Now hear me out, rugby has always been about what you can get away with and has never been about following the rules. This quote from the WR website illustrates my point: “William Webb Ellis literally broke the rules of the game he was playing to allow for rugby to be born.” So, all players have cheated right from the start.
In 1823, William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, caught the ball and ran with it. With this “fine disregard for the rules”, Webb Ellis is credited with inventing the game of rugby football as distinct from its kicking counterparts. Since 1987, every four years, players compete for the Rugby World Cup trophy named in his honour.
While the validity of the Webb Ellis story has been questioned, it is irrefutable that the pupils of Rugby School shaped the game that we know and love. The first written ‘football rules’ were composed by three of its pupils in 1845 and printed in a small, pocket-sized book. This is where many of the words and phrases associated with the game, such as ‘try’, came to light.
The concept of awarding caps for appearances first originated at the school, too, while England chose to play in Rugby School’s white in the first ever international against Scotland, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh in 1871.
Irish Under 20s are Cowards
Australian players were left “shattered” after World Rugby under-20 championship officials took the rare step of cancelling their crucial match against Ireland due to heavy rainfall.
After an upset loss to Italy, Australia entered Tuesday’s game in Cape Town needing to beat Ireland to advance to the semi-finals. But the pitch at Athlone Stadium was deemed unplayable and the teams were awarded two points apiece. Adding salt to the wound was the fact that the two games following Australia’s at the venue – France v Wales and South Africa v England – went ahead as scheduled!
“Bitterly disappointed for the players and the staff but the decision has been taken out of our hands and we don’t get the opportunity to play Ireland and finish on top of our pool. We played two games of Rugby Championship in much worse conditions (on the Sunshine Coast) but a strong push from the Irish doctor seemed to work with World Rugby in cancelling the game. The boys are shattered. We were very well prepared for this game and trained in worse conditions two days ago,” Grey said.
Word on the street is that the Irish doctor was a driver behind the decision. If true, all I can say is that they probably don’t play much rugby in Ireland if they worry about rain.
WR statement link
Paris Olympic Games 2024: Rugby Sevens Fixtures
From Pravda
With only a few weeks to go until the Olympics here are the respective draws for the games.
Paris Olympics Rugby Sevens Fixtures
*All games AEST and held at Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Men’s Rugby Sevens Fixtures
POOL STAGES
Thursday July 24
Pool B: Australia v Samoa, 11:30 pm
Friday July 25
Pool B: Argentina v Kenya, 12:00 am
Pool C: France v USA, 12:30 am
Pool C: Fiji v Uruguay, 1:00 am
Pool A: Ireland v South Africa, 1:30 am
Pool A: New Zealand v Japan, 2:00 am
Pool B: Australia v Kenya, 3:00 am
Pool B: Argentina v Samoa, 3:30 am
Pool C: France v Uruguay, 4:00 am
Pool C: Fiji v USA, 4:30 am
Pool A: Ireland v Japan, 5:00 am
Pool A: New Zealand v South Africa, 5:30 am
Pool B: Samoa v Kenya, 10:00 pm
Pool B: Argentina v Australia, 10:30 pm
Pool C: USA v Uruguay, 11:00 pm
Pool C: Fiji v France, 11:30 pm
Friday July 26
Pool A: South Africa v Japan, 12:00 am
Pool A: New Zealand v Ireland, 12:30 am
Women’s Rugby Sevens Fixtures
Sunday July 28
POOL STAGES
Pool B: Ireland v Great Britain, 11:30 pm
Monday July 29
Pool B: Australia v South Africa, 12:00 am
Pool C: USA v Japan, 12:30 am
Pool C: France v Brazil, 1:00 am
Pool A: Fiji v Canada, 1:30 am
Pool A: New Zealand v China, 2:00 am
Pool B: Ireland v South Africa, 3:00 am
Pool B: Australia v Great Britain, 3:30 am
Pool C: USA v Brazil, 4:00 am
Pool C: France v Japan, 4:30 am
Pool A: Fiji v China, 5:00 am
Pool A: New Zealand v Canada, 5:30 am
Pool B: Great Britain v South Africa, 10:30 pm
Pool B: Australia v Ireland, 10:30 pm (TBC)
Pool C: Japan v Brazil, 11:00 pm
Pool C: France v USA, 11:30 pm
Tuesday July 30
Pool A: Canada v China, 12:00 am
Pool A: New Zealand v Fiji, 12:30 am
#FillTheHill to aid injured Norths winger Jordan Luke
I will be dropping in to support Norths in Brisbane to put some money in the bucket. But for those further afield here is the link to a gofundme page.
Like many his playing career is one of a bloke who just loves his footy. All of us here at G&GR are with Luke wishinh him nothing but the best for his future.
From the Norths Rugby Club Facebook
On 15 June, during round 11 when Norths were playing UQ at Shaw Road, Jordan Luke, as he so often has during his 60 plus Premiership games, made a hard driving tackle on the end of a kick chase.
This tackle resulted in a life-changing injury. Jordan has significant damage to his brachial plexus which is the nerve system that controls shoulder and arm function. While the degree of damage is still being fully understood, we do now know that Jordan has lost full functionality of his right arm on a permanent basis.
Jordan has always been a fighter, both on and off the field. His passion for rugby and for Norths since he first joined the Club in 2018 has made him not only a beloved member of our family but also the wider Brisbane rugby community. In typical style, Jordan is already contemplating some form of coaching in the future; his love for the game clearly hasn’t changed. In the meantime, however, he is confronted with numerous challenges, including immediate loss of income, medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, and the need for adaptive equipment to help him adjust to the new normal of a partial functioning limb.
In the weeks since his injury, Jordan has been working through the paperwork required for insurance claims; however, what is now apparent is that even if these claims are successful, there be at least two months before he receives any level of benefit. Norths Rugby Club will be announcing details of the fund-raising initiatives planned to help Jordan through this period and beyond in the next few days; our initial focus will be around our next home game against Wests on 13 July so we encourage everyone to pencil in this date to join us at Norths in support of these initiatives.
Quote from Jordan
“When you play, you never think it’s going to be you that something like this happens to. The messages of support and the concern people are showing has been a bit overwhelming. I’m very grateful,” the humble Luke said. “It’s typical of the Norths community. They’ve offer me help in all sorts of ways since I came over from Perth and I just love the club for it. I’ve made lifelong friends here. It’s going to be a good Saturday because we’re celebrating 100 first grade games for ‘Fitzy’ (Kieran Fitzgibbon).”
PS thanks to Sully for stepping in last week when work intervened
Hoss back tomorrow
