Good morrow to you all, and a nice pic there of my mate Oli and his boy.
Wasn’t that an interesting weekend of rugby? But before I launch into my musings, I’ll insert here that this is a fan-run site and contributions are more than welcome. Barring the merest check for decency and decorum, feel free to reach out to me at HERE be it with an article an idea, or an opinion piece. And there’s also the ‘Submit a Story’ option on the home page if you want to do your own thing. So feel free to have a crack as the more opinions and ideas and folk to share the load, the merrier we (and our significant others) all are.
Nutta’s Team of the Week (Rd11)
As usual, we’ll dive into a bit of a team of the week selected from the Aussie Super teams. As a reminder, the selection criteria is merely if you played for an Aussie Super franchise, then you can get picked. But be aware, I’m not picking on the basis of Wobbly qualification (so supporters of Peni Ravai and Tamati Tua fans would be disappointed).
- Peni Ravai – all power and leading from the front.
- Matt Faessler – the Wobbly jersey must be his, if he stays fit. That’s buggered that…
- Taniela Tupou – a promising return to a bit of form.
- Josh Canham – where has that game been?
- Ryan Smith – just keeps getting better and better.
- Josh Kemeny – a whirlwind of effort and 1%ers.
- Fraser McReight – three first half turnovers set the tone.
- Harry Wilson – 5,745 carries and a swag of tackles earned a jersey.
- Ryan Louwrens – calm and accurate when not a lot else was working for the Rebs.
- Noah Lolesio – again, the Wobbly jersey must be his if he stays fit.
- Tim Ryan – mate, only 5 pies in 2wks? Have a go son.
- Tamati Tua – made a great pairing with Sticky.
- Len Ikitau – had a fantastic first half in particular.
- Darcy Lancaster – busy and productive with real speed.
- Andrew Kellaway – didn’t do much wrong and held nerve.
- Jordan Uelese – possibly the best game I’ve seen him play.
- Matt Gibbon – a good bounce-back after last weeks toweling
- Allan Alaalatoa – another good return game under the belt.
- Hugh Sinclair – the sole Tah picked and more as a reward for a gutsy effort.
- Rob Valetini – the rock around which the Brums and Wobbs will currently form.
- Ryan Lonergan – 2nd best in a weekend where 9s were a bit meh to be honest.
- Hunter Paisami – had some really effective involvements.
- Jock Campbell – astute play from the back.
Other Comments
Folks, I confess I watched barely 60min of both the Tahs and Force games. I know, I shirked my duty. But it was just such garbage footy from both teams I couldn’t sit it out. I apologise to anyone mortally offended. But I would also say that if you don’t understand why I couldn’t watch it all, well it wouldn’t matter what I said. And that probably explains why there’s so little representation of them in my TotW. Seriously, they were just crap. And so they were swept away by significantly superior sides.
Taniela Tupou – after some unflattering appearances and copping a fair amount of criticism in recent times, BigT’s outing on Friday night was a refreshing return to form. With stats like 4 effective carries in the first 10 minutes, 8 first-up tackles with no tackles missed across the evening (12 tackles across the whole evening I think), and one effort where he damn near chased down a winger in cover defence on his try line, he piled plenty of gravy on a solid meat and potatoes effort of scrummaging against Tuʻungafasi, who’s no muppet and spearheads a pretty decent scrum. So the big fella had a good night out. Yes we want more. But it was a productive run and here’s hoping for more to come from a guy who we all know can offer so much.
A guy that I know who is an astute observer of the game pointed out an interesting tidbit of behaviour at the Brumbies game on the weekend – that despite their win, the amount of nitpicking and general bitching between Brums players onfield was quite open and prevalent, particularly late in the match. And this is from a guy who would normally not even acknowledge such behaviour. So clearly there’s pressure of some sort being felt in Donkey Town. Does that mean that with no Alaalatoa or Slipper on the field they lack true leaders? Or is it more elemental? Has payroll been met?
And at time of writing (Monday morning), there’s a firming rumour Darcy Swain has been pinched from the Brumbies by the Force, to join fellow ex-Brums Sam Carter and Nic White, over there in Westralia in 2025. Along with other recent gets like Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Rodda and some guy named Beale, the Force seem to be putting together a formidable unit. In one respect I’m not surprised – Sunday afternoon drinks in Freo are simply gorgeous year-round, especially in comparison to anything in the post-apocalyptic, dystopian wasteland that is Canberra. And given the state of the nation’s rugby finances, playing for Twiggy must be a particularly attractive prospect right now as at least you know you’ll get paid. One wonders what Westralia will do with the cattle they are accruing? Might they actually win something?
Around the Campfires…
Congratulations to Parramatta Two Blues Colts 1sts who had their first win in something like three years over the weekend against Hunter Wildfires. Normally I’m not ever one to celebrate a city boys’ win over a more regional team of any sort. But credit where it’s due as, rebounding from an 89-10 shellacking from Southern Districts the weekend before, the Parra 1sts Colts stood up when it really counted late in the match. And despite having a man in the bin, they rallied and pinched a literal last-minute pie to seal the deal and sing their first song of victory in three seasons. And the win was particularly noteworthy as, for the record, the Hunters won 1sts and 2nds later in the day, so given there was no 3rds (Hunters don’t have them), it was the Colties who held the honour of the club on an otherwise hard day out.
That said, I will note one incident that I was pleased to see: Colts games can often be a bit diminished by spiteful, juvenile interactions off the ball between opponents, especially straight after a try. And one such bit of silliness saw a Parra player scrag a Hunters player after a try, for a bit of push and shove, while hollering the distinctive Polynesian “Yah Hoo” that is often used to both celebrate and rile an opponent. Well the referee didn’t like it, not one bit. So while the try stood, play restarted with a penalty on halfway to Hunters and the Parra lad was served cheese for his intemperance. Now some may see it as heavy-handedness from the ref. But I saw it as maintaining standards of behaviour in the thugs game played by gentlemen.
Also, congratulations to Braidwood Redbacks who won against the Bungendore Mudchooks by 33-15 on the weekend. For those unaware, which to be fair is most of the planet, like a lot of small town clubs in recent times, the Redbacks have wavered on disappearing for a few years now. But this year they’re having a bit of a renaissance. They have a full squad of guys registered and have strung together two wins from two starts, firstly against the Yass Rams and most recently the Bungendore Mudchooks. Bungendore was seen as a real test for the rejuvenated Redbacks, as the Mudchooks are a bit of a perennial local competition benchmark; they’d smited fellow local powerhouse Crookwell Dogs by 43-14 only a week or so earlier. To grab the win over the likes of the Mudchooks was recognition of a real step forward by the reinvigorated little Braidwood club.
Regarding the match itself, despite missing some of their more dominant players, the Mudchooks held out bravely in the first half and went to oranges at only 12-8 down. But in the 2nd half, the Redbacks cut loose and, with the advantage of a full and capable bench on home turf, piled on three pies, all sauced, to the clear enjoyment of the local crowd.
With their bye already in the bag, the victory lands the Braidwood lads at 2nd on the ACT South Coast & Monaro table with 2 BP wins from 2 starts and so 10pts. Next week it’s an away game against the somewhat struggling Batemans Bay Boars, and everyone involved about town is getting a little bit more interested (nervous?) in how the lads go. And rest assured, all are quietly pencilling in Saturday 01 June when the Redbacks will meet the Jindabyne Bushpigs who are currently in 1st place on 3 from 3 with 15pts, having scalped ADFA over the weekend by 50-0, and more tellingly, were last year’s undefeated premiers. So watch this space.
Speaking of nerves, I note that Gulargambone Galahs made the near 5 hours each way trip to Cobar last weekend as part of their home and away season. I hear that 19 of the Gular lads made it to Camel Town (Cobar), minus their two most senior front rowers, Will Bowman and Grant Zell, who were busy being down in the big smoke, ie. Dubbo. A certain Pink Parrot inferred they were getting spray tans in preparation for the upcoming Gulargambone Galahs Ladies Day. Regardless, it was a belter of a game apparently with the Camels pinching the bikkies 29-22 in the end.
But apparently the Galahs weren’t done, with a number of unnamed bus virgins carving their names into club folklore by being credited with stellar attempts at learning the team song on the way home, particularly the Walker boys and Bailey Wykes who ‘nailed it’ (allegedly – whatever the hell he nailed I don’t want to know). Well done lads. Consider it character building.
In other country footy news, I see the Blayney Rams grabbed an 8-7 win over the Cootamundra Tricolours on Saturday just gone. Match details are scarce other than to say that, after last week’s 38-19 away loss to Temora Tuskers, the Blayney Blue Rams were keen to get back out onfield at home and show some mustard, with last week’s try scorers Chase Mckay, Ryley Oborn and Jordan Butler all noted as being particularly ‘up for it’ and Zack Farr having some pride to restore after his ‘horrific on-bus performance’ (I shudder to think what that actually means, and don’t want to know).
And so, in what one pundit described as ‘typical Blayney weather’ (which most would interpret as meaning something more akin to the Arctic Circle), it was an unsauced pie in the last 2 minutes of play that lifted the Rams previous penalty to the dizzying heights of 8pts, and that being enough to pip the Coota Tricolours singular sauced pie. That said, apparently the Tricolours battled away mightily in the conditions, with their best being awarded as 3pts to Jack Hogan, 2pts to Jarryd Cook and 1pt to Henry Toaina, and the bus-trip home players’ player award going to Junior Juann Ofisa.
Both those towns hold a special spot in my rugby memory. For Blayney, it was because I played my first senior game of rugby for them. It was 1988, and being home from boarding school on holidays, I got a run on the wing in 2nd grade against Orange Ag College. My mother was most unimpressed. And I’ll not forget Coota as, besides it used to having an outstanding B&S Ball, one of the biggest on-field scrummage pizzlings of my life was handed to me by local lad Angus Scott before he went off to play for Queensland and whomever else. He was the first of only three scrummage opponents to ever make me see stars through sheer pressure in the grind. So credit where it’s due. And speaking of Cootamundra rugby, if you’re in the area this year, load up your diary as-per the below…
Skipping north to warmer climes, it’s interesting to note that Beth Whaanga has made history by becoming the first woman to coach a men’s team in the Queensland Far North Coast rugby union, leading the Southern Cross University Gold Rats into a promising 2024 season. As one of only five women qualified in Aus to coach at an international level (Level 3), Beth is a bit of a powerhouse in her own right, being a cancer survivor and having also undergone some pretty major spinal surgeries in her time as well. Go well that woman.
Up in the NSW Country Central North competition I see Tamworth Pirates made the trip to Inverell last weekend, only to go down to the Highlanders in first grade by 34-14. But the numbers went the other way in Ressies with the Pirates pillaging the Inverellians by 36-7. It was a big day for the Inverell club, being Old Boys Day. So it was poetic for the locals that they got the 1st grade win. I’m led to believe plenty of exploits were retold among Highlanders of a certain age or more, with only total accuracy and zero exaggeration being deployed I’m sure.
Conversely for the Pirates, they retire to sharpen their cutlasses, reload their cannon and restitch their sails for the 250km trek to Moree next Saturday to contend with the Moree Weebolla Bulls, who themselves had a good but hard-fought day out on Saturday past, knocking over Quirindi Lions in Firsts by 28-25 and Ressies by 19-13.
And lastly for today, I received a ripper of a write-up on some Tassie rugby from our Southern Correspondent KB, posted below:
It was a beautiful afternoon at Royal Park for the encounter between Launceston Tigers and Burnie Emus. Both teams were coming off first round wins, but as the current champions Launceston were more than warm favourites, and so it was to prove. The Tigers had clear dominance at scrum time, in the line out, and at the breakdown. Thus they kept the scoreboard ticking over throughout the game, coming out comfortable winners by 62 pts to 5 pts scoring 11 tries.
Admittedly there were bits of loose play from both sides with missed or dropped passes so execution in that area was, at times, not great. However some of the running lines and passing skills in the lead up to tries were good to watch and made for an entertaining game.
What I found most pleasing was that kicking for field position was not a priority, with both teams looking to run the ball. And when free kicks were given, it was tap and go as the preferred option for both sides.
One final thought on the game was that it was the first time I’ve seen the new tackle laws have such an affect. Ultimately, the ref’s patience wore out and it was one card to each team for high stuff. But generally it worked well.
It was also a great afternoon out celebrating Ladies Day. So while the Mayoress enjoyed wine and canapés in their ladies only enclosure, I was fed scraps passed over a white picket fence washed down with a few tinnies of Boags Red. Such is life.
PS I would have liked to provide more match details of the other games but Rugby Tasmania’s website is a complete mess and I’m not a FB person. The website is still showing last season’s results and ladder. But knowing Nutta, he’ll find something on the interwebs, I’m sure.
Anyway, that’ll do for this week I reckon. Are the Brumbies coming apart at the seams? Are the Westralians bursting the Donkeys wallet seams? Is the “Yah Hoo” an actual problem? Or am I just a grumpy old man? Or am I Batman? Or is Butzy the real Batman? The answers to these quandaries, and more, lie below in the comments section. So have it folks.
And as the weekend approaches, brace yourselves for what must come. Make sure you get down to your local club this Saturday as your $20 makes a hell of a difference. Pay the gate guys, buy a steak sandwich, spill a few beers and pay some form of homage to the wonderful game we all love.
