Roar Pro
Joined June 2017
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Brisbanite moving to Buenos Aires in October 2018. Spent last 4 and a half years in London. Football, Rugby, Cricket, daylight, the rest.
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It is apt that the final, enduring image of Sam Warburton’s brilliant career was that of himself and Kieran Read, smilingly as the lifted the trophy together in the pouring Auckland rain, after last year’s epic Lions-All Blacks series.
An Australian supporting England in most sporting endeavours is akin to high treason – an act so reprehensible, deplorable and unconscionable that the revoking of citizenships and forced registration on a public list would be fully justified.
Utter the name Ned Hanigan in the company of Australian rugby fans and instantly the mood shifts, with music screeching to a halt, birds fleeing their nests and otherwise well-adjusted people whipping themselves in to an irascible rage.
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before, but French rugby is still ill with under-performing players, disciplinary issues off the field and an administrative structure as sturdy as a soggy pain au chocolat.
Scotland is a land of stunning natural beauty, indecipherable accents, some of the best sporting and live music crowds in the world, out of control binge-drinkers, funny bastards, serial rugby under-achievement, and of course, deep fried mars bars.
The historical enmity between Wales and England has been shaped by centuries of cultural, political, economic, and most importantly, rugby union-based mistrust and conflict, rendering the Australia versus New Zealand rivalry a primary school sandpit fight in comparison.
The commencement of the 2018 edition of the Six Nations heralds the return of international rugby, Eddie Jones, centuries-old gripes against the English, fantastic Italian hair, warm pubs and industrial amounts of Guinness to our lives.
The annual Twickenham Test between England and Australia promises to be as tight as Kurtley Beale’s budgie smugglers, and Eddie Jones-like blue language is sure to be uttered by fans, players, coaches and possibly even Eddie’s mother this week.
This forthcoming Saturday, at 9:47am, six mates and I will board the Greater Western Railway service at London Paddington station with beers, coffees and bacon sandwiches in tow, ready to pilgrimage west for the Wallabies’ annual victory over Wales.
Karmichael Hunt’s professional rugby league debut for the Brisbane Broncos, in Round 1 of the 2004 NRL season, was a seminal moment for touch footy enthusiasts in Queensland.
The news of Mario Ledesma’s impending departure from the Wallabies coaching set-up has sent the Australian scrum enthusiast community (all ten of you) in to mourning.
With it being two years since England’s early World Cup exit on home soil, and just under two years until Japan 2019 kicks off, Eddie Jones has officially entered (you guessed it) phase two of his reign as England coach.
After the Wallabies vomit-inducing display during the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney, it looked like only one Tom Petty song would sum up their 2017 – Free Fallin’.
Grand final week still manages to stir up the passions of the most casual of casual sporting fans – your mum, the bloke at work who still thinks Alfie Langer or Wayne Carey play, the kid at school who doesn’t know a footy from a physics calculator.
Ireland, France and South Africa are currently duking it out to see who will be crowned host of Rugby World Cup 2023, and the hyperbolic statements have ratcheted up a notch ahead of the November 15 decision.
Argentina has long been one of the most mystifying, captivating and bewildering outliers in the rugby universe.
Compared to Bledisloe Cup games, the annual home Test against South Africa used to be the bogey prize for those in search of Wallabies tickets every year – the equivalent of getting a pair of socks for Christmas while your sibling received a games console, a surfboard or a new bicycle.
The opening half onslaught, barrage and blitz from New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup final could best be described as heavy metal rugby, a term paraphrased from football to describe Jurgen Klopp’s insanely all-action Borussia Dortmund team.
I love Aaron Mooy. He looks like he works in IT, has the technical ability of Paul Scholes, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta combined, and is clearly the Socceroos lovechild of Marco Bresciano and Danny Tiatto.
In his brilliant 2010 autobiography, Life, legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards devoted a memorable passage to slamming the city of Dunedin much like one of his beloved open G chords.
I am making the big move to Buenos Aires in less than two weeks so will unfortunately miss out on seeing the AB’s test there, and commitments mean I will not be able to get to Salta for the Wallabies game, but the thought of seeing as many Jaguares games as possible with that back three next year has me salivating!
The Wrap: Dyantyi and Lavanini ‘slide the doors’ for the All Blacks and Wallabies
I think the success Ireland has had over the past decade, along with some genuine superstar players (O’Driscoll, O’Connell, Sexton, Murray, O’Gara) has boosted its popularity alot. Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s still behind GAA though – every Irish person I’ve met absolutely loves it.
The Wallabies had Plan A. The All Blacks had Plan A and B
I think this game really brought home how much of a mess Arsenal’s squad has been allowed to become in the past few years.
Hector Bellerin could do with a spell on the bench – he seems to have regressed from the immense promise he was showing about three years ago. Apparently when Ashley Cole was coming through, Tony Adams would basically have him on a leash and tell him absolutely everything he needed to do – bomb forward, stay back, come closer, go there etc. Unfortunately there is no defensive leader in this team able to do that with Bellerin.
Apart from that Xhaka’s time is up, Lacazette’s hold up play isn’t good enough (no idea what he was doing for that third Chelsea goal) and Guendouzi has looked very promising the first two games.
The Gunners' start looks worse than it is: English Premier League Matchday 2 wrap
Brilliant move – hopefully van Bommel knowing his game well means he can slot in quite easily.
Socceroo Trent Sainsbury makes dream European move
I thought Smith’s comments about Maxwell’s training was bang out of order for an Australian captain, and an example of the immense hubris that would be his downfall a couple of months later.
The perception shift that's restored Glenn Maxwell's career
Two days in and this Edgbaston test has been an absolute ripper.
Some of the shots England played in their standard collapse were beyond belief – the shot Stokes played to get out would usually result in an instant dropping from the team in most cases! And of course Kohli’s ton was absurdly good – a proper tough, talismanic innings.
Kohli will bring controversy to Australia this summer
Getting Pellegrini in as manager was an absolute steal for West Ham.
People seem to forget what a miracle worker he was at Villarreal and Malaga, which is the more appropriate comparison with West Ham rather than his work at Real Madrid and City. Got Villarreal to 2nd in La Liga and was a missed Riquelme penalty away from beating Arsenal in the ’06 CL Semi-Final, then nearly got Malaga through to the same stage only for them to conduct an all-time meltdown to Dortmund in injury time of CL QF.
Also I live about 10 minutes from the London Olympic Stadium, and boy is it a terrible ground to watch Football in – the incline of the stands is far too flat.
West Ham United: Buying their way into the big league
Just watched this video and explored their website a bit more – unreal stuff! Along with Nick Bishops articles this stuff is like crack to Rugbyheads.
Isi Naisarani signs with Rebels and Rugby Australia
I know it was a minor part of the article but that Perth Glory back four is frighteningly good if they can all keep fit.
We can't demand more A-League marketing then complain when we get it
Sad news about Sam Warburton retiring. One of my favourite players of the last decade and seems like a top bloke.
Also happy in a way that he is smart enough to walk away rather than risk any more serious damage – some of the surgeries he’s had it’s no great surprise that he feels he can’t hit his extremely impressive heights again.
He always comes across as quite intelligent and thoughtful in his views on the game, so hopefully a media or coaching role is in his future. He was very good on the Six Nations coverage this year.
Has the K-Train derailed the Wallabies' midfield thinking?
Let’s hope we don’t end up like the USA and it’s prohibitively high fees, resulting in large swathes of the population unable to join a club.
Where does all the money football generates actually go?
They’d only lost 1 penalty shootout ever before the Spain game at Euro ’96 – hardly a hoodoo compared to the 5 in a row they’d lost before Tuesday.
Is football coming home to England? Don't bet against it
As a non-believer as recently as last week, after last night I feel it could be coming home. Everyone at work this mornings bodies are about 98% Carling. There’s a kind of Leicester feeling about them right now, and winning by penalties means that hoodoo is gone.
Is football coming home to England? Don't bet against it
Everyone going on about England finishing second “as it’s an easier QF path” – Colombia or Japan (the two most likely to go through from their group) are not pushovers, especially Colombia. If you don’t have the mentality that you can beat anyone to go through the tournament, you won’t win it.
Germany's exit - and Mexico's near-miss - has cracked the World Cup wide open
This is classic England – assume there is an “easy” side of the draw, as if Colombia and Japan are somehow far beneath them ala Iceland. If you don’t have the mentality of thinking you can beat anyone in your path you’re not going to win the World Cup. Reading the press over here you’d think that England have a bye through to the Quarter Finals.
The absurd England-Belgium situation
Obviously Cahill needed to come on but I am bewildered that Mass Luongo hasn’t been on the pitch once this WC! He was by far our best player against Colombia a couple of months back and his energy would’ve been so dangerous.
Did Bert van Marwijk's tactics cost the Socceroos a win against Denmark?
Even thought I currently live in the UK and have the excellent FTA coverage on BBC and ITV, this whole shemozzle with Optus still makes me angry as it punishes all football fans in Aus, not to mention the World Cup is sacred viewing in IMO and should never be messed with.
SBS to show World Cup for the next 48 hours
Personally I believe David Silva should be top 5.
The 50 best players at the 2018 World Cup: 20-11
The Euro’s going from 16 to 24 teams was a disaster – 16 was the optimal number for a clean, efficient tournament structure, likewise 32 with the WC. Some of the dross that finished 3rd in their group and still qualified for the knockouts (Northern Ireland for example) made the quality of the whole tournament diminished. 48 team WC will be so bloated.
BREAKING: Spain just made the completely normal decision to sack their manager a day before the World Cup
Unfortunately Argentina currently churning out a curiously listless display against Wales – getting bossed at the breakdown and lacking inspiration in the backs.
Wallabies win! Aussie underdogs upset Irish 18-9
That was a highly enjoyable test match. I’m absolutely over the moon about the Wallabies defence – some of those hits in the first half were awesome and it looked like everyone was on the same page in terms of commitment and structure.
Not sure if there’ll be a report on here but just watched the South Africa vs England game – test match touch in the first half and a tense ending even though England had absolutely no business being in with a sniff! In one word – weird!
Wallabies win! Aussie underdogs upset Irish 18-9
53 missed tackles for QLD! No-one at any level of the game wins with that many.
Six talking points from State of Origin Game 1
Also if you’d read the Itoje section properly, I said not everyone can be like him at a young age, and that he has the potential (key word) to be like him.
In defence of Ned, the scapegoat for our frustrations
How old are you? What on earth is with the childish term “fanboy”? I think he’ll be good in the next couple of years – hardly the rantings of what you call “fanboys”.
In defence of Ned, the scapegoat for our frustrations
Have a feeling Chelsea could do their usual title-every-two-years trick again – hard to imagine they’ll play any first-teamers in the Europa League, leaving them fresh for another league assault much like 2016-2017. This will also 100% be Hazards last season before his inevitable move to Real Madrid and you can see he is up for it.
The Premier League big boys make some serious statements: EPL Matchday 5 wrap