20 August 2024 #007
Another week in the Rugby Championship while the first weekend of finals has been played in Brisbane club rugby. To get things started, I’ll post results from Brisbane club rugby and the results of the player ratings for the Wallabies against South Africa.
Brisbane Club Rugby
It was the first week of the semi-finals in Brisbane over the weekend. The conditions were next to perfect for rugby, with blue skies and some bite to the midday sun.
The results across the board from the major semi-finals are below. There were 10 Reds players in action on the weekend including Harry Hoopert (ex-Red), Dre Pakeho, Ryan Smith and JOC who ran out for Brothers. The photos from the day show a fantastic outing at GPS’s Ashgrove ground. The winners from the major semis are through to the grand final, and the losers get another chance next week against the winners from the minor semis.
The minor semi-finals were played on Sunday at Sunnybank and the results across the grades are below.
Congrats to the teams that are still in the mix, and good luck next year to the teams that finished their season this week. It should be another cracking round this weekend for the preliminary finals.
Wallaby player ratings – Week 1 of the Rugby Championships
It was another tough game out for the Wallabies against the Springboks over in Perthtoria, as Bryan Habana referred to it. I’m sure that the TV coverage didn’t do the rain and conditions justice, so full credit to the fans for getting out in good numbers to support both teams.
The IT system worked this week so I can share the summary of the player ratings from the reader’s poll. Overall, not much spread between the best and worst players.
Australia player ratings
- Angus Bell – 6 – A very welcome return for the big man against the Saffas. Didn’t take a backwards step and went looking for work. The scrum held up in the first half. The boys on Stan were singing his praises as well.
- Josh Nasser – 5 – A better hit out for Nasser than in Brisbane, and except for the first lineout throw looked assured and did the basics well.
- Allan Alaalatoa – 5 – Was part of a scrum that had parity in the first half. Went off at half time, and we will see how he fares with injury recovery before the next game.
- Angus Blyth – 5 – Another solid performance from Blyth in his debut season. He put his hand up for tackles and was part of a defensive lineout that was troubling the Boks.
- Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – 6 – Another busy and physical performance from Lukhan against a very big and powerful springboks pack. Good work in the lineout and both sides of the ball. Might have spilled a simple seeming pass in the Springboks 22, but the conditions were terrible. Really putting his hand up as a leader of this team.
- Rob Valetini – 5 – A quiet game of sorts from Bobby V. No real highlight reel moments with the ball in hand, but made tackles and carries as required.
- Carlo Tizzano – 5 – Another cap under his belt against the Springboks and he topped the tackle count again. Really putting in good shifts.
- Harry Wilson – 5 – Another solid performance by Wilson against the world champions. He stands out with his red headgear and was either hitting it up, making tackles, or supporting players in attack. He has a few detractors, but even the best players don’t have highlight reels in every game, and while he was turned over in the second half, that’s a combination of support arriving too late, and the Boks being very good.
- Nic White – 4 – Nic definitely got the ref offside early. Also, seemed to be slow getting the ball out and distributed. Not sure if that is a lack of options and the receiving players being late, or just him taking too long and too many steps. His pass to Cheslin Kolbe in the first half was bad, and well caught by the Springbok.
- Noah Lolesio – 4 – Differing views about Noah. The Guardian sang his praises, but G&GRs rated him a four. It’s another opportunity for a young player to test himself against the best in the world, and I think it’s worth persisting with Noah to give him some consistency and ongoing support.
- Markia Koroibete – 6 – Was good in his first game back in Wallaby gold. Chased relentlessly and hit hard in defence. A welcome return to test rugby for Marika.
- Hunter Paisami – 5 – Left the field in the second half with a MCL injury and will be out for six weeks. Like a lot of the Wallabies, Paisami didn’t do too much wrong in this game, spilt one ball but again the conditions were terrible, and the Boks were very, very good.
- Len Ikitau – 5 – Wasn’t a night for Ikitau to be able to impose himself on the game, and moved to inside centre when Paisami was injured.
- Andrew Kellaway – 4 – Not Kellaway’s best showing in gold. A dropped kick early on gave the Springboks a chance, then couldn’t regather a cross field kick and was outpaced by Fassi for the Boks first try.
- Tom Wright – 5– Got a lot of the game right in terrible conditions, and looks the most likely of the Aussie backs to spark something and trouble the Springboks. Fantastic cover defending tackle on Mapimpi saved what looked to be a certain try.
- Billy Pollard – 5 – Good to see Pollard get some time to develop against the best in the game. Not much to say about the scrums as they were uncontested for most of the second half. Is getting a chance to play against an absolute legend in Malcolm Marx.
- James Slipper – 4 – Didn’t get very much time to impress, came and went early in the second half with the victim of a HIA, and uncontested scrums resulted from it.
- Zane Nonggorr – 5 – Didn’t have to scrummage against the Bokke bomb squad. Couldn’t match the impact of the South African bench but shouldn’t be expected to in his second season.
- Tom Hooper – 5 – Another solid performance from Tom Hooper, but couldn’t help the Wallabies withstand the onslaught of the Saffa bench.
- Seru Uru – 4 – Uru looked to add energy when he came on and was among it until he saw a yellow for repeated infringements.
- Tate McDermott – 5 – As always, looked to increase the pace of play, a good read to cover a grubber kick on his own line.
- Ben Donaldson – 4 – Didn’t a lot of time on the field to make a big impression. Almost shanked a kick for touch from a penalty. It was another chance for him to get some time on the field.
- Max Jorgensen – 6 – Got enough time on the field to show some of his attacking skillset. A good break down the right hand side that made the highlights, and made his tackles.
Overall, the G&GRs player ratings averaged 4.9 for the Wallabies, so an average effort by Australia, against a very good Springbok team. It was good to see Angus Bell back and getting stuck in.
Let us know what you think in the comments as usual.
Other news.
Rugby AU have reported here that Scott Barrett will be fit to return to action for the South Africa tour. While the Kiwis really put the Argies to the sword, they’ll need all of the depth and experience that they can find when they take on South Africa in two weeks’ time.
Sydney Rugby
I don’t have too much news out of Sydney, except that word among the craparazzi is that Nutta managed to bag himself a meat-pie in a semi-final over the weekend, which was his fourth for the season. Congrats!
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.
