Tuesday 1st April 2025
Good Morning G&GRs and welcome to Tuesday’s news. It was another great weekend of rugby, Bris covered the Super Rugby in the Monday News which you can catch up on here.
Today, we’ll cover the Super Rugby W games, and the Aussie teams’ performances in the Hong Kong Sevens, and round it out with a Wallabies in waiting team of the week.
Super Rugby W
It was the last round of the regular season for the Super Rugby W for 2025, and all of the teams were a chance of making the semi-finals next week.
Brumbies v Waratahs in Canberra
Friday night saw the Brumbies host the Waratahs in Canberra with the Brumbies needing the win to overtake the Drua and lock down fourth place.
The Brumbies got off to a good start, earning an early penalty which Moleka kicked for a 3-0 lead. The Brumbies kept the pressure on and after repeated infringements, the Waratahs lost Leilani Nathan to a yellow card, but the Brumbies weren’t able to utilise the extra number with the Waratahs the next to score through O’Gorman after sustained pressure. It was from a good build up starting with a mini break by Georgina Friedrichs getting in behind the Brumbies defence. It was good control and option taking by the Tahs and the try seemed inevitable. McKenzie converted for a 7-3 lead.
The teams then traded tries with Bone scoring for the Brumbies after 24 minutes before prop Pohiva crashed over off a lineout play for the Tahs. Sagapolu Sanele Piper showed all the skills of a winger to slam the ball down in the corner in contact for the Brumbies. Piper Duck rounded out the tries for the first half and the Tahs went into the sheds with a 19-13 lead.
The second half started like the first with the Brumbies taking an early penalty opportunity to reduce the margin to 3 points. Also like the first half, Faliki Pohiva crashed over from close range after some excellent build up play by the Waratahs and Arabella McKenzie was on point to convert for a 26-16 lead.
The Brumbies showed the value of the kick chase next with Dawa being the ultimate beneficiary after first Maya Stewart then McKenzie couldn’t hold onto a cross kick, and the Brumbies were back into the game at 26-23 down. The Waratahs would have the final say with Piper Duck crossing for her second try and then Maya Stewart crossing in the corner after McKenzie had chased her own chip kick and forced a turnover on the line. The Waratahs finished as 36-23 winners and will host the Western Force in the second semi-final on Sunday at Leichhardt Oval.
Reds v Force in Brisbane
This really was a dominant performance by the Reds, running out winners 47-10 to secure a home semi-final and gaining some important momentum before they host the Drua next week. The Reds wore their 2025 Indigenous Jersey for the match as well.
The Force scored first though a penalty for a 3-0 lead, but then Reds went to work, scoring the next three tries through Teutau, Molloy and Hanna with Cramer adding the extras to put the Reds out 21-3. The Reds were able mix their game up, playing both physically and through the Force and creating space for the backs to shine and make metres. Queensland centre Shalom Sauaso was outstanding throughout the game, but particularly in the first half, winning turnovers and making metres with every touch.
It wasn’t all the Reds way, though, with Force winger Adi Vani Buleki scoring a great try by beating two defenders including Caslick with genuine pace on the right wing. The Force weren’t out of it at 21-10 down with half an hour played.
The Reds were dominant from that point with Eva Karpani then Shalom Sauaso scoring tries to go to the sheds with a very handy 35-10 lead. Lori Cramer kicked five from five in the first half and started the second half with a bang, running over the top of Force halfback Mio Yamanaka before finding Karpani in support who ran away with it for her second try. It was 42-10 to the Reds and they looked to have the Force there for the taking.
Things got harder for the Force with Cecilia Smith seeing yellow for a high tackle but the Reds couldn’t capitalise and it took until the 60th minute for Karpani to crash over again for a hat trick.
Cramer was unable to convert from the sideline (her only miss for the day) and that was the end of the scoring for the afternoon. The Force threw everything at the Reds, but the Reds defended well with good tackling and turnovers shutting the Force down again and again. Queensland spent the last part of the game with 14 players after Carola Kreis saw yellow for a high tackle and repeated infringements.
The Reds were resolute in shutting the Force down and will take momentum into the semi-final against the Drua next Sunday. The Reds were very efficient in the first half, scoring from most opportunities and not letting the Drua into the game. Lori Cramer was good at #10, but seemed to share the role with Caslick, who was excellent at finding the right time to join the line and create opportunities for her team mates. Eva Karpani is a super star and was excellent, Shalom Sauaso, was very good on both sides of the ball and gave the Reds momentum. She has been a standout in each game she has played this season and should be in the picture when the Wallaroos squad is picked.
The Reds are hosting Fiji at Ballymore on Sunday afternoon. Let’s hope for a great turn out and a victory to the Reds.
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens has a new home with a bigger stadium meaning a bigger party atmosphere, and it delivered with Argentina and New Zealand taking out the men’s and women’s titles, respectively.
The Kai Tak Stadium is the jewel in the crown of the Kai Tak Sports Park, and as those of us in Brisbane ponder what Victoria Park might look like for the Olympics in 2032 we could learn some lessons from Hong Kong.
The Stadium looks magnificent and Hong Kong worked quickly to turn the precinct from this in October 2024.
To this in 2025.
How the Aussies fared.
The Aussie teams both made the semi-finals with the nens’ team losing their semi-final to eventual champions Argentina, before going onto face Fiji in the bronze medal playoff. The womens’ team won their semi-final against France to advance tot he final against New Zealand.
The men’s team had to come from behind multiple times to overcome Fiji and secure the bronze medal. They left it late with a try well after normal time to fresh faced Sid Harvey after a set play move from a penalty tap to snatch victory from Fiji. James Turner was excellent throughout the match, and captain Henry Hutchison was very good with his vision and spatial awareness keys to victory in a thrilling match. At full time it was 22-21 to the Aussies who now have four wins on the bounce against Fiji.
The women’s final was a cracking match but unfortunately the Kiwis were too strong, Australia couldn’t match their combination of physicality, defensive pressure and attacking brilliance. Madi Levi scored a double for Australia including opening the scoring in the first half and again early in the second half, with Mackenzie Davis getting a late try after the hooter to make the scoreline closer. New Zealand captain and legend Sarah Hirini scored her 100th try in the 2nd minute before speedster Michaela Brake scored in the 6th minute in between Levi’s brace to have the scores tied up at 12-12.
That’s when Jorja Miller went from villain to hero. Villain, for a first half tip tackle that saw her cop a yellow card, and hero for securing two key turnovers and scoring two tries to take the game away from the Aussies in the second half. It was one of the most dominant individual displays in a Sevens game that I can remember seeing, and at just 21 she’s likely to be starring for the Kiwis from some time. The final score was 26-19 to the Kiwis.
And of course, Madi Levi keeps on scoring tries.
So congratulations to New Zealand and Argentina for winning in Hong Kong and to our Aussie teams for finishing 2nd and 3rd.
Wallaby Watch
All four Australian teams played this week, though the Waratahs fans would prefer to erase that game from their collective memories. Again, Bris covered the games in the Monday News and even gave me some pointers on the top performers of the week, So here goes.
- Alex Hodgman – The one cap Wallaby followed up his dominant performance from last week with a good all around effort. Copped a team yellow card for sacking the lineout lifter, but the replay was confusing.
- Billy Pollard – an early try to get the Brumbies moving, and was busy across the park.
- Allan Alaalatoa – another good performance by the Brumbies and Wallabies stalwart, and got another try from close range.
- Jeremy Willams – with Darcy Swain had the Qld lineout on toast and was as always busy.
- Darcy Swain – absolutely destroyed the Qld lineout, overall they won 8 and had the Reds functioning at 55%.
- Seru Uru – was very good again for the Reds, they needed his experience to secure victory against the Force.
- Carlo Tizzano – the flanker can’t stop scoring tries, with two this week now has 10 for the season, a club record and still half the season to go. Of course, good work across the park as well.
- Nicholas Champion de Crespigny – another strong performance by Champion de Crespigny (do we have a nickname yet?) and looks made for test rugby.
- Tate McDermott – added extra pace to the game and scored the match winner against the Force.
- Tom Lynagh – was excellent against the Force and took the honours in the head to head battle with Donaldson. Was composed throughout, and his individual play int he first half to put Qld over was top class.
- Filipo Daugunu – played at outside centre with the longer term injury to Josh Flook. Maybe shaded by Ikitau at centre, so gets a spot on the wing.
- Hamish Stewart – was good against his old team
- Len Ikitau – One of the Brumbies best, and scored an important try.
- Andy Muirhead – consistently good, although did have a poor defensive effort on Gilbert for the Highlanders first try.
- Mac Grealy – has been excellent for the Force all year. The pass back infield to Potter on half time showed great vision.
- Nic Dolly – The Reds hookers couldn’t hit the side of a barn on the weekend and Dolly was industrious as always.
- James Slipper – still putting in good performances and held his own in the scrum.
- Tom Robertson – you just have to watch the runaway try to see why.
- Nick Frost – Consistently good this year for the Brumbies.
- Rob Valetini – Bobby V is two weeks back from a hamstring injury and is already making an impact.
- Kalani Thomas – was good this week, without the errors from last week.
- Ben Donaldson – was good for the Force, and can play 10 and 15.
- Ollie Sapsford – has been good in the latter games for the Brumbies, and adds versatility to the bench.
There are some incumbent Wallabies that aren’t playing to the same high standard as last year, or in previous years. Taniela Tupou looks to be struggling for form and Tom Wright isn’t quite hitting the heights of last year according to the chat on the G&GR writers group. Maybe it’s the looser aspect of Super Rugby leading to more high risk plays, and maybe as we get closer to finals and test season we’ll see players reducing the error rates and pushing stronger cases for selection.
Who else has gone backwards this year?
That’s a Wrap
As usual, thanks for making it this far, and look forward to the comments section.
Cheers
