Guten Morgen, gut geschlafen?
Well, it was a funny ol’ weekend with the shortened Super round, the Honkers Sevens and daylight saving reverting to standard time and baffling the cows. But here we are and off we go into a another week of ramblings from a less than rational guy.
As always, I’ll insert here that this is a fan-run site and contributions are more than welcome. Barring the merest check for decency and decorum, feel free to reach out to me at HERE be it with an article an idea, or an opinion piece. And there’s also the ‘Submit a Story’ option on the Home Page. So feel free to have a crack as the more opinions and ideas and folk to share the load, the merrier we (and our wives) all are.
Nutta’s Super Team of the Week:
Week 7 has come and gone with the Force doing their best interpretation of French surrender monkeys, the Rebels needling the Drua into self-destruct mode and the Donkeys basically just letting the Tahs do a number on themselves before chowing on the leftovers. For me, a number of these weekly selections are in danger of being accused of being too predictable. And in that case, should you think I’m not judging fairly, please hit the comments below. I honestly am trying to take fresh eyes each week, I’ll welcome the feedback and take it on the chin.
But as it stands, here’s the TotW as I saw it with a gentle reminder that as long as a guy played for an Aussie Supper franchise on the weekend just gone he may be selected, even if not eligible for Cadbury Gold.
- James Slipper – not just on his 178 super-cap record, but he dead set earned it on performance.
- Alex Mafi – meat and potatoes were solid and he’s quick around the ground.
- Sam Talakai – a genuine toiler.
- Jed Holloway – just owned it.
- Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – likewise, he just owned it.
- Fergus Lee-Warner – NSW plays him in the row, but he is really a back rower.
- Charlie Gamble – finding some form especially over the ball.
- Bobby Valetini – rock solid and the run over of Edmed will make highlight reels for years.
- Nic White – seems to have re-focussed on core tasks and is in good form for it.
- Noah Lolesio – just owned it. Again.
- Corey ‘The’ Toole – as so named by Jimmy Slips, he’s a week in and out reliable performer.
- Tamati Tua – a bowling ball in attack and defence.
- Hudson Creighton – made a rock solid pairing with Big2Ts in the Donkey centres.
- Darby Lancaster – is a fantastic player who keeps getting better.
- Tom Wright – played well again. He’s in danger of becoming consistently consistent.
- Julian Heaven – two years since returning from France, he had a great Super debut.
- Matt Gibbon – very dependable. Great meat and potatoes and good around ground skills.
- Taniela Tupou – a powerful spell off the bench. Dare I wish…?
- Josh Canham – starting to find some of last year’s form.
- Tim Anstee – played heartily in an otherwise well-beaten side.
- Jake Gordon – was the best of the other 9s.
- Carter Gordon – not precise, but all effort again.
- Max Jorgensen – had some great touches in a self-destructing side.
Comments on the above:
- Some may understandably not like that I sometimes pick guys in jerseys they didn’t play in on the weekend (this week Fergus LW). But I do so because they earned a spot and I select them in their true role, whereas they were selected out of position by their coaches.
- That said, Bayley Kuenzle and Filipo Daugunu handled themselves notably well even while playing out of position.
- I feel terribly for Angus Bell. At time of writing, no confirmed diagnosis was known. But the look on the poor guy’s face told a ‘long term’ story. And if you didn’t already know, Mahe Vailanu is also out for the season it seems with a meniscus injury. So the Tahs, already somewhat short of real power in jerseys 1 through 3, are in all sorts of trouble up front.
Random Observations:
Tah Terrible: Despite the heroics of Charlie Gamble seemingly being over the top of near every ball not immediately sealed by the Donkeys over the weekend, the Tahs consistently shanked themselves with “not rolling away” penalties and general poor skills execution. And while their defensive lineout caused havoc for the Donkeys, the general instability of the Tahs around all their set-pieces (kick-offs, scrums and own lineouts) means they just cannot play with any confidence. This drags them inevitably into chancing low-percentage miracle plays that leave guys grasping thin air and fading hopes. Thus an all-pervading sense of a lack of focus blankets their play as they can’t trust each other to do their bloody jobs. It must be terribly frustrating for all involved.
One thing is pretty certain though, it’s going to be the death of their coach Darren Coleman surely. While one may avoid a single administrative shotgun blast occasionally, the twin black eyes of simultaneous RA and Waratah internal reviews means at least one blast will get him.
Honkers 7s: Since beginning in 1976, the Hong Kong Sevens has become an annual event of almost Mecca proportions and reverence for rugby devotees of bonhomie the world over. And this year was no exception. The Scottish Borders may well be the birthplace of sevens rugby, but it’s Honkers where its soul resides.
And in what is to be the last year in the current stadium (a rebuild is on the cards apparently), while this year’s tournament saw some fantastic rugby and a few notable events, it also saw both Aussie sides crash out of the main race in the semi-finals, in both cases to the Hobbit folk from the 7th state to our east.
For the women, the team made the semi undefeated, although they were clunky and seemed fatigued in the quarter final against Japan. The team had Madison Ashby back on deck from the naughty chair after her suspension for a high tackle against Fiji, and debutant Ruby Nicholas seemed to be on fire. However, the fatigue seemed to show through again in the 2nd half against the Kiwis where some uncharacteristic errors ultimately allowed Jorja Millar to seal the match with a heart breaking pie in the closing seconds. End score 28-14.
That result sent the Ferns through to the final against USA, which the Ferns duly won 36-7. Meanwhile our women played France for bronze in a heart-stopping match where we grabbed those bikkies 24-21. After being down by 21-7 with less than 5 minutes on the clock, firstly a cracking effort from debutant Bridget Clark pulled back one pie, then an all-time classic right-handed fend by Madi Tegan on the left wing set up another try, and then an amazing ‘all hands’ effort at the very death pinched another Maddison Levi try from a despairing French outfit. If you get the chance to see the replay on Stan, do yourself a favour. Disappointingly though, the bronze results saw the Hobbits push the Aussies out of top spot on the ladder for the first time this year.
For the guys, they dropped a pool match against France (19-14), but seemed in good shape coming into the semi. However a 1 try lead established by the Kiwis in the first half was stretched to a three try lead in the second spell, with Maurice Longbottom’s sole 1st half pie and sauce being our only ask of the score-board official in the whole match. End score was 24-7 to the ABs.
That result saw the ABs play France for the men’s gold, which the ABs pinched 10-7, while our lads went down against Ireland in the bronze play-off 14-5, and so now sit 6th on the ladder.
For me, it was great to see debutantes at either end of the career spectrum get their chance as both youngsters such as Ruby Nicholas and Bridget Clark competed alongside well-known veteran Michael Hooper as they got their respective shots in time to push for the Olympics. Ruby and Bridget even bagged pies in their debuts while Hooper, coming off the bench, heralded his change in formats by tackling four guys in under six seconds for his first involvement. Good luck to them all.
Local News: Closer to home than Honkers, in the traditional Easter grudge match, the Bourke Old Boys (BOBs) duly whacked the presumptuous Brewarrina-Bourke BaaBaas (aka Young Guns) at Bourke’s Davidson Oval on Saturday recently. Generational lines were crossed with dads playing sons, uncles belting nephews and cousins going head to head as the the BOBs, displaying wisdom, patience and downright cunning befitting their years, proved a tad too smart when it counted against their enthusiastic, but under-done younger opponents. I believe the final score was officially recorded as 42-40 for the BOBs win, but even that is subject to on-going argument apparently.
And fresh from their headlining act leading the clap-on tunnel for the ACT Women v Fijian Drua in Canberra over the weekend, the Jindabyne Bush Pig Juniors will be hosting various members of the Brumbies men’s squad at Juniors training tomorrow Tuesday 09 April from 4:45 through to 6pm and a BBQ. On the off chance you’re in the area, be there!
That will do for me this week Cobbers. Go forth, play hard, tackle brave and multiply the faithful by being all you can be!
