ncart's Roar Profile

Hooper has the all round skills and experience that I think will benefit the 7’s team. He doesn’t have to be the fastest – guys like Longbottom provide that, but he can provide that link with his workrate and power. Hope he goes well.

'Not the fastest, not the fittest': Wallaby legend's brutal self-own after Hong Kong Sevens call up

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Opposition coaches will target Vunivalu – his defence is just grabbing guys around the shoulders and throwing them to the ground and he is beaten often. When he has the ball he goes to ground easily, only works well when he is in plenty of space or very close to the line because of his big frame. Hopefully Eddie opens his eyes to that, being a big strong guy works well at schoolboy level, but not here.

Good to see Pietch named, he has been very involved in attack and defence.

Donaldson in as EIGHT uncapped players picked: Co-captains named for Wallabies as Eddie's first squad revealed

Jun

It’s good to see so much competition for spots but I think a Chiefs B team will be too good for the Force. Drua in Fiji in the heat if they play all out attack will be too much for the Reds. Would love to see the Rebels beat the Brumbies – hope they study the Chiefs approach to stopping Brumbies mauls. Waratahs are lucky to have MP and a safe spot but they were towelled up by the Crusaders so don’t expect them to last past the quarters.

Reds in peril, Brumbies battle to save home quarter: Super Rugby final week scenarios and predictions for every team

Don’t forget Peter Ryan played for the Brumbies after his RL days as a very good loose forward so his knowledge of XV’s is pretty hands on.

Aussie abroad: Les Kiss

2020

Started playing at age 11, 22 now. As Nick said, was a backrower who I read a quote from her saying she was taught how to scrummage when converted to the front row and loves to bring her ball in hand skills into play. Quite fast apparently.

How women’s rugby can help Australia return to the top of the global game

2019

There;s a few clubs in Brisbane who are being proactive with girls – Sunnybank, Pine Rivers and Norths as well as Easts but strangely some of the other big clubs don’t appear to be doing anything much. We’re hoping that our actions help to grow it and bring more girls into the game – they love it.

Season 2 of Super W has arrived!

As a parent of a young female rugby player having the growth of the women’s game is a great thing. We are actively involved in girls 7’s now (having become too old to play mixed 15 a side with the boys) and 7s is getting a lot of new girls in (who wouldn’t play against boys) and hopefully that can develop into 15 a side girls rugby so that there is a pathway from juniors through to seniors. The enthusiasm and attitude of the girls is great and the more of them that we can get involved the better for the game overall. Having the Super W competition continue to develop is great so as you say, girls can get to see female players in action.

Our club, Easts in Brisbane, are holding a Come and Try day for girls rugby Sunday the 10th of February to expose more girls to the game and get them to learn some skills with coaches while their families learn about girls rugby and overcome any negative ideas that they might have about contact sport for girls. If any families of interested girls are in Brisbane then bring them along:

Girls Rugby Come & Try!

Well done Pumas. Some great attacking breaks by them and so close a couple of times when tries were disallowed. Strangely the Argentinian scrum seems to have lost its power.

Wallabies go down with a whimper against Pumas

2018

Corne, who do you think they should be selecting instead of the overseas players? Do you think Erasmus is just picking on reputation or is that he thinks the experience of the OS guys is needed?

Why I am considering handing in my notice to the SARU

Blatantly forward pass by Genia to either Simmons or Coleman leading to that try – bad miss by Barnes and touchies. Should have been no try.

Wallabies vs All Blacks highlights: Bledisloe Cup 3 live scores, blog

2017

Given the abundance of AFL coaches in Australia why are some of these skills not getting taught to the Australian players? Quade did use a successful cross kick to Perese recently but it (and other kicking skills) could be taught to our players by AFL guys.

Another awful wipeout! New Zealand Super Rugby now lead Australia 17-0

Interestingly with Thorn people forget that when he first came over to Canterbury in the NPC he struggled. i had thought he would be a great 8 with his running game but he was awful, couldn’t pick the ball up off the back of the scrum etc. Eventually they parked him at lock and with his strength he did very well in the tight.

Cooper to Super - why not Cronk to the Waratahs?

Good article Brett – it raises the question of why he ended up out of favour at the Waratahs and then what happened in Melbourne? The guy has clearly got the ability, as noted in your article about his initial season with the Tahs – I know he had some injuries but did the Rebels and Tahs really have that much entrenched talent in the back 3 that he couldn’t get a game after his standout season of 2012?

The NRC is a great vehicle for someone like him to show what he can do, just not sure where the SR opportunity lies for him now with the Tahs signing Guildford, and the Reds getting Nabuli, the Rebels clearly not an option, and the Brumbies have just got Aidan Toua – the Force perhaps?

National Rugby Championship: Round 5 preview

Gone for the season – shoulder.

So you have to be white to be a Kiwi? I grew up in Auckland and right from primary school there were lots of non white kids I went to school and played rugby with – Maoris, Samoans, Tongans, Rarotongans, Fijians, and lots of Yugoslav kids too, all born there.

This is a silly debate – Japan has struggled with sizeable players so the imports fill those gaps easily. I didn’t know about the Tongan schooling arrangement, that’s interesting. I would have thought that Eddie Jones, being a full time Japan coach, would have some responsibility for developing players, surely he has the time for it, Japan don’t exactly have a packed international schedule. You could argue that the NZ and Australian SR teams that have taken on Japanese players – I know the Highlanders and Rebels have done it, plus Tui at the Reds, and I think some of the ITM Cup teams have as well, have done more for developing Japanese players than Eddie. That exposure would certainly help to improve their abilities.

Craig Wing in Japan Rugby World Cup squad

Brett,

A good wrap, continuing the great coverage you are providing. The teams all look better prepared this year, which given the rushed start up time last year is understandable. I was speaking to one of the Brisbane City players after the first round and he said that they had been training since SR finished and I think it shows.

The benefit that this comp provides some of the fringe SR players and those coming up is enormous. For some of these guys to play alongside the likes of Dave Dennis and Ben Alexander as examples of very experienced players, can only have a positive rub off on the younger guys.

Talking points from NRC Round 2: Backs will take you forward

Thanks guys, yes I liked the Stars halfback as well, nearly included him in the article. I thought that the Stars showed some very sharp and quick passing in the game against Qld Country, with the 9 controlling that.

Some of the rugby has been great and it’s good to see the excitement it has generated amongst all the World Cup selection toing and froing. Unfortunately I think it is getting a bit overlooked because of the RWC and because we don’t recognise many of these emerging players so it’s harder to identify with them, which is why I wanted to highlight a few of them.

Brett and The Roar are doing a great job in previewing and wrapping up the rounds and if we can encourage more supporters at the games then this comp can really build.

Brett, it was right at the end of the match and Jack D missed it from my recall.

I know it’s there Brett, and I think that you’ve laid it out pretty clearly many times but some people seem to keep missing it….

NRC results, highlights and ladder: Round 2

Brett, maybe you need to put that info about streaming in every Roar NRC article – it seems to get asked a lot (and then answered in the comments) so clearly some haven’t caught onto it yet.

The Stars looked very good, much improved on last year but I’d like to know, with the resources that they have, what they’re doing to develop the brand and get the crowds along. They have the opportunity to tap into the rugby watcher who isn’t aligned to a particular club (which would be a lot of the Waratahs supporters really) but enjoys the game itself – promote themselves as a high octane, high quality rugby team to get behind and use some of their big names to do it – the likes of Dave Dennis who have a bit of a profile, get them in the media and out in the local community, plus tap into the actual students from Sydney Uni and the locals from Balmain.

Actually many of us become referees because of family involvement in the game – i.e. my kids play and each junior team need to provide a ref for home games so my daughter volunteered me. I enjoy it but it wasn’t me putting my hand up through a burning desire to be a ref. I have spoken to some senior grade refs who say that this is how they became involved in it as well and ended up continuing – none of these are professional referees. Like the vast majority of players, most refs are doing it because they love the game and want to contribute to a good game being played.

Every referee needs a strong mentor in their corner

What other Western Sydney venues are suitable for rugby other than ANZ (which I understand to be a poor venue for watching rugby btu well located for people in the West)? Could the Penrith or Parramatta NRL stadiums be used to cater for the West?

Bye-bye to ANZ for the Tahs

Michael, this makes sense as the Reds have lots of flexible packages – packages for just the games against Kiwi teams (Chielfs and Hurricanes) etc so I just went to the Waratahs membership site and according to it they have a 2 game package called ‘2 Game Flexi General Admission’ this year for use at either stadium. What makes you think they won’t have it next year?

Messa, as I recall he had drink problems and turned up to a SANZAR conference inebriated at 9am, and this was on top of some on-field altercations with team officials – one sideline argument with an England coaching staff member. That was 2009 that he parted ways with NZ and then came to Oz and they gave him a go, which was good. I liked him, although I do recall him getting into a barney with Stephen Hoiles when Hoiles was captain of the Brumbies and I don’t think either of them handled it very well.

Steve Walsh retires from refereeing with immediate effect

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