Happy Monday G&GRs, and welcome to the old mad mans wrap up of the weekend of rugby tests. And what was unique about this round? It was a result of the San Francisco Convention, where in a post World Cup year, in the mid year test season, Tier One teams must play a Tier two team. Hence why most of the matches we have seen to date are only two game series instead of three like they ususally are.
I for one, have been really impressed with the Tier Two teams this year. With some of the game having the potential for real ‘Banana skin’ moments for the tier one teams. Yes Wallabies I am looking firmly at you! With most of the Tier One teams tinkering heavily with their starting line ups to blood young players, and experiment with combinations. These games have provided a real ‘showcase’ of the sometimes poorly labelled ‘developing’ rugby nations. And there is a lot to like! Georgia I am looking at you!
So, let’s pour into the games, do a mini-review, and then discuss the Wallabies and their performance. So strap yourself in, grab a big cup of you know what ☕, and let’s get it on.
International Rugby Tests
New Zealand 47 defeated Fiji 5
The Nearlies barely had to get out of second gear to dust off the Flying Fijians with a 47-5 victory at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. And to quote that legendary News Man Ron Burgundy “Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means ‘a whale’s vagina”. The AB’s went into the match with 11 changes to their starting line up from the England tests, and to be honest I thought it looked a better team. (KARL what are your thoughts?)
The first ten minutes of the game was a tight contest with big bodies slamming into one another, before finally Billy Proctor was on the end of nice little try. And from there the flood gates pretty much opened up. Semi Radradra was the only Fijian to score, on the recieving end of a nice crossfield kick.
Both teams came out of this game with some serious injuries. The Fijians lost Frank Lomani to what looked to be a serious shoulder injury, and the Kiwi’s lost their 9 Cortez Ratima with a knock to the head. This is proving to be a real problem for the New Zealanders, having just lost TJ Perenara last week, and having lost Cam Roigard during the Super season. Looks like Finaly Christie’s stocks have just risen!
Australia 40 defefated Georgia 29
Well wasnt that a Rocks and Diamonds kind of game. If you havent already, go and read Georgia Satellite’s excellent reveiew of the game here.
There is a lot to discuss on this one and I will add my two bob’s worth in the players scores section below.
South Africa 64 defeated Portugal 21
We head to Bloemfotein next to have a look at the Dutch Dirt Farmers giving the Portugese a bit of touch up in a 64-21 victory. The Saffa’s fronted up with a wee bit of an experimental side in this 10 try to 3 try victory. But I dont think Rassie will have been happy with the referumping in this game and I am sure all the South African fans, who are bad losers, and even worse winners, will be apoplectic. But to be honest they were all fair decisions made by female Scottish whistle blower Hollie Davidson, the first female referee to adjudicate a Springbok game. And so may it continue.
The Bokke decided to do this game the hard way with one serve of shiraz 🍷and two serves of cheddar cheese 🧀. Meaning they played all but three minutes of the game with either 13 or 14 players. Discipline will certainly be something the Bokke will need to get sorted out before the start of the Rugby Championship. Andre Esterhuizen was given a 🧀 just three minutes into the game, and that was upgraded to a 🍷 upon review. Kurt-Lee Arendse, in the dieing minutes of the first half, and replacement back Quan Horn were also given 🧀. And reading the good old social media it is great to see South African fans being balanced about the issues.
By oranges, the South Africans were up 29-7. And that was really the tennant of the rest of the game. Portugal had a number of key players injured during this game, and the South Africans had most of theirs on the naughty chairs. But the DDF’s left quite a few additional points out there with Libbok missing numerous shots at the sticks. And whilst this wont hurt them against Portugal, aginst the New Zealanders and Australian it might / will be a different equation.
Scotland 52 defeated Chile 11
The Haggis Eaters have given the Tarts (Portugese not NSW) a bit of a spanking, coming out victors 52-11 in Santiago, with Jamie Dobie and Kyle Rowe both scoring doubles. But it didnt all go Scotlands way as the scores suggests. Chile were willing and able opponenets and started strongly, keeping the Scots contained intially, with Scotland spluttering and not really getting out of first gear. But alas things didnt stay that way, with the Wee Bonnie Scots getting their act together after about 20 mins or so.
From there it was pretty much one way traffic, except for when Diego Escobar, the Chilean hooker ploughed his way through traffic to cross for Chile’s only try. This sent the 25,000 strong home crowd absolutely nuts. Scotland Face Uruguay next week.
Argentina 79 defeated Uruguay 5
The final review game had the FISMs travel to Uruguay at the Domingo Burgueño Miguel stadium in Maldonado in what turned out to be a one sided beat down with Argentina prevailing 79-5, in what is generally a T20 cricket score.
Los Pumas managed to score 12 tries, in a game that the momentum was definitely heading in one direction only. And so the second half continued with try after try from Los Pumas and Uruguay desperately trying to hald them out, but alas it wasnt enough. In the end Uruguay were able to cross for a consolation try. BUt that was too little too late.
Wallabies Player Ratings
Well, welll, well! #InJoeWeTrust has a lot of work cut out for him, in the coming three weeks leading up to the Rugby Championships. There were some really good parts about Saturday afternoons performance, but also some really below par performances. Lets take a look:
The Forwards – Overall the piggies performed pretty well. Hitting rucks hard, good set peice, and a much better maul defence. They provided great front foot ball for the team to go on the attack.
The Back Row – Well this is where I think Joe doesnt need to look any further. Here we have our 6,7, and 8 combo. Bobby V was immense and continues his rich vein of form. Dirty Harry was solid, combining well with fellow Queenslander Fraz to assist with a great try. Fraz himself, a man of the match performance, with 2 tires, plenty of turnover and many metres made.
The Halves – This is where we are having serious problems. The Good – Tate McDermott had a good game with crisp passing and and quick service to maintain the rage of the forward pack and keep quick ball continuing, as well as some good sniping runs. The Bad – Our 10’s are shite. Donaldson demonstrated he is not what we are looking for and we need to close the book on this experiment. His in game kicking was poor, his kicks for touch were shorter than PopGun Foley, and failing to find touch twice was just sub-standard. He was replaced by Lolo who 💩 the bed as well. We need Lynagh back, and if I were Joe I would be reaching out to JOC 2.0 (who had a good game against Wales on friday night), and maybe even QC 2.0 as well. Dont get me wrong they are not long term options (except Lynagh, who is the Wobs long term 10 going forward) but we need someone mature to guide Lynagh and get us through this year.
The Backs – The backs were a bit hit and miss in this game. Filipo got a Red card, which by the letter of the law is correct, and in reality was probably about right. But until them was having another cracker of a game. The Centres were ok. But Tom Wright had a bad game and after being smoked down the wing by the flying Georgian, as well as missing tackles, and him and Darby Lancaster jogging back into position, he needs to take a look at himself. I think Kellaway is our 15 moving forward.
Winners – Fraser MacReight (MOTM), Bobby Valentini, Dirty Harry Wilson, Isaac Kailea, Allan Alaalatoa, Nick Frost and Tate McDermott were probably the stand outs for Australia. Our back row looks pretty set now.
Losers- Ben Donaldson, Noah Lolesio, Tom Wright, Darby Lancaster, and Filipo (only due to the card otherwise he was good) are probably on the bad side of the ledger.
Anyway G&GRs. Enough of this old man ranting and raving. Have at it!
