Author: Shane Sullivan

In the old days a Queensland Reds pre-season was full of players leaving or coaches being sacked or board member in fighting. These days the Reds are a well oiled machine. They have a fairly stable playing group. The only players leaving are those looking for more game time. They tend to recruit with an eye on the future so there is rarely a star signing. Off the field things appear to run just as smoothly. The only Possible cloud on the horizon is a fairly radical change in the coaching ranks. But even here it seems the Reds have…

Queensland Reds v Melbourne Rebels (Ballymore) [one_half last=”no”]1. James Slipper 2. Saia Fainga’a 3. Greg Holmes 4. Rob Simmons 5. James Horwill (C) 6. Eddie Quirk 7. Liam Gill 8. Jake Schatz 9. Will Genia (VC) 10. Quade Cooper 11. Dom Shipperley 12. Mike Harris 13. Chris Feauai-Sautia 14. Rod Davies 15. Lachie Turner Reserves Ben Daley, James Hanson, Jono Owen, Blake Enever, Ed O’Donoghue, Curtis Browning, Nick Frisby, Chris Kuridrani, Anthony Fainga’a, Ben Tapuai, Jamie-Jerry Taulagi.[/one_half][one_half last=”yes”]1. Toby Smith 2. Pat Leafa 3. Laurie Weeks 4. Hugh Pyle 5. Luke Jones 6. Sean McMahon 7. Scott Fuglistaller 8.…

Here at Green And Gold Rugby we are all about making your holiday season easier. So the blogging department formed a committee to come up with a few New Year’s resolutions. They had no idea so they hired a promotions company. Frankly what they came up with was crap! Eventually one of the faceless men who secretly control G&GR handed me this list and told me to write it up or I would never work in the industry again. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t actually  work in this industry now. So here they are: 1.…

I think the eight match in a row wallaby winning streak over Wales counts for nothing. If they win this most would call the spring tour a success. If they lose there will be a few doubters. The Welsh are brimming with confidence after a good six nations tournament and a successful lions tour.  The Match Australia had the worst possibly start. After a promising beginning where Quade Cooper put Israel Folau through the Welsh defence, a turnover at the next ruck allowed Wales to put George north away down the left touchline and he raced away and chipped through…

The Wallabies showed their intent from the first ruck by driving the Scots off the ball and regaining Quade Coopers kick off. The Wallabies tried to dominate the ruck and maul area in the opening stages but penalties at the breakdown cost them as Scotland lead the game 6-3 after 20 minutes.

The shock of the win in Rosario is wearing off. Who would have thought going into this game that the Wallabies could win so comprehensively. Certainly not the bookies – who paid $5:80 for the 13+ win – but I don’t know anyone who was brave enough to back them. 1. Benn Robinson didn’t really save us. I’ve heard around the traps that Benn was the difference in that scrum and that’s why the ball popped out. To me it looked just like the seven scrums before it. What do you think? [youtube id=d5_puaVx0Lo width=”600″ height=”350″] 2. Was it a…

Ewen McKenzie’s Wallabies have lost their first three test matches and head into their fourth match with their third Captain. Argentina must sniff blood on the air. Can the Wallabies lift? Photos courtesy of Greg Seaton  The Match The game started off very scratchily. The Wallabies had opportunities to pressure the Pumas defence but a poor pass from Nic White and an offside from Rob Simmons let them off the hook. The Argentinians managed to score off their first trip to the wallabies 22 after Nick Cummins made a poor decision to run across his goal after fielding the ball from a kick. He failed to…

A terrible game from the Wallabies. The new coach must be tearing his hair out and the forwards coach polishing up the resume. Any steps forward from the last match can be ignored as more than two steps back were achieved last night: [one_third last=”no”] James Slipper Solid enough, good around the park but must take some of the blame for the poor scrum as do all the tight five. 5 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”] Stephen Moore Has made a fine career as a third mobile prop but is really struggling to actually hook the ball.  3 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”] Sekope…

It was a pretty depressing night as a Wallaby fan but it’s still fantastic to get so close and occasionally snap a great photo. Here’s the best of what I managed on the night. I hope you enjoy them. Click on the main image to bring up a larger shot and then use your arrow keys to navigate.

This week it was my job to write the Bledisloe II match review. In the rush to get things out quickly after a game you need to rely on your gut feeling a lot and frankly you can get it wrong. So taking my cue from Hugh Cavill’s follow-up post last weekend I decided to take another look at Bledisloe II to see if I had drifted to far off course in the heat of the moment. Below is an expansion of the notes I took during my second viewing. 1. No one is straightening the attack. So much of our…

Last week I half-jokingly predicted a 10 point win to Australia. It was more of a hope than a belief but what I did expect was a pretty good showing from my team. What I didn’t expect was a six tries to two drubbing. While it was 17 points on the scoreboard to me it felt like we weren’t even that close. So with my unbreakable Aussie spirit intact I head into Bledisloe II full of hope. Maybe not for a win (although I’d have taken one) but definitely for a better showing from the guys in the gold jerseys.…

Wow! The build up to the Bledisloe cup match in Sydney on Saturday has been amazing. And there’s still two days to go!

Who should be the Wallaby blind side flanker? You choose

All you need to know about the new scrum laws

Who is the Wallaby Openside? Liam Gill or Michael Hooper? I’m going to put my cards on the table straight up. I’m a Reds fan. And I am a massive Liam Gill fan. Don’t get me wrong I’m a fan of Michael Hooper as well, but for the start of the Rugby Championship I think Liam Gill should be starting for the Wallabies. Here’s why. Let’s start by looking at the other two backrow positions. With the injuries to Palu, Higginbotham and Kimlin it’s actually looking a little thin. I’m assuming Ben Mowen…

Here’s your chance! Who do you think should be Wallabies Coach? Link or Jake.

What a difference a week makes! The Lions lost their captain and openside flanker Sam Warburton. Then Dropped Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll and replaced him with the giant Jamie Roberts. The Wallabies made one unforced change bringing in the legendary George Smith. While Liam Gill was the unlucky guy who made way for him. The Match The Wallabies looked nervous from the kick off. Kane Douglas decided to leave the ball and forced Will Genia to attempt a very difficult take, which he spilled. From the resulting scrum referee Roman Poite awarded the Lions a free kick for an early engage. The Lions…

The Wallabies only had a couple of muddy tags between heartache and victory last week. Heartache won the day!

What a difference a week makes! The Wallabies have had their hopes crushed with a last minute slip on the Lang Park surface.

What a fantastic night! The noise from the crowd was amazing and so was the match! I got a real buzz from the whole thing.