Happy Monday my fellow Gaggers. It’s another Brisneyland local review of the Six Nations, the SRP Aussie trial games, and then following up with some more general rugby news. With only two weeks to go until SRP starts in earnest and the G&GR faithful gather in God’s country at the sacred ground to watch the Reds flog the hopeless Waratahs. So like every Monday morning, grab your cup of “getting shit done” liquid ☕ and let’s get it on!
As always this is a fan-run site and any contribution is welcome, feel free to reach out to me at bris@greenandgoldrugby.com.au be it with an article an idea, or an opinion piece. There’s also a ‘Submit a Story’ option. So feel free to have a crack as the more the merrier.
6 Nations Review
England 16 defeated Wales 14
As with England’s debacle against the Italians in Rome last week, England trailed again at half time as the Welsh grabbed themselves a penalty try and looked like pulling off their first win at Twickers since 2015. The Soap Dodgers dominated for the first 12 minutes winning pretty much every stat 90% to 10% but came away with absolutely nothing to show for it. The rest of England’s first half was truly crap, with their defence porous, and discipline terrible, copping two serves of cheddar. But somehow in the second half they managed to do enough to grab victory.
Wales had a pretty reasonable first half, but like all things with Welsh rugby, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This win moves England to the top of the Six Nations table (seriously can we believe that?) with 2 wins from two in the start of this tournament. The Northern Hemisphere Sheep Shaggers managed to claim a losing bonus point and remain fifth despite blowing the first two games.
France 20 defeated Scotland 16
The Six Nations clash between Haggis Eaters and cheese eating surrender monkeys at Murrayfield came down right to the wire, with a TMO adjudication deciding the match’s final outcome. In the end, France left Edinburgh with a 20-16 victory, but the final decision is likely to leave Scottish fans absolutely steaming, as Scotland were denied a try that would have won them the game, in the final minute.
The French didn’t turn up for 70 minutes of the game, but managed to pull their finger out of their arse for the last 10 and get the job done. But their skills in the first 70 were absolutely terrible, very unlike the France of the last 2 years. Their ability under the high ball was just like the under 15D team from Wagga Wagga. Actually I retract that, as that’d be an insult to those hard working teenagers. The Frogs just couldn’t get it right. Future tip to all teams playing France, send it high.
Scotland on the other hand looked pretty good for most of the game, but their restarts were really off key. I, for one, thought Nic ‘Red’ Berry had a good game. His call of the final try was spot on correct. The TMO, however, seemed to fumble it. Was there enough to overturn the decision? Not really sure. But there’ll be lots of really cranky haggis eaters.
Ireland v Italy
The game wasn’t completed at the time of publishing, I’ll leave that to Tuesday’s news.
Super Rugby Pacific Trial games
Brumbies 22 defeated Force 20
The Puppy Killers have managed to sneak a 22-20 pre-season trial victory over Twiggy’s all Stars, with the Force’s Max Burey unable to convert an after-the-siren conversion attempt for a draw in what was a very close match. The Western Force were trailing 22-15 when the hooter blew before WA’s new recruit Henry O’Donnell dotted one over the line on the right wing, to present the opportunity to Burey. It was a tight game throughout, with neither side wresting control of the match. Scores were 10-10 at half-time before both sides traded unconverted tries. Brumbies right winger Andy Muirhead scored in the final 10 minutes before O’Donnell’s late try.
Both teams showed good form, and look to be shaping up well for the SRP season. Lets see how they both go.
Reds 32 defeated Waratahs 7
Queensland Reds took state of origin hoots points defeating the hopeless Tahs 32-7 in Roma. Qld’s easy victory was set up by a completely dominant first half, going to oranges at 29-0. Mac Grealy locked it in with a great charge down early, and in for an easy 5 pointer. Hunter Paisami re-entered the frame, trying to catch Big Joe Schmidt’s eye early with some really solid, dominant play.
However, the player of the game had to go to Jock Campbell, who was in scintillating form. The four-Test Wallaby certainly has laid claim to the 15 position with that performance. The Tahs defence was a shambles, and their attack was stuttering. Darren Coleman surely can’t be feeling good about his ‘four matches’ to secure his next year’s contract, with two performances like that.
The Rebel Scum v Rugby Australia
Super Rugby clubs that are either broke or almost broke, shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Moore Park to come and help them. Rugby Australia, under its new leadership is looking to be tighter than our Tasmanian writer Keith when it is time to go to the bar. There will be no handouts from them, as they have to pay back the debt left by going all out to back the Wallabies in Eddie’s foolish crusade.
That was the statement from Rugby Australia supremo Phil Waugh on Friday in response to lots of pissed of Super Rugby clubs bitching about a lack of funding, which peaked in a blistering attack from a former Melbourne Rebels director.
“Ongoing from ’26 and beyond will be dependent on what our next cycle of broadcast delivers, to then what we can afford to pass through to our Super Rugby clubs” stated Mr Waugh. But I’m pretty sure the Super Rugby clubs aren’t going to be too happy about that, especially since RA won’t release the books of what was spent on the RWC campaign as well as the post-RWC review. Methinks there’s a bit more water to pass under this bridge. Especially as Waugh and Herbert were on the board when those decisions were made, so it’s going to be a bit stiff to blame Hamish the Hammer as the sole contributor to that fool’s errand.
Hey Eddie! Its Joe
The SMH published a recent chat with Big Joe, find the link here.
Well wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall for this conversation?
“You know when Peter Horne got given this job [as Rugby Australia’s high performance director], he’s a mate of mine, and he asked me if I’d put my name in there [for the Wallabies coaching job], and I’ll admit I took a bit of convincing but, you know, my wife, I think she gets sick of me at home or something, but she’s happy enough,” Schmidt says with a smile. “I’ve had a number of conversations with Dave Rennie, so that was great,” Schmidt says. “Eddie [Jones] messaged me, and I’m going to chat to Eddie, which will be good as well.” Really? I think any chat with Eddie would be about as entertaining as watching someone hitting on your wife!
“I was talking to Michael Hooper briefly this morning, which was great, and he’s a champion bloke. Even when I was coaching against him for so many years, he was a champion bloke, even though he was a total pain in the neck because he is such a good player. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and just chatting to him about the mindset at the moment of players and I think there’s a real keenness [for players] to get back into it.”
“And I certainly understand that because if you’ve had a bad experience, the best way to bury it, at least a little bit, is to have a new experience and to have something else to build toward, and so I’m sure those players are building toward the Super Rugby season with a lot of motivation now to be able to best bury the World Cup experience, which they didn’t enjoy.”
“Wales was probably the most disappointing game for the Wallabies and their supporters just because, you know, for the Wallabies to concede 40 points [Wales won 40-6], it was probably pretty devastating for them,” he said.
“I’m coming across here and I’ve flipped the lens as best I can, from trying to exploit their [Wallabies] weaknesses I can see having coached with the All Blacks for the last 18 months, but also trying to see what’s the best of who we can be,” Schmidt says. “You know, the beauty of having your players in your own [club] competition is that you have a better chance of managing those players, and player management is crucial not just in keeping players keen and fit and able to play the game, but also the longevity of their career, and player welfare is such a big part of world rugby right now,” he says.
“I think selecting from within Australia is an ideal situation. I haven’t even looked at what the [foreign eligibility] rules are. I remember the Giteau clause when it first came in, or that’s what it was labelled, but if we can keep them within Australia, I think we more often get touchpoints with them; we can manage their playing program to a degree with good relationships with the Super Rugby teams.”
“Will Skelton has done an unbelievably good job for La Rochelle,” Schmidt says. “He was obviously the World Cup skipper in the end there, and he’s the sort of guy that it’d be great if he decided to come back ideally [to play club rugby in Australia]. But he’s the sort of guy that I’d love to have a chat to anyway, just even about his experiences.”
“We’re working on that at the moment, and we’re going to advertise for some positions and, at the same time as we advertise, we’ll shoulder tap [people],” he says. “But I’d love to have as many Australian connections as possible because I think part of your responsibility when you are a coach, particularly a head coach, is to create a succession plan.”
“I just think there’s an opportunity here, to build something through to the Lions [tour in 2025] and then with a home World Cup for the Wallabies, it’d be fantastic if they can be as competitive as they can be and certainly really bring the people of Australia with them because I know they can be a fantastic support for the team, if we can get the team in the right shape.”
I don’t know about you G&GRs, but I for one would love to overhear that conversation between Joe and Dr Evil. I think the conversation between Hoops and Joe would have been very constructive, and rumours have it that Big Joe is already messaging with QC.
This man is already impressing the crap out me! He seems a real no fuss, get down to business kind of guy. It was great to see him at Roma on the weekend, watching how many of the Queenslanders he is going to pick, because as sure as god made little green apples, he wont be picking any of the Tahs that played on Saturday.
Enough of this old man’s dribble. Over to you G&GRs! Have at it.
