Roar Guru
Joined July 2011
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The game of rugby has changed so much over the years. The game I played and the rules I played under in the 1960s…
Already I note the media knives are out and the seeds of doubt are being cast on the qualities and leadership of Kieran Read,…
Our players and coaches are held publicly accountable for their actions, so why not officials? Why is there this 'closed door' mentality by referee…
The All Blacks squad has been announced to play Wales in New Zealand over three Tests. They still retain the blend of older experienced…
These days I am becoming more and more irritated by the sports commentators behind the microphones. What are they there to do? What is…
Red cards deprive everyone a balanced and equal contest. The offend player may not be able to continue. The offending team is now disadvantaged…
There is no place for 'sledging' in the gentleman's game of cricket. Dress it up into any justifiable form you like, it is still…
Contrary to belief, Kiwis don’t like watching Wallabies losing games other than against their own All Blacks. If two drinkers, a Kiwi and an…
Let's face fact. Australian rugby just simply lacks depth and relies on too many players with talent who appear to have lost heart and…
So the knives will no doubt flash in the winter sun as the scapegoaters look through reversed binocular tinted glasses at Robbie Deans and…
Why is Quade Cooper not in Robbie Dean's thirty man squad for the upcoming Lions tour? The simple answer? He is immature and confused.…
I am being turned off rugby by the game's rules, and the blame falls at the door of the IRB. It's bringing the game…
It’s time we cleaned up foul play. It has no place in the game. World champion and rugby superman Richie McCaw looks to game…
There seems to be a policy within Australian sport to blame the coach for team failure. What rubbish. When a Wallabies jersey is pulled…
It is time for referees to be held publicly accountable. Our players and coaches are, so why not refs? Why is there this closed…
The NRL's New Zealand Warriors have not performed in 2012. Bluey McClennan has taken a sip from the poisoned chalice and passed it onto…
The time has come. The ANZAC spirit needs to be remembered. Australia and New Zealand, in a sporting sense, can help each other and…
With the Rugby Championship about to kick off next week, I ask a question. Is there a problem with the way New Zealand referees…
Have you ever genuinely thought a match official was cheating? While we may scream "cheat" at the referee in the heat of the moment,…
The climb to reach the top of a Rugby World Cup hill is hard and long. Once reached, the slippery slide downhill is easy.…
McKenzie should already know that in Australia the TEAM runs the coach not the other way around. Deans tried to change this but the undermining finally worked. Is it next week that we will hear that Deans was to blame for the dysfunctional unit in Aussie jerseys?
At last a writer who is prepared to call a spade a spade and not a bloody digging implement!
The Wallabies won't do the simple things right, and that's not all
Waiting for the Ref to call the put-in is as bad as the Crouch-touch-pause-have a cuppa tea- set rubbish we put up with. There was a call for the scrum hit to be de-powered because (as usual) the AB’s were masters of it. Now we have the ball call and focus on the ball being straight after the scrum is motion. One move forward one move back! Oh and by the way, Adrian, stop being so one -eyed in your comments. Aaron Smith the AB halfback was pinged just as Will Genia was, so open your eyes a little wider please.
New rugby scrum calls produce a lottery
One must factor in travel to this or any competition. Very convenient of you to forget that the 2011 Runners up were the Crusaders who played every game as a travel game (including the UK) due to their earthquakes and were pipped at the post 13-18 by the Reds on their home ground. If a team can’t travel they simply don’t deserve to win against one who can. Its simply another part of the game-plan.
Time to adjust the Super Rugby final
…and then I took off the rose tinted glasses and waved to the Fairies…..
Super Rugby semi finals preview
The game will (as always seems to be) decided by the Ref who seems to always give the rub of the green to the Home team. If any team can produce a win by clear cut points that does not involve Officials intervention I will be happy.
Crusaders too good for Chiefs, Brumbies and Bulls and will win another championship such is their ability to raise the yardstick bar each year.
Super Rugby semi finals preview
Your last comment is of my interest David.
When Ewen McKenzie fails (and he will by siding with Cooper as an injustice non-selection after Deans ruled him out as “talent-gone-walk-a-bout”) will McKenzie be given the “all is forgiven” because “look what I have inherited from Robbie”?
I hope and trust that McKenzie has the two gangling danglers to admit that Robbie was right in that the Wallaby talent pool is too small to compete fully at International level. I hope he concentrates on building the stocks up to be more competitive at RWC time from the poor team showing he has been coaching for some years at Super rugby level.
Time will tell!
What a miserable weekend for Australian sport
OMG.. Some seem to have their heads so far into the sand they could use their askme for a kicking tee! Mental, someone should use yours. Great win Australia. We all rejoice. Deans does not need Cooper to win games, only a team that shows yer how!
Time for Deans to depart
It’s the Three points for a drop kick I can’t stomach ! League got it right with it being 1 point
Referees, penalty goals and bugbears
Jus, Of course the NZ management are agreeing with the English management, (publically, anyway!) just the same way as Stephen Jones and Mark Reason love the AB’s and only have nice things to say about them.
So what are the ERFU being so touchy about? Me thinks they protesteth too much….!
England end All Blacks' unbeaten run
I think the French tour NZ in 2013 Johnno so you will get your answer then…
England end All Blacks' unbeaten run
I make this comment so that all the AB haters can flail and whip me but an England team who is beaten by lack lustre teams two weeks previous beat the No.1 team of the world makes a smell similar to 1995 RWC in Sth Africa. Welcome to England Suzie.
England end All Blacks' unbeaten run
As they say on this side of the ditch, “Yea Right! Have another Tui.”
England can beat All Blacks: Barritt
Sorry Sage but I cannot agree with you. I do not hate Cooper but simply point out his failing that if he corrected them he would have been a great contributor to Australain rugby. Unfortunately, its all about self instead of team and team mates.
Management failures to blame for Quade saga
Cooper has always had an over inflated ego of himself and seldom ever backed it up with performance. His unapologetic attitude toward his McCaw indiscretions only contributed to his arrogant attitude and crowd wrath at the RWC 2011.
Although he had the mercurial talent to be a great rugby player, he let himself down and now blames others. He may prove to be a great player later in life or even with the ARL but he needs to lose the block of wood from the shoulder and take on board some humility, otherwise he may find that the volatility rugby fans showed him may have been a lot less toxic than ARL players and supporters may be.
Teams do not need effluent thrown from a player who cannot distinguish between poor judgements and egotistical tantrums.
Kiwis are your rugby arch enemies but this Kiwi wishes your team a desire to rise high, lift the heads against the Boks on Saturday and walk away winners.
Management failures to blame for Quade saga
Sadly I have to agree with you Riccardo that the aura of the black jersey makes men out of boys. The desire to have it, nay OWN it, is where its power lies. To watch it “sponsorised” will be a sad day, however, I doubt if it will ever be “trivialised” as just another jumper by the wearer.
Much of what you say is correct. Deans has the will and mental fortitude to overcome those who challenge him and should his services be dispensed with, it will only place Wallaby rugby further into the mire.
It was a timing issue in NZ at the time Deans was appointed and went to Aussie. There are many of us that believe that he would have done just as good a job with the AB’s as Henry did. Aussie do not realise how lucky they were to get his services. It is the brats of the pack as you point out that have sadly contributed to much of the teams demise.
Do the Wallabies respect the jersey?
johnson,
take the blinkers off please and look about you. Pulling a gold jersey on should make you feel like Superman, super-charged, super-powered, super-focused and honoured that you are a “chosen one”. Next you will be saying that “the meek shall inherit the earth, if it’s all right with the rest of you.”
Aussie Wallabies are going through some hard times. They need help to bring them back to the team they were. If telling it as it is produces players and a team that can be, then so be it.
As a Kiwi and AB supporter, I am naturally happy to see All Black wins, but I will never concede to watching a Wallaby team slide further into the mire without looking as to why. Constructive criticism and solutions are the only ways forward no matter how painful the observations and solutions may be.
Do the Wallabies respect the jersey?
There are several points that should be noted from the comments being expressed.
The jersey is Gold but the heart inside the jersey by some players is not, especially when they feel that the jersey is theirs as of right to have.
The jersey is earned by consistent performance and requires a much better player to replace the current wearer, something Australia has great difficulty doing due to the pecking order of its sports and unavailable depth.
The players in Wallaby teams over many years have been as good as any All Black. Place any of them in an AB team and you would see little difference in skill and playing ability. Put them back into a Wallaby team and they fragment back to individualism. They have lost sight of the fact that it is teams who play as teams who win games not individuals.
The problem that faces all Wallaby coaches is that individual players think that they are greater than the team collectively and therefore the players do not connect to play as one unit under what has been directed by the coach. To constantly keep thinking, “How can I give my player mate a better opportunity” and to act as a team always gives winners the edge.
Do the Wallabies respect the jersey?
TJ, Lordy is right. All that is needed from QC is a simply apology to Ritchie McCaw and all would be forgiven. It would show that he has grown up and matured. His current antics still point to him being an arrogrant brat that deserves all the crowd give him.
Cooper to stand up and be counted, or counted out
The saddest thing here Patonga is that when the Wallabies are in sync, they are a bloody good team and are so hard to beat.
Are the players playing below potential to expedite Deans before his contract is up? Maybe it’s just the conspiracy bug inside me starting to awaken and with so many bad results to date under Deans, I am looking anywhere for answers.
Coaching is really a poisoned chalice
When Heinrich Goring was asked during the Battle of Britain, “How do we neutralise the Royal Air Force”, his men of the Luftwaffe replied, “Give us a squadron of Spitfires!”
The Wallabies need something similar and when all else fails you can always blame the Northern Ref or Robbie Deans for every failure.
Whatever eventuates, Good luck and congratulations to the best team on the day.
How can the Wallabies beat the All Blacks on Saturday?
The article is about inter-country cooperation in ALL sports that ned it Blinky. Read it!
How about some trans-Tasman sporting co-operation?
Sorry Boomeranga if the facts get in the way of the reality. Nobody is gloating about pointing out why the AB’s are successful and why the Wallabies aren’t. All Black stocks often get low as Chan Wee points out but there are always replacements where Australia’s stock are non existent. Going into denial does not solve the problem but constructive advice is always accepted by those who want to fix the problem.
Players win games, teams win Rugby Championships