13 August 2024 #006.
The Rugby Championship has kicked off and Brisbane club rugby is in finals mode. Last week I asked the question whether we would see the Wallabies win the Mandela Plate, we now know the answer to that one. In today’s news I’ll cover a bit of Brisbane club rugby and then go through the Wallabies player ratings following the Springboks game, and round it out with some general news.
Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby posted a team of the week from Round 17 of the Hospital Cup, which was last week. A good initiative to recognise players’ efforts in the local games, there are some Super Rugby and international players making their presence felt. Interestingly there are no repeat players from round 16.
This week in the Hospital Cup
On the Hospital Cup theme, the last round of the regular season was played, with some interesting results. The universities played out a draw with the rest of the games having a two try margin. There’s plenty of information about Brisbane club rugby on instagram here.
The Ladder
The ladder at the end of the season is below, and there’s a clear top 5 with the rest of the teams some way behind in results and points. It’s a four teams final series which sees Brothers taking on Wests in a top of the table clash on Saturday at GPS and UQ play Souths at Sunnybank on Sunday. Wests and Souths will be hoping to carry the final round momentum into the finals.
Queensland Premier Women
Round 18 of the QPR Women’s competition was played over the weekend with GPS getting up over Brothers in a close game that reflects their positions on the ladder, while the balance of the games reflecting top teams playing lower ranked teams.
Ladder
The ladder at the end of the regular season for the QPR Storelocal Premier Women’s competition is below.
A pretty clear top 4 teams and top 2 teams will see Sunnybank take on Bond Uni on Saturday at GPS and Easts take on Wests at Sunnybank on Sunday.
An amazing effort – another Olympics moment to savour.
In what is regarded as one of the purest Olympics events, the women’s marathon didn’t disappoint. If you have 10 minutes to spare, watch the last two or three kilometres of the women’s marathon. The finish by the Dutch athlete Hassan to set a new Olympics record of 2:22:55 is remarkable in itself, as was the 3 second margin to Assefa of Ethiopia in second place, with Obiri from Kenya a further 12 seconds back in 3rd place. What makes it more amazing is that Hassan competed in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres track events, winning bronze in each. An amazing effort to compete in 3 events over the course of the Olympics, let alone win a medal in each.
Back to the Rugby
Wallaby player ratings – Week 1 of the Rugby Championships
It was a tough afternoon for the Wallabies which is generally reflected in the lower scores. This was meant to be a summary of the player ratings as voted by the readers of BLL’s match review on Saturday. However, there’s been some kind of issue in the IT team, so here instead are my ratings.
Australia player ratings
- Isaac Kailea – 4 – A tough day out for the young prop against one of the best in the world.
- Matt Faessler – 5 – Looks at home in international rugby, despite this being only 10 tests into his international career. Was one of the better forwards in a well beaten pack.
- Allan Alaalatoa – 4 – Struggled under enormous pressure from the Springbok front row.
- Nick Frost – 5 – Added some physicality to his game against the Boks to go with his athleticism, but the scrum was on skates all game and the second row needs to help more there.
- Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – 5 – Was busy and physical in contact, but is marked down due to the scrum woes.
- Rob Valetini – 5 – Consistently good for the Wallabies and one of the better performers this week in a well beaten team and pack.
- Carlo Tizzano – 5 – The young debutant needs to improve his accuracy next week if he gets another go in Perth, but a good first effort against the Boks.
- Harry Wilson – 5 – Plenty of effort from Dirty Harry with carries, tackles , and lineout wins but ran into a Sprinboks pack that was on a mission.
- Jake Gordon – 5 – It might be hard on Gordon as he played behind a beaten pack, his kicking needs to be better, however. Another solid game and while his kicking needs to be better, his covering tackle on Malcolm Marx was excellent.
- Noah Lolesio – 4 – Couldn’t really get anything going with the backline and had a lot of traffic to deal with defensively. I think it is worth persisting with Noah to give him some consistency and ongoing support.
- Filipo Daugunu – 5 – Was matching it physically with the Boks until he was forced off with a leg fracture.
- Hunter Paisami – 5 – Improved as the game went on, worked hard in defence and scored the Wallabies only try.
- Len Ikitau – 5 – Solid in defence, and with relatively limited carries, like Valetini, is a consistent performer.
- Andrew Kellaway – 4 – Great early defensive work to stop what seemed a certain try, but let himself and the team down with a lifting tackle on the Boks halfback which earned him 10 minutes on the sideline when the Springboks were able to capitalise.
- Tom Wright – 4 – Couldn’t seem to spark anything in attack and blew a number of counter attacking opportunities including giving away a turnover late in the game.
- Josh Nasser – 3 – Really struggled in the lineout when he took over from Faessler. Hopefully he learns from the experience about handling pressure.
- James Slipper – 5 – Seemed to shore up the scrum when he came on.
- Zane Nonggorr – 5 – Didn’t do anything wrong and the scrum was more solid at the end of the game with Slipper and Nonggorr on.
- Jeremy Williams – 3 – Struggled to make a positive impact, and will miss next week with concussion.
- Luke Reimer – 4 – The game was over when Reimer joined it, tried hard but spilt the final Wallabies possession to close out the match.
- Tate McDermott – 5 Increased the speed of attack when he came on for Jake Gordon.
- Tom Lynagh – 5 – Decent all around kicking game, and looked assured with his involvements in general play. A conversion from wide out shows his benefit in a close game.
- Dylan Peitsch – 4 – Got an extended run with Daugunu’s leg injury. Some good first up involvements but couldn’t make any real impact as the game wore on.
Let us know what you think in the comments as usual.
In other news – Tizzano hungry for more against the Boks.
As reported by Nathan Williamson at rugby.com.au, Carlo Tizzano is keen to have another crack at the rampant Springboks in Perth this coming weekend having loved every minute of it in the outing in Brisbane. No doubt Tizzano will have learned plenty last weekend and hopefully he gets another chance this week.
Coleman to stay in Australian Rugby
In good news for rugby in NSW, Darren Coleman has signed as the Director of Rugby for the Hunter Wildfires. After a tough time with the Waratahs it’s good to see his passion and knowledge stay in Australia.
That’s a wrap for this week
I’m sure that there’s plenty more to cover but I’ll leave it for Yowie, Karl, Happyman, and of course Hoss later in the week.
That’s it for me this week, over to you G&GRs.
