The Roar
The Roar

The Roar

gatesy

Roar Guru

Joined February 2008

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Rugby Tragic, love all facets of the sport.

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gatesy
Roar Guru
gatesy
Roar Guru

An update on my rugby tribe

I wrote an article on this site a few years ago entitled ‘The anatomy of the tribe‘, and while I thought it was one of my best pieces – and I still do – it attracted only four comments, and one of them was mine.

Rugby
15
2020
An update on my rugby tribe
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somebody …tell ‘im e’s dreamin!

The problem with Super Rugby Trans-Tasman

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Rugby
 
5d

I really hope that this motley group sticks together, for a while longer, as it is the genesis of a great team culture, going forward.

Tim Sampson lauds "a lot of ticker" from Force despite qualifying final defeat

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Rugby
 
5d

Only one thing that counts …. there is always next week!

Tim Sampson lauds "a lot of ticker" from Force despite qualifying final defeat

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Rugby
 
5d

Didn’t mean to, Jez, I was just making comment about how they have come together. Pity Tevita won’t get his chance ffor a shot at the Brumbies

Super Rugby: Let the Force be with us

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Rugby
 
1w

Don’t use the term “dead rubber”in front of Brad Thorn. Up here they bleed for the maroon jersey.

Super Rugby: Let the Force be with us

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Rugby
 
1w

Leave him alone – we’ve got bigger fish to fry!

Matt Toomua urges the Rebels not to sack Dave Wessels

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Rugby
 
2w

Lost for words – magic will do! There will be knockers for all sorts of reasons but putting nearly 80 more talented players in the playing pool has to be good for everyone. It makes it a bit harder for the journeymen to get contracts in Japan or Europe, it puts pressure in all sorts of areas and if we can get one of them based in Western Sydney it can only be good for that region, too. I, for one don’t want to see the Emus being flogged by cricket scores every week. Just the presence of a franchise in the area has got to be good for recruitment in clubland. I was chuffed to see that it will happen next season, not the one after next, which is usually the way these things happen. Well done, whoever organised this!

Two Pacific Island teams given green light to join Super Rugby in 2022

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Rugby
 
3w

I usually barrack with my heart and bet with my head, but the Brumbies were at $3.85 last night, so couldn’t resist. I don’t think that there is that much between them, and both sides have a full strength pack and great reserve benches. Let’s hope they have something up their sleeve! The outsider might just get up!

Skippers back for Reds versus Brumbies showdown

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Rugby
 
4w

Definitely, Zak Lucas who is playing with so much poise. I like the way that, off broken field play, he does not set up on first phase, but let’s the half pass to someone else then on second phase is positioned so that he can take the pass out wider and shift it quickly to the fringe. It worked well against Toyota, particularly as you have a guy like Hooper playing close to the rucks, in defence, and not in the wider channels.

Coach’s Corner Issue 6: Penney for your thoughts?

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Rugby
 
Apr

WTF? A simple question from my simple mind? Q: Why would they sack the interim coaches before they have even walked out onto the training track? A: Because whichever Randwick or Uni appointee has already been annointed doesn’t want them on his (or her) team.

Tahs vow to fix culture before coach search

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Rugby
 
Mar

Suggests to me that they already have a head coach in mind, who doesn’t want Whittaker or Gilmore in his team.

Tahs vow to fix culture before coach search

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Rugby
 
Mar

Maybe Jez, but living up here and listening to the radio, Thorn gets all the accolades, not Mackay. We all know who’s driving the bus!

Tahs vow to fix culture before coach search

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Rugby
 
Mar

The biggest problem in Australian Rugby – everyone wants instant results. I feel very sorry for Rob Penney, but maybe his weakness was not standing up to the board from the start and demanding 3 years at least and more say in selections, a la Brad Thorn at Qld. Nobody was giving it to Brad after one season, and look at the result. Maybe there is too much of a sense of self-entitlement at the Tahs, who knows. Meanwhile the Brums just get on with it, supercoaches abound and they have built a great atmosphere there. Maybe NSW should have been taking a leaf out of their book a long time ago. Let’s not forget that SR is 25 years old this year. Lessons learned? Just like they say ..”if you do what you always done, you get what yo’ve always got .. and it is insanity to do the same things, the same way but always expecting a different result…”
Whoever comes in has to demand time, the opportunity to recruit, not be losing kids to Rugby League and demand to be able to build a Waratahs culture, whatever that is, and the Board has to get behind the coach, otherwise, professional coaches will see it as the poison chalice of Rugby.

Tahs vow to fix culture before coach search

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Rugby
 
Mar

You wouldn’ happen to be a Reds supporter, by any chance, would you, mate?

My mid-season Wallaby 23

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Rugby
 
Mar

I agree with your short synopsis, up to a point.

Why should the National Club Championship just be between Brisbane and Sydney clubs. What is wrong with Melbourne, Canberra and Perth coming into it, as First Division, then have the likes of Darwin and Newcastle and Townsville and ….???… in it too? That is how you will get it to work.

I Know, I know, busy schedules, club players are amateurs and can’t get time off work …. all that jazz. They soon will, if the comp becomes semi-pro and we get some money into it.

If people want to ditch the NRC (personally, I don’t) then come up with plan B.

A true national club championship with, say 6 teams in 2 tiers, promotion and relegation, might be a goer. A challenge cup, maybe an FA cup style competition?

There is an old saying, build it and they will come.. doesnt work for our game, because everyone seems to want instant results. You could start a brand new comp tomorrow and if doesn’t get instant TV ratings, there will be people waiting to kill it off.
So it should be: ,..”build it, wait a bit, let it get some momentum, be patient and they will come, eventually, then it will get stronger and eventually we will have a winner (in spite of the Roarers!!)..

Why club rugby is about to bloom

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Rugby
 
Mar

..and their supporters love it.
Whether or not it’s good Rugby it is definitely good psychology. What team, in their right mind, would give away penalties near the Brumbies’ line. You’d have to be a masochist.

Reds target wounded Super Rugby champs

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Rugby
 
Mar

It’s taken 25 years, but the Tahs are finally getting a reality check. Not many in the starting Wallabies XV at this point in the season, and especially when you see some of the new names, like Anstee, coming through.

Reds target wounded Super Rugby champs

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Rugby
 
Mar

Watch this space – they have even more depth.

Reds target wounded Super Rugby champs

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Rugby
 
Mar

Never write them off.

Reds target wounded Super Rugby champs

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Rugby
 
Mar

Brumbies by one – frustrating as hell, but very satisfying!

Reds target wounded Super Rugby champs

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Rugby
 
Mar

Whether they are good ideas, great ideas or lousy ideas, they are ideas and we Roarers need to get onboard with them.

We need to do what RA did in Covid – everything on the table for discussion and throw it out there. We need to have the “build it and they will come” mentality and not the “if it doesn’t suit the Shute Shield or the Brisbane comp, it ain’t gonna work” mentality.

Old news baby – the Brumbies put 50 on the Tahs and Penney is talking about falling on his sword.

Reality check, time, lads.

The re-distribution of the power base is overdue.

Let’s all get with the program for the overall good of Aussie Rugby.

My plan to resuscitate rugby

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Rugby
 
Feb

Welcome back, Brett,
…
I read in a Facebook post this morning, source unspecified ..”The Herald has learned the match was watched by about 200,000 people across 9 Gem and Stan Sport. About 150,000 of those viewers tuned in on Nine’s secondary channel and the other 50,000 watched via Stan’s streaming arm…Combined, the numbers tripled the total viewership for the corresponding match in the first round last year..”
I turned down tickets to Suncorp on Friday so I could watch the two games back to back with my wife’s sensational spag bol and a great bottle of vino … talk about Rugby Heaven!!

Build it and they will come: The Andy Marinos view for Australian rugby

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Rugby
 
Feb

You have to admire the parochialism – and why shouldn’t ACT or other fans jump on the bandwagon – At least 3 very good coaches as SR level and 1 job – simples!

Is Brad Thorn our next Wallabies coach?

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Rugby
 
Feb

Does that mean the 22 dropout is no more?

New law changes confirmed for another season of Super Rugby AU

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Rugby
 
Feb

I thought his play was a bit stilted and choreographed, as if he was moving to set positions. Spent most of his night out wide in the tram tracks and moved into 2nd receiver a couple of times off lineouts and scrums, but didn’t do much roaming. Clearly still getting a feel for it. The Waratahs young guns played with a lot of passion and shut him down. Best on paddock for mine were Maddocks and Newsome, though Hegarty’s pin point kicking early in the game always found grass and a good wobbly bounce.

Vunivalu shows class on Reds rugby debut

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Rugby
 
Feb
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