Roar Guru

Greg Russell

Roar Guru
http://www.chem.canterbury.ac.nz/people/russell.shtml

80,812 Article Reads
27 Articles Written
935 Comments Written

About

Member Since:: September 2007
Based In:: Christchurch, New Zealand
Favourite Sporting Team:: the Australian cricket team
Favourite Sports:: Football, Rugby, Tennis, League, Cricket, Netball,

Latest Articles

Showing articles 1 - 6 of 27 | More Articles >

Stats say you've got to be tall to be a tennis champion

19 Sep 2009

Until she was upstaged by comeback super-mom Kim Clijsters, Melanie Oudin was THE story of the US Tennis Open. Slaying Russian giants round by round, and blessed by the extreme self-confidence and enthusiasm that only an American upbringing can engender, naturally the question arises as to whether the 17-year-old native of Marietta, Ga – gotta [...]

Australian cricket just needs a new captain

2 Sep 2009

Let’s be honest: the England side that recently won the Ashes is a very modest one. Dispute this? Well ask yourself this question: who from the 2009 English side would make the 2005 English side? Matt Prior for Geraint Jones, Graeme Swann for Ashley Giles, while Strauss the 2009 batsman would dead heat the 2005 [...]

It was just bad luck that we lost The Ashes

29 Aug 2009

What happened? This is how I began my article the other day on last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup loss by Australia. Since the Ashes, another of the most iconic prizes in Australian sport, were lost at about the same time – a day before if one marks it by the pivotal session, a day after if [...]

Picking over the carcass of yet another Bledisloe loss

27 Aug 2009

What happened? Even as hard-bitten a critic as Knives Out found reason to wager some of his hard-earned on Australia winning the 2009 Tri-Nations. Yet here we are, with three losses out of three, and having to swallow an unpalatable Bledisloe Cup loss in Sydney. Make no mistake, this was a very bad loss. Yes, [...]

Bring back Whits to finally start for the Wallabies

27 May 2009

It was Chris Whitaker who gave us one of the better quotes of recent times. When asked in February 2006 who the new Wallaby coach would be, he quipped: “I suppose Steven Bradbury. He’s the only one left standing and you’d have to assume he’ll get it.” Whitaker was referring to John Connolly in the [...]

Is there anything remaining to say about Super Rugby?

22 May 2009

What to write for a readership that knows so much about rugby? That has been an overwhelming thought while trawling the articles and comments on The Roar this week. For example, I was going to write about the statistical anomalies of the Super 14 season of the Waratahs. However, I find that many of the [...]

Greg's Recent Comments

Greg Russell has written a total of 935 comments

Bell’s end: Standing in Dhoni’s shoes

A man robbed a bank, got home with the money, decided he had done wrong, and so he went and handed the money back to the bank. Would the man be regarded as a role model for "sportsmanship"? Of course not. He would be punished for committing a crime, with a reduced sentence for handing the money back. This is basically what has happened with the Bell/Dhoni incident, so it is nothing short of a perversion of justice - and extreme human stupidity - that Dhoni somehow or other comes out of this smelling of roses. How is it that someone can be regarded as a good sport simply because they realise they have committed a heinous act of unsportsmanship? The Indians seem to have a knack for this sort of thing. Another one is that Symonds somehow emerged a villain because he had been racially abused by Harbhajan, who was painted as a hero. Even if in the exceedingly unlikely event that there was no racial abuse at the SCG (who honestly believes that?), it is on-the-record fact that Harbhajan racially abused Symonds in two ODIs in the preceding series in India. Incidentally, I think Dhoni is a fabulous captain, a very good cricketer, and a decent person. But this episode has to be seen in the proper context.

2 Aug 2011

Reds victory could be gold for the Wallabies

Sheek, as a fellow oldie I'm sure that Genia's try also made you think of Matt Burke's magnificent 70 m solo run against the All Blacks at Ballymore in 1996. That try was made by the line that Ben Tune ran in support, which kept the defence hanging off Burke; similarly Cooper in support of Genia on Saturday night. This was two rugby geniuses working in instinctive harmony.

11 Jul 2011

Reds victory could be gold for the Wallabies

"a probable wake-up call for the All Black coaches to devise ways of beating this brilliant and winning way of playing modern rugby." A disastrous start for the All Black selectors, who seemingly have not taken on board some of the major lessons from the S15 final: 1. The need for specialist backup at 7. Matt Todd or Luke Braid could perform the Liam Gill role for NZ, but at this stage Henry has declined to name such a player. (On the basis of Saturday night one could actually argue that Todd and Braid should have been chosen ahead of McCaw, but let's see how the champion fares as he gets more footy under his belt.) 2. At this stage Sivivatu, New Zealand's most dangerous broken-field runner, is not in the top 30. The final surely emphasized how important creative, broken-field running is going to be this year. Simply having magnificent finishers on the wing is of no use if, because of committed, organized defence, there is nothing to finish. In this context Zac Guildford seems a wasted selection to me. He is a terrific all-round footballer, but he is not big, he is not particularly fast, and he creates nothing. Maybe wing is not his optimum position? 3. Henry has said that in a squad of 30, there is room for only one specialist loose-head prop. So at this stage Crockett has missed out, and will only be deputizing for Woodcock while he's injured. Meanwhile, props in South Africa and Australia rejoice at getting such a lucky break ...

11 Jul 2011

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