Ode to Rhyan Grant: The homespun hero
‘El Gráfico’ was a hugely influential Argentinian monthly sports journal with a naturally heavy emphasis on football. In 1928 its editor, Borocoto, published an…
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Live in Brisbane, Australia, having previously lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and London, United Kingdom for 5.5 years. Love Football, Cricket, Rugby and Rock'n'Roll.
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‘El Gráfico’ was a hugely influential Argentinian monthly sports journal with a naturally heavy emphasis on football. In 1928 its editor, Borocoto, published an…
The position of football in Brisbane’s hot, humid, sun-soaked and sepia-tinged sporting landscape is, much like peak Thomas Broich, hard to pin down. The…
Having moved to Buenos Aires six months ago, much of my experience here so far has naturally been framed by football, such is my…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when Guinness suppliers cancel all employees’ annual leave, when dreary Saturdays are spent inside warm pubs,…
The forthcoming Copa Libertadores final between River Plate and Boca Juniors is an unprecedented sporting, cultural and social event in Argentina, with one newspaper…
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…
An Australian supporting England in most sporting endeavours is akin to high treason – an act so reprehensible, deplorable and unconscionable that the revoking…
Utter the name Ned Hanigan in the company of Australian rugby fans and instantly the mood shifts, with music screeching to a halt, birds…
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…
Scotland is a land of stunning natural beauty, indecipherable accents, some of the best sporting and live music crowds in the world, out of…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Grand final week still manages to stir up the passions of the most casual of casual sporting fans – your mum, the bloke at…
Ireland, France and South Africa are currently duking it out to see who will be crowned host of Rugby World Cup 2023, and the…
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
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
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