Tri Nations Fixtures 2011

The addition of Argentina to the Tri Nations tournament has seen a relaunched competition announced today, known as ‘The Rugby Championship’. The Pumas will now face the Wallabies, Springboks and All Blacks in regular international competition, with the Australian games to be played in Sydney, Gold Coast and Perth. The home and away series will [...]

What is on the menu? Yep, same old, same old Tests with coaches continually talking about building for the next Rugby World Cup. Northern hemisphere sides fielding their second or third XVs; John O’Neill threatening them with who knows what and the same old, same old happens again. Argentina will add a new dimension to [...]

One of the learnings from Rugby World Cup 2011 is that rugby has a long way to go if it is to become a truly global sport. Seeing the French going agonisingly close to knocking off the all-conquering All Blacks should give rugby administrators food for thought. One of the most interesting things about international [...]

The World Cup 2011 is over and finally the All Blacks have got a monkey (you can call that monkey a King Kong, if you like) off their backs. It’s a most suited time to say it loud, to say it from an All Blacks’ fan perspective: the Rugby World Cup is a very over-rated [...]

Along with professionalism officially entering the game of rugby union in 1995 and the commencement of the Rugby World Cup in 1987, there seems little doubt that the greatest influences have been the Home Nations Championship Evolving into the current Six Nations, the Home Nations Championship has been played since 1883, between the premier northern [...]

Everyone bar Italy and Russia have completed two games in this year’s tournament which marks the halfway point of the pool stages. The injury toll is beginning to mount. It has already affected results and will certainly do so again. A number of high profile players missed out on selection altogether through injury. For instance, [...]

If there’s one thing the first weekend of the Rugby World Cup has shown us, it’s that the bridge between the top eight teams and the rest of the world is closing. Rewind just over four years ago, before France ’07 and there were calls to reduce the number of teams for future World Cups [...]

2012 is set to be a big year for southern hemisphere rugby. With Argentina set to join the Four Nations next year, the UAR (Union Argentine de Rugby) and the IRB are keen to get Argentine players back in the southern hemisphere to avoid player release issues with European clubs. With the UAR looking to [...]

The World Cup is only two days away, and it is time for the best players in the world to shine. A strong performance at a World Cup can increase a player’s pedigree. But a poor performance can see a player go from the top of the world to nothing. This team is based on [...]

It appears that the rugby union community in Australia are nervous, almost afraid to stand up and proclaim in an evangelical shout: “yes we can!” Not only can the Wallabies challenge for the William Web Ellis trophy, they will be bringing it back, too. Winning any tournament requires holding the right balance throughout the team [...]