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FASCINATING CONTRAST: Scenario A: 2010-11: QC (Quade Cooper) gives HRH R McCaw a head tap and a few such like. Nothing serious, bit silly maybe, but paying out the ABs for raw stuff on the Wallabies that we've all seen in he past. QC (Quade Cooper) plays a brilliant role for the Reds (and sometimes for the Walls), and...

Not always a great fan of post-match cliche-generators, but I'd highly recommend the media conf after the Reds game, Link in top form and very revealing as to how he sees this year's top teams and the comp as a whole...

lb, it's reasonably clear is it not that the Reds vs Brum in Canberra will have huge impact on the ultimate Aus Conf outcome and the BPs that may come from that. Numbers-wise, the Reds are still 'fighting' their low BPs gained earlier in the season. gel makes a big, correct point re the June...

I have heard q51 that this is in part due to the RSA time gap, i.e., afternoon AEST = too early in RSA. But then why do we have to endure RSA games at 1am-3am AEST? Plus 4pm AEST must be great for NZ viewers vs say 9:40pm NZ time. Another thing: one of the reasons both the Cru match v Tahs and...

One thing we can confidently say re 'the commentators' S15 Conference': we certainly possess the weakest team, so weak it's now fully embarrassing. If Foxtel offered to charge me an extra $10 pm to just have crowd noise and refs and TMO, I'd rush to press the 'agree and accept' button.

This was just a fabulous, wonderful game of rugby - an ad for the code big time. Atmosphere at the ground was electric, fans thrilled, beautiful echoes of 2011's best. Side note: Wayne Smith has utterly transformed the Chiefs backs in a highly impressive manner; there were so many times tonight...

I am sorry to rub it in, but what of the final moment of HRH R McCaw spilling the ball to end the game. Certainly a moment of rugby poetry for the Rebs' photo album.

Wasn't that great! 18,000+. Bet the valiant display v Bulls was a big, building factor. That's the same as the Tahs pulled last night! Melbourne like Brisbane looooooovvvvves a winning capability to be proud of as 'local', this win tonight was the marketing breakthrough the Rebs needed. Hope the...

Gnostic, it's all speculation, but it would appear that absolutely nothing has been lost by his departure and meanwhile the team has really motored forward. If I could buy Danny Cipriani at my price and sell him at his, that's a trade I'd take every day.

Can I just add re one of my favourite themes, namely the impact of great specialist coaches, and as born out tonight: the value of Muggleton's work and his consummate skill as defensive analyst and defence coach simply cannot be underestimated in this thrilling, impressive Rebs' victory. To...

Rebs, we salute you. Just a wonderful moment for Aus rugby, and rugby in Melbourne. (And sends the Tahs' excuses factory latest version 107b up in a puff of smoke; contrast their resources to those of the Rebels.)

Just a side point: don't the Rebels have injuries too?

I won't bore you chasmac with my many posts on this core subject, but essentially I have argued that a system of linked franchises that is principally governed by the ARU in terms of just one element of its costs - namely player costs in this case - but where the actual comprehensive quality of...

Well, OK, you put the 'sympathetic' general case re injury management. I put the 'what have we learnt in actual practice' case (especially as it concerned the RWC squad). In the case of all of Rocky, Mitchell and Palu at the last WC, it has come out since the RWC that all these players had...

Perhaps start with a read of Gnostic's multiple posts on the theme of 'the tragedy of the modern Tahs'. The Tahs traditionalists here absolutely loath and resist that analysis, but, sure as eggs, every match, every season, Gnostic's penetrating analysis of the Waratahs' culture and system...

The Reds' Latest View Re QC (Quade Cooper): HE'LL STAY! http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/reds-confident-quade-cooper-will-stay-20120511-1yh11.html

In the best traditions of our Aus rugby media's intellectual laziness, Harris is rapidly assembling his main trade - or a lot of it - around little else than blatantly obvious player agents' selective, manipulative leaking and negotiation posturing. And half his stories these days are full of...