Today’s Rugby News has been compiled by Reds and Wallabies Fan after Brisneyland Local was caught up in a weekend mishap at the South-East Queensland Miniature Horse Dressage & Show jumping Trials.
Brisney is ok, but his steed, Fluffy, not so much.
“I looked around and saw that all of the other competitors were small children. I thought ‘I can win this one for sure’, but Lady Luck had other plans. FOUR broken legs! What are the chances? It’s a total hassle.” Brisneyland Local reported to Yowie, who would you believe it also happens to write for local publication, Miniature Horse and Dachshund, as well as G&GR.
“Now Fluffy is in a full-body plaster cast with one of those neck cones so he doesn’t lick the plaster. At least the vet put a carry-handle on Fluffy’s back so I can quickly carry him out of the house for a wee when he needs one.”
G&GR extends all of our best wishes to Brisney and Fluffy.
The Weekend in review
Well G&GRs, welcome to Monday, hope you all had a great weekend and it included your definition of enough rugby. After tuning in early on Friday evening to watch the Reds play in Whangerei in far north New Zealand, I had pretty much found my definition of enough. More on the Reds performance later.
But the faith was restored a bit by catching parts of the Hurricanes/Chiefs and Rebels/Highlanders games, before watching the mini game versions of the Super Rugby W and really enjoying the way the women’s teams play.
There was also action in the north with Women’s Six Nations, and quarter finals in the European Champions Cup.
Super Rugby W
The Super Rugby Women’s tournament has finished the regular season, and is moving into the semi finals next week.
There was a good article on the ABC yesterday about professional women rugby and the progress that the Western Force are making in full time contracts. The full article is here and worth a read here
Brumbies v Western Force
This was some spectacle on a perfect looking autumn afternoon in Canberra. The Force really got on a roll with three early tries, mixing up rolling mauls and power through the middle with good expansive play.
The Brumbies weren’t to be out-done though and hit back with a penalty and two tries of their own to level the scores. The Force copped a yellow card in the lead up to the second try and it looked ominous for them at that point. The Brumbies finished the half with a try to take a 7 point lead at oranges.
The second half saw the Force score 2 tries to take the lead and the Brumbies copped a yellow card of their own for a hair-pull by the half back on the opposing winger who had beaten her on the blindside. The teams traded tries and the Force had a 38-29 lead with less than 5 minutes to play and from a penalty took a scrum in front of the posts looking to unleash the backs and ice the game. It didn’t go to plan though and the Brumbies intercepted a long pass for a length of the field try, with the conversion making it 38-36 to the Force.
That’s where the points finished with the Force banking a win in a very entertaining match. It’s worth a call to the quality of the goal kicking from both teams, great technique, accuracy, and power.
The Force will line up against Fijian Drua next week.
Waratahs v Reds
The Waratahs have finished top of the table with an unbeaten season this week after seeing off the Queensland Reds 34-19 in Sydney. The Waratahs were dominant throughout, despite a comeback by the Reds in the second half. The Waratahs scored the first try after 5 minutes with McKenzie setting up an incisive break through the middle of the field and a couple of phases later the Waratahs were over beside the posts for a converted try. The Tahs then doubled down with a steal by the fullback in a tackle who ran more than 50 metres to score in the left hand corner. The Waratahs lock Kaitlin Leaney copped a yellow card for a lifting tackle late in the second half, and from my perspective the ref could easily have sent her number 8 team-mate as well.
The Reds went to the rolling maul, and after “scoring” just past the 5 metre line, the Reds were able to recycle and Molloy crashed over for try that Craemer converted. The Tahs hit back with a penalty on the stroke of half time to go to oranges at 17-7.
The Waratahs pulled of a mid-field rolling maul to create space for the backs, and the winger Miller was the recipient of some good passing to score in the corner. It wasn’t long before the Waratahs were in again this time with a long pass to Stewart to score on the right wing. The Tahs looked in control at 27- 7.
The Reds were able to score next through the US international Jacobi to score beside the posts. The Reds scored again and a missed conversion from in front left the score at 27-19. Was there time for a grandstand finish.
The Tahs finished the game with a positive statement and a converted try to Barker sealing the win at 34-19.
Not a great season for the Reds, but they were competitive and there is plenty to build on for 2025.
Melbourne Rebels v Fijian Drua
There’s a great write up of the game by Mellissa Woods that you can read here https://www.rugby.com.au/news/rebels-upset-fijian-drua-to-break-super-w-drought-2024413
The Melbourne Rebels took on the Fijian Drua at AAMI Park in Melbourne and came away with their first win of the season with a 34-21 win.
As with the earlier games on the weekend, both terms were looking to use the ball whenever they could and the Drua were the first top capitalise with a try that started behind their own try line. It was great vision, and ultimately pace that sealed the try. The Rebels were dominant for most of the next hour scoring 3 tries and a penalty to a single Drua try to set up a handy 27-14 lead. The Drua were down a player when inside centre Merewai Cuma was issued a red card after a high tackle. She was stretchered off for treatment and we hope that she isn’t injured.
Two more tries, a run away to the Drua after picking up a lose ball, and a close range effort from Ash Masters for the Rebels close the game out 34-21.
There is obviously a lot of uncertainty for the Rebels team with their club being in administration, and I hope that some contracting deal can be made to keep these players in the game next year. As a top tier rugby nation, we need more players, not less, so to lose the Rebels team at this point in their development, and at this point in women’s rugby becoming professional in Australia, would be a massive loss, so I hope that RA can sort something out.
Super Rugby Men’s
Moana Pasifika v Queensland Reds
The Qld Reds travelled to Whangerei in northern New Zealand to take on Moana Pasifika on Friday evening. And from the outset it was clear that the week off had been a bad thing for the Reds. During the mid-week team’s podcast, Hoss had forecast that the Reds, although rusty, would prevail over an MP team that didn’t have as much cohesion. To call the Reds performance rusty would be high praise indeed, as it was very much below the standard that the players, coaching staff and indeed we (the fans) would expect from a team that showed such great intent at the beginning of the season. The reds are now 3 from 7 and based on that performance on Friday night would be lucky to win a chook-raffle, let alone a professional rugby match against quality opposition.
I’m going to say that on a personal note, I carried the Reds form onto the golf course on Saturday morning and played to twice my handicap, which feels like a fair reflection of how poorly the Reds played. Credit to the MP though, they turned up and did enough to win the game after some heavy losses in previous weeks.
The Reds didn’t trouble scorer in the first half, despite sustained field position and possession. I lost count of the number of turnovers, including knock-ons, kicks out on the full, kicks over the dead ball line and ruck turn-overs, but between them the Reds were 10-0 down at half time as Julian Savea scored the only try of the half.
The Reds did rally in the second half and were actually in front at 71 minutes after a try to Jordan Petaia, before the effects of two red cards gave MP the edge and they came away with the chocolates.
Tate was sent from the field with a yellow card that was ultimately upgraded to red for a swinging arm in a tackle while pulling the opposition number 8 to the ground. The incident looked bad when they first showed it, and worse on replay; there isn’t much mitigation and the Reds can expect to be with Tate for at least a few weeks. To make it worse, the card caused a try to Josh Flook to be cancelled out.
McReight’s high tackle late in the game was a typical high shot, he had bent at the waist to make the tackle, but was driving upwards into the contact and the point of impact was shoulder on head. Given the way the judiciary functions, we can probably expect each of them to get the maximum sentence to set an example for future players. Now, where’s my shiny hat made out of alfoil?
There were some positives for the Reds, Ryan Smith was industrious and hard working in his 50th match, Liam Wright was excellent, maybe one knock on trying to pick up a ball on the ground, Hunter Paisami was back to his destructive best, explosive into contact on both sides of the ball, great post contact metres in attack and solid in defence. Harry Wilson was in the thick of it all night.
Final score was 17-14 to MP, and the reds will need to really lift to challenge the Highlanders at Suncorp this weekend.
Rebels v Highlanders
The Rebels finished with a bonus point 47-31 win in Melbourne.
This was an entertaining match with both sides intent to play at every opportunity. As a non-front rower, if I had one complaint, it would be the rooting around with scrums, there seemed to be resets and lectures from the ref throughout the first half. Maybe Nutta could comment on why the Rebels scrum was penalised in the early scrums when the Highlanders prop ended up “pancaked” which would make me think he was unstable.
Some good individual performances stood out, Andrew Kellaway was all class on his return from injury, secure at the back, joined the line at first receiver to help steer the play, and was evasive with ball in hand throughout.
Darby Lancaster was fantastic and got a hat-trick of tries showing great pace, super skills, and good awareness of the laws to release the ball and then go again for his second try. The skills to pick up the ball for the third try were sublime. Filipo Daugunu was good again at outside centre making tackles, turnovers and generally straightening the attack and beating defenders with the ball in hand. He did concede a couple of penalties at the breakdown though, so some things to work on.
Carter Gordon looked assured, took the ball to the line, was physical in defence and scored two tries. His goal kicking is definitely a work on though with his first attempt best described as a shank, or worse.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was massive again for the Rebels, seems to be in everything, tackles, hit-ups, and is showing plenty for Joe Schmidt to like.
The game was within reach of the Highlanders in the second half until Gordon went over for his second try at 72 minutes to make it 40-24 and put it beyond reach of the men from Dunedin. Another try to each team saw the Rebels to their third successive win and firm up their spot in the top 5.
Hurricanes v Chiefs
In what promised to be the game of the round, the Waikato Chiefs travelled to the New Zealand capital to take on the Wellington Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes should have started as favourites given the home ground advantage and the relative positions on the ladder, but the armchair experts at G&GR on Wednesday collectively agreed that the D-Mac lead Chiefs would be too polished for the Hurricanes to handle.
The Hurricanes were rewarded with some early scrum dominance to go ahead 10 nil courtesy of a penalty and close range try by TJ Perenara.
The Chiefs hit back on 20 minutes with a well worked try that started with D-Mac inside his own half and ended up with the halfback running a great support line and 50 metres to score a try. The Hurricanes went ahead 17-7 with a try to number 6 Brayden Iose. Two penalties to McKenzie before half time saw the Hurricanes go to ranges at 17-13 up.
Another penalty and a well constructed try to the Chiefs saw them scoring 16 unanswered points to lead 23-17. The Hurricanes showed their class and why they are the competition leaders with a fantastic try to TJ Perenara, his second for the night and 62nd overall to keep him level with Julian Savea. Another great try that showed all of the reasons why we love rugby with straight running, offloads, support play down the blindside, and great cover tackling saw the Hurricanes score through Naholo for a 6 point lead. The Chiefs weren’t done there through, with a final try extending the lead to 36-23 and confirming the Hurricanes spot as the only unbeaten team at the top of the ladder.
The Chiefs are still in fifth place and will stay there for another week even though they have bye.
Waratahs v Crusaders
The Waratahs and the Crusaders met for the second this year, and while that would normally be a curse of the draw for the Waratahs, the Crusaders are in a rare form dip as they rebuild after so many players departed their roster last year.
Both teams entered the game with only 1 win for the season, and would be desperate to get the W. the Waratahs had a number of changes including the coach leaving Mark Nawaqanitawase out of the match day 23.
The Crusaders started in the best possible fashion with a turnover from the kick off that lead to a try to Sevu Reece in the corner.
The Waratahs hit back on 4 minutes with Lachie Swinton diving over under the posts to score. Reece was on the end of some more great play to get his second try for the night, and his 52nd try overall, putting the Crusaders back into the lead at 12-7. The Waratahs went to the posts twice to get to 13-12 up. Sevu Reece seemed to be in everything with multiple involvements in the next Crusaders try.
Lead changes turned out to be the order of the day, with 7 in the first half and the Waratahs going to oranges at 23-22 up.
The second half started at pace and after a spectacular kick chase from Jorgensen, Sevu Reece wasn’t to be outdone, with a cover tackle and turnover that David Pocock would have proud of.
The lead changed hands another 5 times in the second half for the teams to end the 80 minutes of regular time at 40 all. The Crusaders really butchered the end of the game with a dropped kick off receipt giving the Waratahs possession that ultimately lead to a penalty and Harrison’s penalty to make it 40 all.
The Tahs then got good field position courtesy of an unusually poor lineout by the Crusaders around their own 22, and Will Harrison was good enough to slot a field goal and secure the Tahs second win for the season. Waratahs by 43-40.
The Stan team were pretty quick to call this a classic, game of he season and to sing the praises of the Waratahs. Harrison was excellent and very composed at that the end of the game to seal the victory. While Tane Edmed has tried hard all season, you would think that Harrison has earned the starting jersey for the next game.
Women’s Six Nations
Scotland hosted England and England put on a dominant display in terrible conditions to run out winners 46-0. You can read about it here https://www.rugbypass.com/news/red-roses-win-with-eight-tries-against-a-scoreless-scotland/
Ireland hosted Wales and pulled off a bonus point win with 36-5 demolition of the Welsh for their first win in 8 matches. Report from Rugbypass here https://www.rugbypass.com/news/ireland-secure-bonus-point-victory-over-wales/
France hosted Italy and ran out winners 38-15. RugbyPass report here https://www.rugbypass.com/news/france-overpower-italy-to-maintain-grand-slam-hopes/
After 3 rounds, England and France are undefeated and well clear at the top of the ladder. France play England in the final match of the tournament, and unless there is an upset next round, the final game should decide the winner of the tournament and the grand slam.
The Giteau Law
There has been a bit of news over the weekend about whether Australia might be looking to scrap the Giteau Law and allow players to be picked for the Wallabies from wherever they might be playing.
There are definitely pros and cons to this, I’m in the camp of this being good for rugby in Australia, much like it is good for the Socceroos. We will likely lose some more players overseas, but that will in turn free up spaces in our Super Rugby team for new players to emerge and should increase the number of professional players that the Wallabies have to choose from.
As with every change, there will be unintended consequences, and it may mean that each of the Super Rugby teams will lose players and need to be better at identifying, and training younger talented players to step up.
Time will tell.
Anyway, that’s it for me this week, we hope to have BLL back next week after his equine adventures, but until then, it’s over to you G&GRs.
