Roar Pro
Joined June 2017
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From Brisbane, Australia, living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Spent 4 and half years living in London. Love Football, Rugby, Cricket and Rock'n'Roll.
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The forthcoming Copa Libertadores final between River Plate and Boca Juniors is an unprecedented sporting, cultural and social event in Argentina, with one newspaper already declaring that “the country will never be the same after this”.
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.
Weird that there is no preview of Ireland vs New Zealand on the site – you’d think the biggest test of the year between the two clear-cut best teams in the world would warrant something? This feeds in to a point I made on Geoff Parke’s article the other day that Australia just doesn’t seem to engage with the rest of the rugby world they way everyone else does. We have 300 articles of navel-gazing about the woes of the Wallabies/RA/Rugby in general whereas the rest of the rugby world is excited and pumped up about the test in Dublin.
Anyway sorry for that, rant over. I think the losses of Murray and O’Brien will be too much for Ireland, although it’ll be damn close and hard fought as there is still lingering bad-blood from that brutal 2016 clash in Dublin.
Wallabies selector wanted. How hard can it be?
Having lived overseas for 5 years now I am always saying to people back home that Rugby is going great in the rest of the world, it’s just Australia where the sky appears to be falling in. One just has to be in Britain/Europe during the 6 Nations to see how popular and passionate Rugby still is.
The Wrap: Cheika and Jones both losers, but heading down very different paths
Are you denying Wales player base was lower-skilled when Gatland took over? If you read my whole comment literally the next point is “which is what Wales were 10 years ago”.
They obviously came on in leaps and bounds after Gatland became coach.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
Schmidt would be brilliant, but I feel like the AB’s job will be a shootout between him and Robertson, and Schmidt’s international experience will get him the nod.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
Mentioned it in the other article about the game, but I think we should go hard for Gatland as coach after the WC.
After the 2007 World Cup Wales were a mess, having missed the QF’s after a loss to Fiji. Gatland came in, realised he didn’t have the most skilled player base and implemented a game plan that nullified that disadvantage. 2 Grand Slams and another 6 Nations title followed.
Obviously a different kettle of fish to playing the AB’s and South Africa several times a year, but I think NZ will go for Schmidt after Hansen steps down, and I can understand if Kiwi coaches are wary of the Wallabies gig after the way Deans tenure ended in such rancour.
Wallabies frustration continues with loss to Wales
The kicking at Twickenham was top notch, and needed to be because of the appalling conditions. Wales and Australia had no such excuse under the roof.
I honestly think we should go for Gatland as coach after the WC as his experience with Wales in the last 10 years shows he can get the results with a lower-skilled set of players, which is what Wales were 10 years ago. Likewise Vern Cotter getting Scotland back to respectability.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
Yeah not saying Wales played well either (Halfpenny shocking with the boot randomly as well), was more saying fair play to them for finally beating us.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
But fair play to Wales btw, was inevitable that they would snap the streak eventually and everyone knew it would be today.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
Was like an u/10’s game compared to the England-New Zealand test which immediately preceded it.
Seven talking points from Wallabies v Wales
Liam Williams and Dan Biggar on the bench for Wales – if they’re still in it with 20 to go that will give them immense confidence with those two coming on, especially Williams linking up with the brilliant Jonathan Davies.
Three opportunities for the Wallabies to experiment. But will they be taken?
Very informative mate!
At the time I used to deride that ’02-’03 English team as 10-man rugby kick merchants, as I was such a one-eyed Wallabies fan, but now I can objectively look back and see they had options all over the pitch from 1-15 and played some damn good stuff.
The All Black javelin - the 'Sonny Bill' attack
Daly has looked a bit off for a few games – he’s played a lot of rugby in the last couple of years. I think they severely miss Anthony Watson tbh.
Twickenham showdown: Why the boot will be on the other foot at scrum time
As for this weekends game, expect the AB’s to win but will be closer than the 20 plus points I’ve heard some people predicting. England were stodgy but brave last week and they always lift several levels against NZ -I think the reason they’re desperate for Tuilagi to be fit is that 2012 is still relatively fresh in the memory for both teams and the destruction he wrought that day.
Twickenham showdown: Why the boot will be on the other foot at scrum time
Love this article.
Just when the memories of Andrew Sheridan have receded to the back of my mind and all is well with the world, you push them to the forefront and a cold sweat breaks out. Many an England fan I’ve met still wax lyrical about that ’05 humiliation of Australia and I have no comeback to it – uncontested scrums against the Poms at Twickenham – embarrassing!
Twickenham showdown: Why the boot will be on the other foot at scrum time
Just submitted a comment which is basically exactly the same as yours right down to order of matches – apologies for not reading first!
The Wrap: Truth the first casualty in rugby’s propaganda wars
Good weekend of European rugby – Leinster absolutely towelling Wasps, Munster and Exeter pretty much playing in the middle of a cyclone and of course Freddie Burns getting his come-uppance for his ridiculous premature showboating.
If only someone had done that to Chris Ashton earlier in his career we wouldn’t have been subjected to the arrogance-personified splashdown rubbish.
The Wrap: Truth the first casualty in rugby’s propaganda wars
Watched the game in a pub here in Buenos Aires – my Spanish isn’t good enough to understand it all but based on the tone and rate of words coming out of most peoples mouths around me it was utter disbelief at what was happening to the Puma’s in the second half. It was like they were playing on acid and the ball was a giant, slippery octopus.
Wallabies do it to us again. So what now?
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
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
Apologies for being so off-topic on this thread, but seeing pure click-bait like the haka article from yesterday winds me up as there is so much rugby going on in the world at the moment which I’d rather read and debate about.
Wallabies selector wanted. How hard can it be?