8 July 2025
Good morning G&GRs and welcome to another edition of Tuesday’s news. Wow, there’s been a lot of rugby to devour in the last week: the U20 World Rugby Championship is going on in Italy, the French are touring New Zealand, the home nations are touring (even though they’re missing their best players who are on Lions duty), the Lions are in Australia and the women’s teams are gearing up for matches ahead of their World Cup. That’s all on top of the club rugby which is past halfway in the Hospital Cup and Shute Shield.
That was all last week and it’s only going to get better this week with the Lions heading to Canberra, then Adelaide to take on the Brumbies and the Australia NZ invitational team, The Wallaroos are playing the Black Ferns in Wellington on Saturday, the Under 20s men’s teams are at it again, Fiji host Scotland, Japan host Wales, New Zealand host France, South Africa host Italy, Portugal host Ireland, Argentina host England a bunch of other developing nations are lining up against each other, all happening this weekend.
Before we get into today’s piece, I’m going to start with the old man shouting at clouds piece from my observations at Suncorp last Wednesday when the Lions mauled the Qld Reds. Firstly the rugby was great, super entertaining, unfortunately for us Reds fans it was the Lions doing the bulk of the entertaining after the first 20 minutes. But that isn’t the whinge, the whinge is about crowd etiquette, and how many people get up and walk in front of other people, while the ball is actually in play, normally saying sorry, as if that makes it better. It must have happened at least 10 times during the game last Wednesday, which is quite something if you consider that the ball was probably only in play for 40 minutes or so. I mean seriously, the game is going to stop within the next 60 seconds, so how about you stay put and interrupt everyone at an appropriate time, not during the precious times when the ball is in play. FFS. And yes I will acknowledge that I put up with it, rather than reprimanding people on the night, so I’m culpable, but it can’t be that hard can it.
Otherwise, a great night out at the rugby to watch the Reds, disappointed that we got so thoroughly outplayed, hopefully the Brumbies and the Invitational team can put up more of a fight. Which brings us to the Brumbies.
Brumbies v British & Irish Lions
If you’re into podcasts you can check out Sully’s G&GR teams podcast here, but if you prefer to read the team list like a proper Boomer, here we go. The Lions have made a host of changes including recalling skipper Itoje and flyhalf Finn Russell to the side to take on the Brumbies. The full team list courtesy of Instagram is:
Which ever way you look at it that’s a pretty handy squad and the Brumbies will have their work cut out for them to repeat their famous victory from 12 years ago. The Brumbies have also named a strong side and Tom Hooper returns from camp Wallaby to line up with his brother Lachie in Tom’s last game for the Brumbies for a while. With the Lonergan brothers in the team as well it could be quite an occasion for the Brumbies.
Here’s to the Brumbies going well against the Lions, and with the year that Ryan Lonergan and Declan Meredith have had they should be able to provide more direction for the Brumbies than the Force, Reds and Waratahs showed. There’ll be a game review up on G&GR after the game.
I want to tip the Brumbies, but I think the Lions will be too strong in a close game. So, the Brumbies by 4, with Corey Toole causing all sorts of trouble and Ryan Lonergan making a real statement with the quality of his passing and box kicks.
AUNZ Invitational Match – Saturday, 12 July, 8:00pm, Adelaide Oval.
The Lions head off to Adelaide after the Brumbies game to take on the Les Kiss coached AUNZ invitational team. The final team will be announced closer to the day, but Kiss has assembled a good squad of 30 players (including 11 current Reds) and some very impressive Kiwis such as Hoskins Sotutu, Ngani Laumape, AJ Lam and of course David Havili.
This has the hallmarks of a cracking match and the Lions will need to be on their game to get past the team that Kiss picks. I’m looking forward to seeing how Mac Grealy plays in his second outing against the Lions, and how Lukhan Salakai-Loto goes as well as seeing how Kiss can use the core of Reds players and bring in some of the great football skills that the Kiwis have to cause the Lions some problems.
It’ll be interesting to see who Kiss omits from the game day squad; my pettiness wants to suggest it should anyone from NSW, but I can admit that’s silly and move on. Between Laumape, Havili and AJ Lam, it might be hard for Joey Walton to get a go, and there are plenty of outside backs in the squad with Lachie Anderson, Jock Campbell, Marika, Lancaster, Shaun Stevenson and Mac Grealy. In the halves will we see HMP get another go at flyhalf, or will Tane Edmed get a go after the Tahs stronger showing against the Lions? With the halfbacks, it should just be a case of whether Thomas or Fakatava gets the start and who comes off the bench.
My prediction is whoever doesn’t get a go out of this squad will get to play the Lions in the First Nations & Pacifika match but, either way, the top 23 players from this list look like they’ll cause real headaches for the Lions. I’m going to boldly tip the AUNZ team to upset the Lions in this one which will leave coach Andy Farrell with some real head scratching ahead of the first test. How good would that be?
Wallaroos in New Zealand
The Wallaroos are across the ditch in Wellington preparing to take on the Black Ferns as they chase an elusive first ever win against the Kiwis. Coach Jo Yapp has an experienced squad to choose from with only two uncapped players and Piper Duck and Maya Stewart available after recent injuries. Emily Chancellor was great in her hitout, with power and depth in key positions the Aussies are well placed to really challenge the Kiwis this Saturday. The squad, courtesy of Instagram #wallaroosrugby is shown below.
Wallabies player ratings – Australia v Fiji
Of course it wouldn’t be a Tuesday after a test match without Australian player ratings. So here we go.
- James Slipper – Went off with a head knock, passed the HIA and made it back onto the field – 5
- Dave Porecki – Ran the ball hard, and get hit harder a few times, failed a HIA and was replaced by Pollard in the first half – 5
- Allan Alaalatoa – A solid performance as expected by 7As. One scrum penalty early against him. – 5
- Nick Frost – A solid performance from the big lock, played the full game, and kept on making efforts – 6
- Jeremy Williams – Was good in middle of the scrum, and with Frost put the Fiji lineout under pressure – 6
- Langi Gleeson – Did a lot of hard work, carried and tackled. Took his Super Rugby form into this game – 7
- Fraser McReight – Scored a try and displayed the usual combination with Tate and Harry Wilson – 7.
- Harry Wilson – Scored the winning try and was good throughout the game – 7.
- Tate McDermott – Was good with running early in the game, but once the Fijians got running, he and Noah needed to do more to right the ship – 5.
- Noah Lolesio – A couple of errors late in the first half let Fiji into the match, firstly, the chip kick on half way and then the attempted intercept before the Fiji try. Not his best game before he went off injured. Thankfully he’s been released from hospital and back with the squad – 4.
- Max Jorgensen – Looked good with the ball in hand, kicked well and chased all the kicks. – 7.
- Len Ikitau – Usual class from Len as he moved into inside centre, heaps of good involvements and set up a nice try – 8.
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Like the European tour, was better than some people had forecast. Wasn’t as influential as the northern hemisphere games, some very good tackles, which you would expect from a Wallaby centre – 6.
- Harry Potter – Looked good, there was an obvious plan to kick early, which he did, but didn’t always get pay for it. Chased hard and is good in the air. Ironically, putting his foot into touch saved a Fijian try – 6.
- Tom Wright – Two forward passes that led to tries being called back, but he did create space and challenged the line – 5.
- Billy Pollard – Got on earlier than expected. Carried the ball well and the scrum went ok. A few missed lineout throws – 5.
- Angus Bell – A good hitout for Bell, with an early involvement while Slipper was off for a HIA. Did his job well in two stints – 5.
- Zane Nonggorr – A solid performance off the bench, he’s looking more at home in an international team – 5.
- Tom Hooper – Made an impact in the final quarter of the game and is having a crack against Lions in Canberra tomorrow night – 6.
- Carlo Tizzano – Replaced Langi Gleeson for the last 25 minutes, and was solid, but couldn’t make a massive impact at breakdown – 6.
- Nic White – Brings a steadying hand rather than spectacular running, etc. Was solid – 5.
- Ben Donaldson – Got an extended time on the field with the Lolesio injury. Nothing spectacular but Australia did recover for the win when he was on the field – 5.
- Filipo Daugunu – Replaced Len Ikitau and had a few good touches , though was penalised along with Pollard late in the game, leading to a Fiji penalty goal – 5.
As always, thanks for making it this far, see you in the comments section.
Cheers
RAWF
