20 May 2025
Good morning G&GRs and welcome to another Tuesday news. It was a big weekend of rugby, with cracking Super Rugby games and a good win by the Wallaroos against the USA. The Monday news may have been delayed by some technical issues, but it was certainly worth the wait, and if you haven’t read it yet you can find it here.
Lions tour announcements
Some big news in relation to the Lions tour with Les Kiss announced as the head coach for the combined Australia New Zealand invitational team (we can’t call them ANZACs) tour match at Adelaide Oval on 12 July. This feels like a great opportunity for Kiss to work with Ian Foster and bring a test match intensity to this match, the last hitout before the first test in Brisbane on the 19th. Obviously Kiss won’t have any of the first choice Wallabies to pick, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of experienced players wanting to put their hand up for this rare opportunity.
There’s already been plenty of speculation already, for mine, I’d like to see a mix of experienced players as well as some younger players or fringe Wallabies to give them a chance to impress, and maybe belt the Lions (legally of course) all around Adelaide Oval. I reckon that since the game is being played in Australia, at least 13 of the 23 should be Aussies. It will be exciting to see who gets an opportunity: can they pick Richie Mo’unga at 10, has he been playing well enough or should that opportunity go to a fringe Wallaby to see how they handle the pressure?
It’ll also be interesting to see how the Lions approach this match, obviously they’ll want to win every match, and with the depth and talent they have they’ll be able to field a very good team, even if it isn’t the test team. Will it be like a Barbarians match, or will it be a true test match? Either way, it should be great.
Who do you think should play in the AuNZ invitational team? Tim Horan thinks Michael Hooper should be locked in for it, which would definitely add experience to the team.
You can read the full article by Lachie Grey over at rugby au here.
First Nations & Pasifika XV v Lions
In other great news for the Lions series, one of Queensland’s favourite rugby sons, Toutai Kefu, has been announced to coach the First Nations & Pasifika XV side to take on the Lions in Melbourne on Tuesday, 22 July.
This will be a mid week fixture, so more chance for the locals to get the jump on the Lions and dent their confidence ahead of the second test in Melbourne.
In an article at rugby.com, Kefu reeled off some players that he’d love to have in his team including Ardie Savea (well of course you would), Langi Gleeson, Kurtley Beale, and Rob Leota. Not sure if Leota will be fit after the weekend, but it’d be a good chance for the him and Gleeson to get stuck in. Kefu references family, so wouldn’t it be great to see Ardie lining up alongside his brother Julian to add some genuine firepower to the side. Also, how good would it be to see some of the Tongan players getting a run under Kefu’s guidance including Kyren Taumoefolau, that would be quite something.
As with the AuNZ game, the eligibility and player list will need to get sorted out, who do you think would be great to see out there for the First Nations and Pasifika? Do you reckon the Roosters would let Marky Mark play this one?
You can read the full article by Lachie Grey over at Rugby Au here.
Wallaroos v USA
The Wallaroos took on the USA in Canberra on Saturday afternoon, and if you haven’t had a chance to catch it yet, I recommend watching it as it was a great contest. While Australia seemed to dominate the USA were right in it until the end.
The Wallaroos stood up against a USA team that was able to mix their forwards’ physicality with the pace and power of their centres. The USA got the scoreboard ticking in the 14th minute through their impressive prop Hope Rogers, who was powerful throughout, and ended up with a hat trick, to be the only try scorer for the USA side. Flyhalf McKenzie Hawkins converted two of their tries to round out the USA scoring at 19 points.
For the Wallaroos, Charlotte Caslick got her first try in 15s for the year (her first try as a Wallaroo) in the 16th minute before Ash Marsters crashed over from a quick tap in the 26th minute followed by Eva Karpani crossing in the 34th minute. It was a willing first half of rugby and the Wallaroos went to oranges with a 5 point lead.
Each team scored a try in the second half (Marsters scored her second and Rogers her third), and Moleka kicked a very useful penalty to put the Wallaroos out to an 8 point lead at 27-19 after 61 minutes, which was the final score. Ash Marsters’ second try was well taken from a lineout play, and showed that they had adapted from a similar but unsuccessful play in the first half.
Credit to Joe Yapp and the coaching team for the way the Wallaroos bounced back after their defeat last week by the Kiwis. Credit also to the Wallaroos who were very good across the park, particularly the playmakers Faitala Moleka, Layne Morgan and Caitlyn Halse. Obviously those three can only go well if the forwards go well, and every one of the forwards were good on the weekend; here’s hoping they can step up again this weekend against Canada.
The match was soured by some terrible foul play in the 79th minute with experienced centre Alev Kelter sent from the field for stomping/kicking Georgina Friedrichs on the ground, including twice making contact with her head. Credit to the referee for the way she handled it, which was to review it once and then issue a straight red card without needing to refer it to the TMO. A bad look and a bad way to finish what was a very good game of rugby. Go the Wallaroos as they build to the World Cup.
Wallabies team of the Week
I’m shooting from the hip a bit here with the team of the week, due to only watching the highlights of the Force game, watching the Reds Brumbies game with red wine and being somewhat disinterested by the Waratahs game. But, here goes.
- Angus Bell – was good in a losing side.
- Richie Asiata – was good in his time on the park, and didn’t cop a card like Pollard.
- Allan Alaalatoa – the Brumbies captain was very good again until he went off with a calf injury that was later updated to be a low level strain and should only be on the sideline for a few weeks.
- Jeremy Williams – talk about inspirational captains, Jeremy was in everything that the Force did well.
- Nick Frost – had a big game against the Reds.
- Rob Valetini – finding good form.
- Fraser McReight – also finding form and kept the Reds in the game.
- Tom Hooper – maybe playing like an extra lock, but is being effective.
- Ryan Lonergan – gets the nod because the Brumbies won.
- Declan Meredith – was good in steering the Brumbies around.
- Corey Toole – speed, speed, speed.
- Hunter Paisami – in what must’ve been the softest yellow card since Faf brushed Nic White’s moustache in Adelaide, was good otherwise.
- Len Ikitau – like Bobby V, Fraser McReight and Tom Wright, in great form
- Lachie Anderson – also in good form, hard to tackle and makes good tackles.
- Tom Wright – in good form, playing well and scored his first try of the year.
- Josh Nasser – got a try off the bench to bring the Reds back into the contest
- I’m not sure who gets this, does Fa’agase do enough to unseat James Slipper?
- Zane Nonggorr – dynamic with carrying the ball and throwing himself into tackles, his scrum work is also improved on previous years. A real chance to feature for the Wallabies.
- Ryan Smith – does the hard work.
- John Bryant – stepped up in the absence of Harry Wilson, his best game for the Reds.
- Tate McDermott – set up the first try for the Reds and was good.
- Harry McLaughlin-Phillips – another good display by the young Qld flyhalf.
- Ollie Sapsford – good again off the bench.
That’s a wrap for this week. as always, thanks for reading, and look forward to the comments.
Cheers.
