So things are a bit surreal for me right now. And thus I implore you to go a bit easy on me as linear thinking may not be my strong suit right now. But what was decidedly not hazy of late…

PREGAME Well bonjour mes amis and welcome to the pre-game chat regarding RWC2023 quarter-final no4 to be duked out by the quite literal heavyweights of the finals, Les Frogs (aka Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys – CESM) and the Saffas (aka ‘Catholics’ given they generally hate the pill). This match is slated for Stade de France, Paris at 9pm Sunday night (6am Monday Sydney local time). And Kiwi Ben O’Keeffe will blow the pea, ably assisted by Paul Williams and James Doleman with Brendo Pickerill up in the TMO Box. For me, and indeed for everyone I think, this is a…

Hello Cobbers, Part of me wants to write a feel good piece about the end of the pools phase of the RWC, for we’ve seen some magnificent footy to my mind. We’ve seen the likes of the Bokke and Les Frogs show pure power across the park. We’ve seen the precision and ruthlessness of the All Blacks racking near a ton of points on the Italians. We’ve seen the creativity and flair of the Irish, the dogged ‘we will win somehow’ of the English and even the ‘we will run from anywhere’ of Los Pumas. Sprinkled in and around that…

Konnichiwa Cobbers Welcome to this, the seventh instalment of Los Pumas versus Bureibu Burossamuzu (Brave Blossoms) to be played at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes at 1:00pm frog local (Sunday night 10:00 Sydney). For the particular among us, Kiwi Ben O’Keeffe is abusing the pea for this match, while Paul Williams and James Doleman run the touch and Brendon Pickerill drives the TMO bunker. PREVIEW: With the score at 5 wins to the Argies (aka FISMs – Falkland Islands Silver Medallists) and 1 to the Angry Flowers, some may say it’s a foregone conclusion that World No9 FISMs will devour…

Gudday Cobbers, I confess I’m really struggling to write anything this week, I’m just so empty. And I’ve had a bit to drink so my chat is even more crap than usual. Normally I’m a pretty upbeat guy; I’m normally the guy who can find a silver lining in almost any cloud. I almost pride myself in that I can take nearly any topic and make it fire folk up, or make them reflect a bit. And the World Cup is on for Christssake. Surely I can be upbeat about something yeh? But this week, I confess it’s all just…

Hola mis amigos, Welcome to this 53rd clash between the Los Pumas of Argentina (FISMs) and the Chilean Los Condores (Chilean Angry Birds – CABs) scheduled for 1500hrs Frog local time (2300hrs Sydney local) at Stadium Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes. Our man with the pea will be referee Paul Williams, ably assisted by Andy Brace and Chris Busby with Ben Whitehouse in the bunker box. And I suspect the officiating team may have their work cut out for them as while this may seem a bit of a non-event on the surface as the World no9 FISMs meet World…

Hey Cobbers! Konnichiwa and Talofa and all that. Welcome ye all to this Pool D clash between the Bureibu Burossamuzu (Brave Blossoms) of Nippon and Manu of Samoa. Before the Samoans give their Siva Tau and we rip into the 18th instalment of this Pacific rivalry, some background is always useful for context. History: Rugby first came to Samoa in the early 1920s with the Marist Brothers. And from what I can find about the interwebs, apparently their first test match played was against Fiji in Apia on 18 August 1924 with an 8am kick-off to avoid the heat of…

Hello Cobbers, I write this in the aftermath of our 40-6 humiliation by Wales in RWC2023 to officially make this Bill our worst on record. I’m angry. So forgive me if I’m somewhat blunt or a little inaccurate as my fingers shake. I’ll go back and re-read once I’ve calmed down. But while part of me is indeed heartbroken, part of me also knew this day was coming. In fact, part of me WANTED us to be sent home from the pools as I couldn’t bear another 2015 wherein a ‘good’ World Cup result was enough for everyone to paper…

The Preview Hiya Folks, For what will be one hellava confrontation, you need to read this preview with AC/DC timeless ‘If you want blood” in the background, because this Aussie pub-rock classic sums up what this match will be. If you like your rugby hard and heavy with a bit of blood, well you’ve got it right here. https://youtu.be/6EWqTym2cQU?si=OOJofvM9EmhW1tq4 Welcome aboard Funsters for a southern hemisphere extravaganza of aggression, big hits and svelte skills as the world-ranked 10th Falkland Island Silver Medallists (ie, Argentina) meet world-ranked 11th Manu Samoa in this Pool D fixture at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint…

Hey Cobbers Some may remember there was a fair to middlingly successful pub-rocker in the late 80s and 90s called Johnny Diesel. He had a pub-rock hit from 1989 entitled ‘Crying Shame’. It’s opening line is ‘Pickin’ up the pieces up off the floor’. And indeed part of me wants to do just that in the aftermath of the Fiji game: pick up the pieces and sift through the debris. But enough others are doing that for now. I’ll keep my powder dry for another day. Instead, an interesting question arose last week when folk saw South Africa’s finest glorified…

Bula Vinaka Cobbers! Pre-Game: Welcome aboard the early morning express for a match that everyone in green and gold (and probably black and white) has been both keenly anticipating and fearing in equal measure. Well it’s inescapably here now: when our first favourite team faces down the Cibi in taking on our second favourite team at the 42,000 seater Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne at 1745hrs Sunday local French (0145 Monday local Sydney). The Kava Crew will be unimpressed to learn another Welshman by name of Andrew Brace will have the whistle for this second round affair when their Pool C…

Hail fellows, all well met! Frankly I’m looking forward to feeling human again after the weekend and having my first night of relatively normal sleep with no small hours degustation of all things Arnott’s Shapes related. After five odd nights of little sleep, and what little sleep to be had being grabbed in short bursts only, interrupted by lots of little Chicken-Crimpy type things washed down with copious amounts of port, rum and coffee, I’m near certain that Gary the dog is beyond curiosity and is genuinely concerned for my wellbeing. He’s accustomed to seeing me doing the odd night…

Well Gudday Cobbers, Welcome along to Pool D match 5 and the 26th properly recognised iteration of test match rugby between England (Poms/Roses/Butchers) and Argentina (Pumas/Argies/FISM – Falkland Islands Silver Medallists), this time dressed up as each team’s opening salvo of the Rugby World Cup 2023 edition. Background It’s a little known fact that these two mobs first butted rugby heads in 1978. But, given the Butchers didn’t award caps to their players for that match it wasn’t really counted as a full historic test. The first agreed test was a 19 all draw in May 1981. Their next meeting…

Gudday Cobbers, I hope this missive finds you all primed, pumped and brimming with excitement for the impending kick-off of the Big Bill. It’s time to put aside the ruminations, the scheming, the plotting, the tea-leaf analysis of the nuances of half-muttered remarks at airport press conferences, and to lock-in to a month and a half of sleepless nights, empty rum bottles, early starts, Arnott’s Shapes, late finishes, Macca’s brekkys, and the pastel and hazy-edged timelessness of sleep-deprived tournament footy. It’s time to ignore rhyme, rhythm and reason and back your team (the Wobbs), and your 2nd team (Fiji or…

Hey Cobbers, Welcome back all and sundry as the Green rejoins the Gold and the Noodles reconstitute as the Chew once again. I’ll let others tell the tales of where we’ve been, whence and why we came and how we’ve all arrived back where we all started. It’s been an adventure, but, however it’s come to pass, here we are. Comments on the Phoney War: I made the point a few weeks ago that the roughly eight months between when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and when the Blitzkrieg smashed into France and the Low Countries in about May…

Gudday Cobbers Well haven’t the 6-Nations judiciary, the English and – by extension – World Rugby got themselves in a wee pickle now? For those living on another planet and who don’t know what I’m talking about, 10 days ago, whilst England and Wales played out one of the worst Test matches I think I have ever seen, Owen Farrell put a shoulder fair into the noggin’ of Welshman Taine Basham. And let’s not beat about the bush because it was exactly that: a clear shoulder into the noggin’. from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2023/08/15/owen-farrell-cleared-red-card-overturned-england-world-cup/ Following World Rugby protocols, referee Nika Amashukeli initially (and…

Hey Cobbers Is it only me, or have other folk always struggled with what to do with yourself when attending a wedding and you hit that dead patch between the end of the ceremony and the start of the reception? Usually after the last flourish of Aunty Flo on the organ there is that 2hrs of ‘dead air’ while the ‘happy couple’ has their happy-snaps and the rest of us shuffle dirt with our freshly polished RM’s and stand about fidgeting and commenting on the weather or wool prices. If the shindig was non-denominational and is at a winery or…

Hello Cobbers, I hope you have recovered your sleep and emotional equilibrium after the weekend. As a number of others have noted, it’s the hope that kills you isn’t it? Regarding the weekends matches, I watched a replay of the Wobbs vs AB’s relatively late on Saturday night, and nursing a sore shoulder so knowing my uncomfortable shuffling in bed would just aggravate the wife, I then just kept punching on through with Saffas vs Pumas, Paddy’s vs Dagoes, Jocks vs Frogs and Taffs vs Poms. What was interesting was that 5 test matches straight pretty much reinforced the same…