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Brett McKay is one of The Roar's good news stories and has been a rugby and cricket expert for the site since July 2009. Brett is an international and Super Rugby commentator for ABC Grandstand radio, is the voice of ACT club rugby, has commentated on Under-20s Championships, Women's Uni Sevens and National Rugby Championship coverage, and has written for magazines and websites in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. He tweets from @BMcSport.
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If a week is a long time in rugby, then in Australia it’s an eternity.
Not too difficult, after all, was Round 4 of Super Rugby last weekend. Which of course is an easy thing to say after the event, but hey, what’s the point of reflection if you can’t be a little smug, too?
Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson created headlines and discussion last week for doing something he did briefly last year and then forgot about or just ignored: he named Israel Folau on the right wing for the Waratahs return to the SCG against the Queensland Reds.
Who’d be a tipster, hey? One week you’re missing a perfect round by a whisker, the next your round is shot by Saturday afternoon.
The third week of Super Rugby has confirmed what plenty had already suspected: that teams won’t have to be that far off their best to get a touch-up from pretty much any opponent and in any given week.
It was the best Brumbies performance in some time.
Well, he promised to return to tipping glory, did our esteemed South African correspondent, and return to glory he did.
We won’t know until this weekend coming how well Queensland are placed without their exiled talent, but one thing’s for sure: the three other Australian teams are feeling pretty happy about the bargains they picked up and the Reds’ generosity that came with it.
When the old state Twenty20 Big Bash was revamped eight seasons ago to become the eight-team, six-city Big Bash League, there’s no doubt in my mind that among the goals for the new competition was for a final to be played by cross-town rivals.
Never mind team announcements and hype reels from host broadcasters in each country, the Super Rugby is now officially underway for 2019 for one very obvious reason: the tipping panel is back!
At around the halfway point of this summer’s Big Bash League mentioned that although I hadn’t published any top four predictions, I had loosely pushed the eight teams into three broad categories.
Well, it’s the second week of February, and like it or lump it, the 2019 Super Rugby season is upon us.
The Brisbane Heat have given their semi-final chances a major shot in the arm, with a ten-wicket win over the Melbourne Stars coming on the back of a brutal ten-over run chase from Ben Cutting and Max Bryant.
The Big Bash League is in its final stretch for the summer, with the final five games of the regular season to be played over the next four days.
If there’s a cricketing retort that grates me more than any other, it’s the one that has regularly been thrown up over the last fortnight as Australia marched to a convincing series win over Sri Lanka in Brisbane and Canberra, reclaiming the Warne-Muralitharan trophy along the way.
It’s been very easy for the average punter to get caught up in all the (mostly negative) talk about the Big Bash League this summer.
I’ve now lived in Canberra more than half my life; I’ve lived here more than I haven’t. And for the absolute majority of those years, I never really thought I’d ever see Test cricket played in this city.
It’s Australia Day in the nation’s capital. It’s 37 degrees at 6.30pm with a bit of storm brewing to the west that would later deliver one hell of a lightning show, and I’m standing on a metal platform inside a metal and canvas frame on top of a metal grandstand roof.
The Melbourne Stars, I was pretty sure before the Big Bash League started, weren’t going to get near the semi-finals this summer.
That said about Arnold, Fionn, watch how many (or how few) Brumbies lineouts are thrown to him.
I reckon he’s playing the ultimate decoy at the moment, in much the same way Kuridrani last year would have 100+ metres every game not counted because he was on the decoy line…
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
Alternate theory, David: Wales are currently playing knockout, tournament score-more-points-than-the-opposition rugby better than anyone in the world?
(and yes, the SH countries aren’t currently playing, but the point stands.)
Six Nations a personal triumph for Warren Gatland, but not Wales
Completely agree with you first point, DJ, and it equally applies to Bryce Hegarty (and Isaac Lucas, if he’s going to be in for a few weeks).
2-4 I’m not really worrying about in mid-March.
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
I’m just glad the Ray Price reference didn’t go unnoticed! Thank you Phil, thank you Ken..
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
Sure. Shirking the tough stuff and giving away penalties for fun should work out just fine…
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
I’ve always said professional rugby training programs need more corporal punishment… 🙄
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
Oh, no doubt Damo. It even looked at times like the harder the Rebels tried not to infringe, they’d infringe in new ways..
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
“the Reds young Saffa lock-flank” Hairy man?
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
It’s funny Jamie, you’re not the first person I’ve seen make that comment about the Brumbies-Waratahs game, but I really enjoyed it: found it a gripping contest that went really quickly!
Two sides of the same coin, and all that!!
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
I’ll just reiterate Nick that of the 20 pens against the Rebels, the absolute vast majority were well justified, and they were probably lucky not to have another player yellow carded. I lost count of how many final warning they were given. And I made the point over the weekend, that honestly, if the count was 15-5, I couldn’t have argued.
My biggest question is around the 1. This suggests that across 80+ minutes of rugby, the Lions – even when down 26-5 and 33-5 soon after the break – played largely perfect rugby.
That, I find incredibly hard to believe.
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
I sort of agree Bobby, but I think you make your own luck with the picture you present, and the Rebels in the 2nd half genuinely looked like they were lurching from one infringement to the next.
Conversely, in the first half, things fell their way because they defended really well and put the Lions attack under all sorts of pressure, so the ball literally fell into their arms sometimes…
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
Yeah, really good point about consistency, RahRah. Sadly, that’s been the case within Australian rugby for five years +.
I agree the Rebels feel like being the closest to forming that consistent pattern, but they allowed themselves to be whistled out of the game. Haylett-Petty either didn’t seem to be passing on the message, or was being ignored. Either way, they need to resolve it!
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
Fionn, I haven’t seen the numbers, but from ground level, Hanigan and Hooper were the only Waratahs forwards offering any ball-carrying on par with what the Brumbies guys I mentioned were, and while Hooper carried in his standard outer channels, Hanigan was right up the middle.
And both were in the thick of defensively, for the ~50 minutes they were on. After they went off, the Tahs lacked ball-carriers. I take your point about the breakdown, but the Tahs were largely neffectual at the breakdown for the whole 80..
Oh, and yeah, horses for courses, to answer your second question. They knew the Waratahs were going to play wide, and that theire best way to dictate terms was to draw the contest into the middle, which they did very well, and pretty quickly..
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way
I’ve literally just watched this episode over the weekend. Still funny…
The Wrap: Wales shines brightest on dark weekend
“by forsaking free to air coverage…”
Here we go again…
Rugby Australia: Prime time games are crucial
“For once in my life, why can’t I have ‘hand’?” 😆
The Wrap: Wales shines brightest on dark weekend
Self interest: governing international rugby since the 1800s… 😡
World Rugby's Nations League proposal set to be knocked back
“The major thing that people are raving about this year, is the fact that Quade has underplayed his hand and the Rebels are better off for it…”
You’ve just saved me commenting, Tony. Great post all round..
Calm down over Quade
Friday update:
Nearing 400 votes already, BRU-WAR, STO-JAG, and SUN-RED all opened really close yesterday morning, but the gaps have widened since. The widest of those three is beyond 64% now, but SUN-RED remains the closest, still sitting at 54% and with only 30 votes in it.
And currently, more people think the Rebels can win in Johannesburg, than think the Highlanders can beat the Crusaders…
Super Rugby Round 5: Perfection lives here
At Viking Park, they are.
In fact, that’s how you bring the crowds back to Canberra Stadium…
Super Rugby Round 5: Perfection lives here
Qld news: Taniela Tupou and Izack Rodda on Wallaby RDOs, Bryce Hegarty being rested by the Reds but has also been playing with a rib injury.
Lucas to 10, Stewart back in at 15…
Super Rugby Round 5: Perfection lives here
I thought it was 31 or 32, but will stand corrected..
Super Rugby Round 5: Perfection lives here
Ken, if three perfect rounds out of five isn’t the time for hubris, I don’t know when is!! 😆
Super Rugby Round 5: Perfection lives here
Dave, I’d reckon that has to be the midfield combo going forward. If Hunt plays, he has to be at 12, for the simple straight lines we all enjoyed focusing on last week..
Hard work and discipline has to be the new Australian way