14 June 2024
Good morning, Green & Gold Rugby fans and welcome to another edition of Friday’s News. It’s Reds and Wallabies Fan here filling in for Hoss this week. I’ll try to keep it upbeat and interesting as we enter the penultimate round of Super Rugby. Details about what has kept Hoss from his beloved Friday’s News are scant, I have big shoes and even bigger jeans to fill so let’s get straight into it.
In today’s article I’ll kick it off with a brief preview of the semi-finals, cover some general news including fallout from the Rebels being axed and other news, whinge a little bit about the number of articles I seem to read about our previous coach, delve into an age old dilemma, and channel some Tom Cruise – Top Gun vibes.
It’s Semi-Finals Time
Happy, Sully, and Karl went through the teams and their forecasts for the semi-finals in this week’s teams podcast, which you can find at https://greenandgoldrugby.com/ggrs-talking-teams-podcast-the-semi-finals/
You can read a bit more about the games courtesy of Nathan Williamson and Rugby Australia here.
Semi-Final One
Blues v Brumbies at Eden Park, 5:05pm Friday 14 June
This should be an interesting game to watch. The Blues have taken forward-based brutality to a near Springbok level this year and if the Brumbies don’t execute well, they could be in for a long night. The threats don’t finish with the piggies. though, there are plenty of weapons in the backline, Caleb Clarke has been incredible this year. He’s big, fast, elusive, and looks hungry for work, and will be a handful all night for the Ponies. On the other wing they have Mark Talea, talk about talent.
The Brumbies come into this game having won their last 7 games and 11 from their last 12. But, their last loss was a 46 to 7 hiding by the Blues at Eden Park back in April, so let’s look past that one. It’s also a rematch of the 2022 semi-final which saw the Blues hold on and take the victory.
The Blues have lost their captain and key forward Patrick Tuipulotu, who is out with a knee injury. Let’s hope he makes a full recovery and gets back to playing. The Brumbies welcome back James Slipper who has overcome the old man injury (calf strain) and will bring some stability to the scrum and experience around the park. The Brumbies have gambled a bit with the composition of the bench (a 6-2 split), hopefully the backline stays on the field and Noah has a blinder.
We want to see more of this, Andy Muirhead breaking tackles and scoring tries.
Both teams are pretty settled, with minor changes from last week. The head says the Blues as the home team will get the win, the Aussie rugby fan says that the Brumbies will sneak the win by less than 7 points. Noah, Ikitau, and Tom Wright to lead the team to a famous away victory and set up a grand final appearance.
Semi-Final Two
Hurricanes v Chiefs at the Cake Tin, Wellington, 2:35pm Saturday 15 June
This should be an absolute belter of a match, with the in-form Chiefs heading to Wellington looking to knock off the minor premiers and hi-viz wearing Hurricanes.
Both teams have been fantastic this year, the Chiefs really put on a show for the first 25 minutes last week and put Reds to the sword. While we wouldn’t expect the same two weeks in a row, it shows what they are capable with a smart coaching team, and wonderful players across the field.
The Chiefs have the luxury of naming an unchanged side for this week, but the Hurricanes have some minor changes. The Chiefs have DMac pulling the strings from 10, while the Hurricanes have TJ Perenara calling the shots from halfback; these guys are the probable All Blacks half pairing this year, so it will be a great battle. To be honest, this one is harder to pick than a broken nose, so I’m going to go with the home side, but won’t be at all surprised if we see plenty of this guy throughout the night.
Image courtesy of Stuff.co.nz.
Some news since yesterday
Flash is gone
Plenty of news articles and chats throughout the day with the story that Carter “Flash” Gordon has signed with the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL for 2 years from 2025. This is disappointing for Australian rugby, but not surprising. Gordon made eight appearances for the Wallabies in 2023 under the selecting (I couldn’t bring myself to write coaching, or guidance, or stewardship, or other words normally associated with national coaches) of Eddie Jones including being taken to the World Cup as the only specialist flyhalf. As rugby fans (and generally older men) we see the world as black and white, the idea of a rugby player and incumbent Wallaby leaving to play rugby league as some sort of betrayal. To be honest, with the way that the coach treated the team last year, the way that the Rebels year unfolded, and the way that RA seemed to treat the Rebels players, why would you possibly blame a young man (he’s only 23) for wanting to go and try on a new job in a new sport with a professional team who wants him to be there.
Good luck Carter Gordon, I hope you go well, and tear it up.
The lingering effect of Eddie Jones
For some reason, mostly because I’m not so tech savvy, this is the webpage that I get when I type GREE and then hit enter into Google. It’s annoying and if anyone has any ideas of how to reset my Google searches, or pages, or whatever is leading me to look at this more often than I’d like, please help. I’m sure that advice on how to reset browser preferences might be useful for a few of the G&GRs who have accidentally added an extra G into their search engine.
When is too much too much? I can’t seem to go a day without seeing some article about Eddie Jones, with English players, Australian players, and too many other journalists writing pieces about him. To any Australian-based journalists, can you please stop, why don’t you use your time researching and writing articles about current and emerging Australian players, or rugby issues, and write something positive. I don’t care what Eddie is doing now, I’m not going to read your articles. Please stop.
The Age Old Dilemma
Maybe that should be ‘age young dilemma’. There’s a bit of talk this week on the forum and among the G&GR Craparazzi about a couple of emerging Australian stars and whether they’re old enough to play for the Wallabies this year. Tim “Junkyard Dog” Ryan, and Charlie “wow he’s fast” Cale in particular have emerged this year as standouts for the Reds and Brumbies and deserve a spot in the Wallabies squads and maybe even match day squads.
There’s been some debate about whether they are old enough or seasoned enough to step up to test match rugby at the relatively young ages of 20 (Ryan) and 23 (Cale). I’m genuinely interested in your views on this, I think that Ryan showed enough for the Reds to earn his place in a squad and to see what the coaches think of him. For Charlie Cale, if he gets through the finals series in good physical health, and plays well, then he’s earned his spot in the squad and the team. He’s been outstanding in every game I have watched this year.
I guess that I am leaning on the side of if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. With the caveat though of injuries, if as younger guys, they’re carrying injuries, get their bodies right before putting them into test match rugby.
Image Courtesy of Rugbypass.com
I’ve Lost that Loving Losing Feeling
Channeling some Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from Top Gun (almost), I’ve lost the losing feeling this year. For the past few years, I’ve entered most weeks as a Reds and Wallabies Fan expecting my team to lose, while hoping for an upset or even just a gallant narrow loss to a better team of sheep lovers, biltong eaters, or soap dodgers.
It’s been tough times as a fan, and certainly none tougher than 2023, but this year with the Brumbies kicking on (and Noah looking way more settled), and the Reds winning games against Kiwi sides, I’m ready to believe in Australian rugby again.
Who’s with me to get on board the Wallabies band wagon and look towards a successful test
series against the Welsh and then kick on into the Rugby Championship? If you want to watch the entire scene, and you know you do, you can find it courtesy of YouTube here.
Have a great Weekend
That’s all for me for the week, go the Brumbies, and don’t forget to check out the weekend edition by Sully. Hoss will be back on deck next week.
Cheers
RAWF
