All posts tagged "matt hodgson"

Green and Gold Rugby pundits love to play amateur selector.  Over the years we’ve posted stories picking...

In their last home game of the season, the Force went down convincingly to Brumbies at NIB...

Whilst the Western Force will take SOME satisfaction from finishing third in the Australian conference, ahead of...

With the Tri-Nations over, and the domestic competitions finished, Australian Rugby is left with a notable gap...

In one of those numerical type quirks that can excite some people (not me it must be...

In 1972, the Wallabies toured New Zealand and lost the three test series by an aggregate of...

The big talking point in the Wallaby team named to play the All Blacks this weekend is the move by Matt Giteau back to five eighth. Robbie Deans decided to use him as the playmaker instead of leaving him at inside centre. Giteau replaces the suspended Quade Cooper – whose suspension is...

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  If that’s the case then Robbie should be looking over his shoulder for the men in white coats.  In the end, the Aussie selectors have been left with little choice but...

 You know the score, you’ve seen the game and you’ve probably formed a view on what the Wallabies did well and what they can improve on.  What do the statistics show? Do they support your views on what happened in the game? Throughout the Wallabies 2010 campaign we’ll bring you previews, live calls,...

Robbie Deans has named his first test team of the season as the Wallabies prepare to take...

About 12 months ago the esteemed Juan Cote put together a few stats from the 2009 Super 14.  Great idea I reckon. So I stole it.  Now the first Wallaby squad of has been named as of yesterday. As with any team announcement there are always surprise selections and omissions. So this...

At the end of each game throughout the 2010 Super 14 season over at the forum, readers have submitted their 3-2-1’s for each Australian team. All of these votes will accumulated and an overall 3-2-1 assigned for each match to the three leading point getters for each Aussie team. This is a...

Ok ok. It’s that time of the year when the talk turns to Origin again. Nah, I don’t mean the Slater, Inglis, Lockyer, Hayne, Kimmorley and co. Sure that State of Origin series is on, but it just happens to coincide with the call for a State of Origin in Rugby Union...

Sharks 27 Western Force 22 I’ve banged on a bit about Matt Hodgson being the backbone of the Force’s efforts this year but in the face of adversity you cannot fault the commitment, workrate and leadership of Captain Nathan Sharpe. Hodgo was consistently outstanding at openside when he took over from Bam...

Western Force 24 Crusaders 16 You’re never going to keep me down. The Western Force did a bit of ‘tubthumping’ themselves last night and produced a sensational second half embracing commitment and quality to defeat the best provincial rugby team in the world. And they did it without their star player Rabbit...

After a down week last time out, nearly everyone responded with a high-scoring round (except umm, yours truly…  cough).  Faith in the Reds was a big part of it and the key players didn’t disappoint.  ManBearPigs retains the league lead and climbed into the top ten to sit 7th overall in FoxSports...

Great timing Mr Palu. The day after he re-signs with the ARU he gets injured and is out for the year. If he’d held off his discussions until after this game, the bye week, his negotiating ability, and thus bargaining power, with some of those overseas clubs might not have been as...

In what has been a prick of a season so far, the Western Force have an opportunity to post a rare brace of wins following last week’s victory over the Stormers. With their international backrow of Pocock, Brown and Hodgson back on deck for the first time since Round 1, combined with...

Well that was some good footy! Now I’ll give you that Force v Stormers game didn’t set the world on fire, and the weather (and the visitors) impacted the quality of the Tahs v Cheetahs match, but the rest of the round was pretty damn good. And all the Aussies won! [ed:...

We’re more than halfway through the Super 14 and wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall at Wallaby Selectors Robbie Deans, Jim Williams and David Nucifora’s weekly post-match conferences? Just at the moment, everyone’s talking ‘inside backs’ but there’s plenty of talent from 1 – 22 being showcased. After...