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Joined August 2012
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Nice article Andrew.
I think this video sums it up nicely:
Wallabies and the nature of work
They will have to do more than lift.
I reckon they’ll have to build a time machine, go back 12 months and bring back the playing group from last year. Looking at the team this year it looks like they’ve forgotten everything they did to win the title last year.
Hoiles says Tahs must lift against his old team
This is great news for club rugby…..and for my Saturday afternoons. Was beginning to wonder what excuse I could use to get out of house work.
Network Seven to broadcast Shute Shield in 2015
We bombed one try, thanks to Simmons. The other try I assume you’re referring to is the AAC try? Hardly bombed when he had the ball stripped.
SPIRO: Wallabies come right, but what to do with Kurtley Beale?
I’m always amazed at how people over-complicate things. Link made some selection blunders in the Bledisloe tests with the White KB experiment. I can imagine him lying awake at night trying to figure out how to fix the mid-field when all he needs to do is get on the phone to Cheika and ask him. the Tahs 9-10-12-13-15 combo worked a treat and earned them a well deserved maiden S15 title. Why Link doesn’t take that into the test arena is beyond me. And I don’t want to hear the tired “but Super Rugby form is no guarantee of test success” excuse. Super rugby is the hardest provincial competition in the world with each game taking on the feel and intensity of a test match.
So it’s simple. Beale needs to start at 12. End of.
SPIRO: Wallabies come right, but what to do with Kurtley Beale?
Point 1 – Wearing or not wearing a tracksuit does not determine whether you are ready to play.
Point 2 – I think this hysterical cry from some in the rugby community that there would be a mass exodus o/seas if they let o/seas players be picked for the Wallabies is hyperbole. Australia is losing players to France, Japan and the UK anyway. So what would change?
SPIRO: The Wallabies All Blacked-out at Eden Park
2 points:
1. So one of your recommendations to Link is to make sure the side comes out not wearing their tracksuits? It can be a good 5-10 mins of anthems and hakas before they actually get to play. So you’d like us to stand in the cold with our muscles tightening up and risk pulling a hamstring to satisfy you?
2. We have wingers (and locks and centres etc) that we can call on. Unfortunately they are all overseas and with the ARU being pig-headed sticks in the mud to not allow foreign based players to be picked, we will always struggle to fill positions vacated by injury.
SPIRO: The Wallabies All Blacked-out at Eden Park
Ok I’ve had enough of this. What’s with all the negative press around the game on the weekend?
I was one of those who sat in the rain on Saturday night expecting the ABs to wipe the floor with us, and even though I got soaked to the bone, actually enjoyed the game and didn’t mind the result.
Let’s put things into perspective and be a little philosophical about it. We held the current world champions, and a team who had gone 17 wins in a row to a try-less draw. Let me repeat that. The current world champions and a team who have won their past 17 games didn’t score a try against us and we played them, in the wet, and played well.
I’m sorry if this upsets those who have unrealistic expectations, but the ABs are the best team in the world for a reason and we held them to a draw and they didn’t even look like scoring a try.
Instead of being a nation of negative-Nellys let’s look for the positives:
1. Our defense was pretty damn good considering the conditions. In fact both defenses were pretty awesome on the night.
2. Set piece actually did pretty well and we even mamnaged to steal a line-out
3. There was a lot of running given the conditions
So can we stop being so hard on the Wallabies and actually support them?
Wallabies need killer instinct to bring home the Bledisloe
Initially I thought it was a bad idea when KB was chosen at No10. But having thought about it and with Toomua at 12 I can see them interchanging throughout the game. So at on stage KB will be first reciever and Toomua at 12, then they swap. It’s a canny decision by Link as it will hopefully throw some doubt into the minds of the ABs when we’re on attack. And we still have the option of the KB-Izzy combo that had done wonders for the Tahs in the S15 season.
SPIRO: Will Kurtley be the real Beale against the All Blacks?
Thanks for the kiss of death Spiro.
Seriously I wish the media would keep quiet about the Wallabies chances of winning the Bledisloe. It seems to be a right of passge that at this time of year the rugby journos talk up the Wallabies chances. How about you say nothing and let our playing speak for itself.
SPIRO: Sooner or later the Wallabies have to win the Bledisloe. Is this the year?
I think what AAC did speaks to the strength and closeness of the 2014 Waratahs. They are playing as a team, not as individuals out for glory. They are 15 guys (23 on game day) who will die for each other on the rugby field. I am reminded of Al Pacino’s stirring speech from Any Given Sunday:
Waratahs inspired by touching poem
Not at all. It’s the concerns of a potential founding member in a club and long time rugby fan.
I have no problem with Blake taking a better role but the ARU should have done their due diligence. And how has he been developed by the NRC when the competition hasn’t even kicked off yet?
As a club you have to do marketing. You have to attract people and the way you do that is through marketing. One way of doing this is through a website. And you can give membership information without there being a draw. How about season passes, information on what will be offered. Have you been to the Rays website? It’s atrocious, and as a potential founding member I’m a little dubious as to the long term viability of a club who can’t even get a simple website up and running. As you say we are only a few weeks away from the season and to not have the basics in place now doesn’t fill me with confidence.
I’ve been to both Gordon and Northern Suburbs matches in recent weeks and there has been no information available. No one from the Rays has been there. Why don’t the Rays have an information kiosk? How about Rays staff (if there are any) walking around with a shirt on to promote the club and field questions? This will help raise the visibility of the club and competition.
If they are thinking ‘build it and they will come’, well they will be in for a big surprise come opening day when there 3 men and a dog in the crowd (ok maybe hat was an over reaction but I’m trying to make a point).
NRC update part 1: Queensland, Perth, Melbourne and Canberra
Some of the names are abysmal.
NRC update part 1: Queensland, Perth, Melbourne and Canberra
It’s a farce.
I and a few of my friends have been looking to sign on as members with the North Harbour Rays, but we don’t know how. If you go to their ‘website’ (and I use that term very loosely) it isn’t finished. Couple that with the first choice coach leaving for an overseas gig and you have to wonder if this thing will get off the ground.
Also Eastwood have pulled out of the Greater Sydney Rams consortium with their only part being they will provide some players to the team.
This was a monumental balls up from the get go. Pulver was way too ambitious in his plan to launch a national comp in less than a year.
NRC update part 1: Queensland, Perth, Melbourne and Canberra
Spiro, Walsh had a shocker of a first half. He missed selevral obvious infringments by the Highlnaders. Knock-ons went uncalled, a blatant hands in the ruck offense, numerous offsides.
How he is allowed to referee in top flight rugby is beyond me. I was at the Sydney test a couple of weeks ago and he had a similar sub-standard performance. And heaven forbid if Joubert is your best referee in the world. I’d rather have Nigel Owens.
SPIRO: Are the Waratahs bound for Super Rugby glory?
I’m surprised no one is talking about Folau. He was virtually invisible in the game, save for a couple of half heated runs. The Blues did a good job of shutting him down with strong defence.
It looks as if teams are starting to figure him out and he’s being shown up as a fairly one dimensional player. Basically he scores his tries not by creating anything but by feeding off the last pass. Shut that opportunity down (which the Blues did well) and you nullify Folau.
Waratahs self-destruct again
Pathetic, yes. In crisis? Hardly. These are elementary mistakes that can be fixed. Don’t pass if it’s not on. Take the ball into the breakdown and recycle.
Skelton was good yes but what about Hooper and Potgeiter. Two players who give it their all and leave nothing on the park.
And running rugby was their problem. They tried all the raze dazzle but didn’t get the basics right.
Waratahs self-destruct again
I’m calling shenanigans on the ARU.
Here’s my conspiracy theory.
In an effort to break the east coast stranglehold on the Australian provence, the ARU stood down Izzy knowing that if he played, he would have been the difference between the Tahs winning or losing. If the Tahs win the Force is near the bottom of the table. If the Force win, they are one game away from topping the table.
Coincidence? Me thinks not.
Standing down Israel Folau was a farce
I still watch the games but the excitement has gone. It left right after the full-time whistle sounded on the 3rd Lions game in Sydney. Since then it’s just habit that keeps me coming back.
I want to get excited, Wallabies, I really do
I don’t buy into this “We have to have an Australian coaching” bit. In my mind I want the best people coaching the Wallabies whether it’s a “local” boy or a migrant. Anyway you played for the Wallabies so you’re a local boy in my eyes.
I can’t believe the ARU is so blind to reject the services of someone who has every front row position for three countries.
The Wallaby scrum is the source of our woes
Agree whole heartedly. Our props are too soft. You look at the AB and SA props and they look like hard men. By contract our guys look doughy. These are meant to be the hard men of rugby, putting their heads (literally) on the line. No room for pretty boys afraid to get their head bloodied.
The Wallaby scrum is the source of our woes
Yes I agree we should manage the officials better than we do, but when it’s blatantly obvious that the Wallabies scrum was much better at that engagement, the ref is obliged to make the correct call and not let his prejudices get on the way.
The Wallaby scrum is the source of our woes
You only have to listen to commentary from the Gallagher Premiership or Pro 14 to see how awful our current crop of commentators is.
The lead commentator has a commanding, yet radio quality to his voice. Not the awful Aussie drawl of our lot. The support commentators actually analyse the game. They explain how a play is manufactured and why it was a success or failure.
How about a new commentary team to go with a new TV deal?