The Wallabies team to win the decider in Sydney
Wow, what a Test match that was in Melbourne! All congratulations to Ireland for such a great game. The Irish A side showed why…
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Rugby tragic and president of Them Noble Tahs (TNT) association. Best match ever = Sydney Olympic Stadium, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heoO_5MvZ0w
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Wow, what a Test match that was in Melbourne! All congratulations to Ireland for such a great game. The Irish A side showed why…
The NSW Supreme Court has pretty much added the final nail the coffin of the Western Force in Super Rugby. The decision has been…
Super Rugby is slowly dying - only expansion and larger TV contracts have kept it going so far. However the constant loss of quality…
Perhaps the referees are listening to the punters.
Ergo: is the scrum a penalty machine or to get the ball back into play after the big boppers have contested for it? If the ball is out, then play on! 😛
The Roar's Super Rugby expert tips, Round 4: After a week where we all felt like Tane, here's to six out of six
Last weekend separated the tipping men from the novices. My 4 from 6 was good considering I blew it on trusting the Tahs to be able to land a bl00dy kick from 38m right in front. I also figured the Reds would cark it in the last 2-0 minutes after the torrid match against the Hurricanes. Sadly I blew my chance to go tops. Anyhow, onto Round 4.
– Crusaders have finally put a decent halfback in but still have a novice flyhalf which is hurting them big time. Normally you would say the Borg at home are too strong, but I cannot see them getting past the loss of S.Barrett and his rugby IP. Add that DuP.Kirifi is back in town and Digger’s mob are looking really good. Hurricanes by 8-10.
– The Rebels’ pack just looks so damned good on paper, while the Reds fast lightweights know their way to a breakdown in double quick time. Rugby is played on grass, not paper. Losing S.Fa’agase is a blow but the Reds have well and truly held their own against 3 pretty good packs and should do the same here. Their biggest danger is F.Daugunu, one of their alma mater who is as good as most 7’s for pinching the ball in defence rucks. Too many weak links in the Rebel reserves. Reds by 4.
– Force vs Pasifika is almost a coin toss. Both sides have good coaches but also lots of weak links in their 23. Force at home to do the job by 6.
– This game is a banana skin. Brumbies seem to have lost that spark this year, well now is the time to find it. Highlanders’ scrum was expected by some to moider Them Noble Tahs last week. It didn’t happen and is unlikely to happen this week also. A small fast Brumby back-3 is a danger to both their opponents and to their own defence. The Penguin backline will take advantage and win this one at home by 5.
– Chiefs and Fijian Drua in sunny downtown Hamiliton will be one way traffic. Sorry Fiji but this Chiefs’ mob are really really good, cruel brutal piggies and an electric back line. Biggest interest for me will be “have the Drua noted the recent tendency of late crash tackles to take the #10 off his game (and feet and sometimes off the field)? Will the Drua boys be licking their chops as little Damian runs sideways”. Chiefs by 19.
– Them Noble Tahs (TNT) take on RT’s mob from Auckland in what could be a cracker of a game or could be another cakewalk to another *#@+% Kiwi team. Sydney weather is perfect for Rugby, so the big boppers from NZ will love the conditions. TNT’s starting front and 2nd rows look frightening weak although the Blues’ starting locks are “WHO????” quality. The last time I saw Marky Mark play fullback was in M.Hooper’s Sydney swansong against Moana Pasifika and Marky played a shocker. Sadly I think this game will be over by half-time. Blues by 19 (I feel so dirty now).
In Short: Hurricanes, Reds, Force, Highlanders. Chiefs. and finally the Blues.
The Roar's Super Rugby expert tips, Round 4: After a week where we all felt like Tane, here's to six out of six
KFTD, you need to go to that bastion of capitalism San Francisco and take a squiz at the number of homeless people in that city. The saddest thing about them is many have untreated mental issues on top of being dirt poor. Brisbane is about the norm for a large (1M) population city.
But at least the weather is decent in SF. What amazed me was the number of homeless folks in New York City in the middle of their winter (December). They must have council-run shelters as they would freeze to death otherwise.
'A wonderful initiative': 33-year first as Wales to take on Queensland Reds in 'nod to traditional tours'
I’m really amused how all the Kiwi’s line up and bleat like sheep whenever one questions the legality or bias of a Kiwi player or referee. The Aussies demanding stern action on “that dirty Kiwi” and the Kiwis, nobly led with about 1000 reply posts each by Again-squared and Wacko Jacko, makes me wonder “do any of these blokes have jobs to go to”? Sigmund Freud would have listed it as a classic inferiority complex.
Was the hit by S.Finau on T.Lyangh legal? No, it was as late as one handing out Xmas presents today. And that alone should have got him into yellow card trouble. His ½-ar$ed attempted wrap and slow-mo by the TMO was good enough (smart!) to keep any review committee off his tail. Is it surprising, hell no! When I played 5/8th in grade rugby, it was almost the breakaway’s duty to take out the 5/8th (wording to show you how long it was when I played 😛 ). I wore way more late hits playing 5/8th than I ever did at centre or wing (mind you a flyhalf also handles the ball more often also).
Ben O’Keefe is a bit of an enigma. He is a very good referee who tries to keep the game flowing. However in doing so, he invites massive criticism (ie: this blog). He made two horrible blunders in the Chiefs vs Reds match. Firstly he and the TMO barely looked at Sef Fa’agase’s head clash with the Chiefs’ prop (?), and yes that was a red card offence as per the Laws. Reds were lucky there. The 2nd was his acquittal of Finau’s late hit.
My main gripe with BOK is when he referees Crusaders’ games. The 1st time I noticed him was when O.Franks hit K.Beale with a forearm very near the throat in an attempt to save a try. Beale was following a mini-break and Saders were stressed, Tahs were eating them alive (in Christchurch) and leading like 33-7 or similar. Beale didn’t even have the ball but a pass to him would be a certain try under the sticks, so Franks did what a prop’s gotta do. He obstructed him with body and arm. All of this was right in front of BOK, who just ignored the whole incident and allowed play to continue. A little bit of 2nd half leniency in the ruck laws and whammo, another sterling victory by the Crusaders. GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr The Roar exploded, similar to this one but twice as many posts. And what happened? you may ask! Nothing, nowt, zip! BOK continued on his merry way arm in arm with his beloved Crusaders. 😡 😱
'Over the moon': Reds deny Chiefs for 23 PHASES to win 'titanic' trans-Tasman clash as Kiss' revolution continues
Guess, that rule only applies to non-kiwi teams. 😂
'Over the moon': Reds deny Chiefs for 23 PHASES to win 'titanic' trans-Tasman clash as Kiss' revolution continues
Savant, Tom Lyangh didn’t have his hands on the ball. He had passed it to a support player about 3 seconds earlier. Just saying!
I am still flabbergasted a late hit into a player’s back and with no arms didn’t get a yellow. But the TMO agreed with Ben “Kiwi” O’Keefe, so what can one say? 😡
'Over the moon': Reds deny Chiefs for 23 PHASES to win 'titanic' trans-Tasman clash as Kiss' revolution continues
Great news, both teams will likely play their B-side but there still should be enough class to drag the punters in.
Add that those Wales supporters in Queensland and north NSW towns, who cannot afford to travel and buy tickets for the internationals, can now travel to Brissie and see a good match without breaking the bank.
If the Reds keep improving like they have done in the last 3 weeks, they will be a pretty formidable side for most international teams. 😁
'A wonderful initiative': 33-year first as Wales to take on Queensland Reds in 'nod to traditional tours'
cs, it was the Highlanders outside centre standing out wide. 😊
'Gutted': Edmed misses shot after siren as Tahs blow chance of going back-to-back against Kiwis for first time since 2015
Bliksem, even Carter Gordon, who plays a pretty good game at flyhalf, is a horrible place kicker. Last week he hit the post from 30m right in front and in tonight’s earlier game he missed a few relatively easy kicks.
There is absolutely no way he will get into the WB team unless they field someone else who is a top notch goal kicker. So we end up with N.Lolesio, T.Edmed or B.Donaldson in the WB, all good kickers but poor field generals when under pressure.
If only Tom Lynagh has 2 more years of SR experience and say another 5-7 kg of muscle on him. 😔
'Gutted': Edmed misses shot after siren as Tahs blow chance of going back-to-back against Kiwis for first time since 2015
Why is this article put out on Friday morning? Thursday late morning and it was a success. Friday is too close to kick-off and it has bombed. Last week tipping contyest had a couple of banana skins, lets see how we go this week.
– Not terribly confident but Rebels piggies finally looked good last week. Rebels by 5
– Them Noble Tahs will have a much harder game this week. J.Gordon and Tane won’t be running at rookie halfbacks so I doubt they will have fun there. However TNT have a pretty decent pack and Highlanders only have 1 lock in the 23. Tahs will starve them of possession and win.
– Crusaders are finding life a little difficult without 23 All Blacks in their team and the Fijian Drua will be licking their chops to repeat the “event” 2 years ago. Drua were all over the shop last week but I think their brutality will be too much for the Sader’s new boys.
– Brumbies to stampede an injury-filled Force.
– Canes and the Blues is a match made in heaven. The Canes’ forwards were ferocious last week and basically beat up the Reds pack. But the Blues are not too shabby. I’ll earn RT’s ire and predict the Canes here.
– Reds will be knackered from Sunday’s match whereas the Chiefs will be feeling fresh after the Training run against the Ponies. Chiefs to pull away in the last quarter and win by 20. My main interest is to see how Harry Wilson goes against the Hammer called LukeJ. If Wilson goes into his shell, his name gets scrubbed off the WB list. If Wilson plays a hard game and gives what he gets, he is a must in the WB 23.
In short: Rebels, Tahs, Drua, Brumbies, Hurricanes and Chiefs.
Super Rugby tipping week three: Will Tahs suffer a hangover from emotional Crusaders win (and DC's 15 schooners)?
Personally I always thought a coach’s tenure should be based on his vision and planning, the ability to communicate good ideas to the players and the players are listening to the coach.
D.Coleman came in straight from Shute shield, so like a player elevated from grade to SR you have to take a long term view. Certainly the team seems to be behind him despite the “whispers from anonymous sources” which appear to me certain henchmen pushing their justification. Coleman has improved the side from the efforts of 2021 and should be given credit for that. Add that any rushed sacking immediately asks (a) at what financial cost to a club that is skint and (b) apart from M.Cheika who else is available with SR coaching experience?
This sacking of a coach via media bites has all the hallmarks of the rotten games played at NSWRU. Even worse is under Clown McLennan, the NSWRU old boys club passed all of their debts to RA but kept staff and it would seem still are a major decision maker. Seems a very odd way to go about High Performance alignment. 😔 😱
Five things we learned: The general who caught Schmidt's eye, why next week is vital for Coleman's Tahs
Yawns! Tahs finally play some footy after being creamed in 2 matches against the Reds, and ofc the writer is flying the flag of “Bestest team to EVER play the game”. Further he has the Wallaby coach writing all 23 of these super fabulous Tah men into the Wallaby set-up. No need for Joe Schmidt to watch any other games, he already has written the 23 players he wants for the WB side to go right through to the RWC2027 Final.
Meanwhile on planet Earth, I think some other Aussie teams played, but hey who cares about them! It’s all about the Tahs, ain’t it!
As an aside, I agree the Tahs improved heaps compared to their trial match and round 1 of SRP against the Reds. But it sure helped playing a once great team with rookie halves, no W.Jordan, Leicester.F and R.Mo’unga and some soft forwards. It was a weird game, both sides scored 4 tries however the Crusaders ran more metres, more passes, had 59% of the ball and less penalties than the Tahs but crucial drops and turnovers, scrums and lineouts lost and their maul stopped ruined the Crusaders’ chances all night. I cannot remember such a poor game from the Saders’ forwards, could it be they were still stuffed from playing the Chiefs the week before as well as the post-Whitelock, E.Blackadder and C.Taylor blues?
I really want to think the Tah forwards dished it up to the Crusaders and put them off their game. To be sure, the Tahs lifted beyond expectations and the soft shoulders and massive holes in the halves lifted their confidence, but for mine this incarnation of the Crusaders would struggle to beat the Rebels. 😛
Five things we learned: The general who caught Schmidt's eye, why next week is vital for Coleman's Tahs
😂 😂
Reds rue missed 'moments' as Hurricanes get up in golden point to deny Australia another Super Rugby win
Brendan, back to class for you, boyo! Now repeat after me 1000 times per day until you dream it 24/7.
“Sydney Clubs and their SRU are the greatest in the Universe, NSWRU is a sub-branch of the SRU and ofc RA is a sub-branch of SRU also”.
There, easy ain’t it! LoL
'Our talent is spread too thin': Ex-Wallabies captain urges Rugby Australia to cut Super teams
I have heard that Phil is quite affable and really cares for rugby. That doesn’t mean he is not a boofhead though. 😁
'Our talent is spread too thin': Ex-Wallabies captain urges Rugby Australia to cut Super teams
Why do people give credit to boofheads such as Phil Kearns? OK, the bloke was a very good footballer but he was a shyte biased commentator with Foxtel and has barely said a sensible word since Foxtel lost the Australian rugby tv rights. Why am I not surprised this Newington drip sucks up to Hamish “It’s all about ME” Mclennan, who gave him the job to ratify the agreed upon hosts for the 2027 RWC? Both are Sydney private school boys who worked for the Rupert Merde-och organisation.
Kearns et al are not really saying “reduce the number of SR clubs and get better”, that is their word play to get the suckers in. Anyone with half a brain can see less teams = less local players seeing rugby as a career = fewer gun players, coaches, referees and juniors. The unspoken intention ofc is to kill off Super Rugby altogether.
Blokes like Kearns, Phil Waugh, Nick Farr-Jones, Simon Poidovan and Daniel Herbert were all great players who passionately love rugby, but they all have this crazy idea that Super Rugby (or its EVIL mini-incarnation the NRC) should be killed off. In their minds the only way to achieve Rugby Greatness is to start an Australian rugby competition similar to how the NRL went from the small local Sydney and Brisbane club competition to the cashed-up Gozilla in Australia today. It will be great for the 8-12 clubs that “join the party” (so to speak) and its not too difficult to figure out which clubs from Shute shield and Hospital Cup are already on the “list of the elite“. The downside is it will basically push every other club in Australia to subbie’s level.
So the thinking from Kearns et al is “we can’t afford more than 3 Super clubs as it will dilute our talent, but we can afford 8-12 Sydney-Brissie Super clubs and the talent will lift to RWC winner levels”. Hallelujah!
What escapes their minds is those rugby league competitions were fairly small fry until the the mid- to late- 1950s until the advent of the poker machine-funded clubs in Sydney. Queensland and Brisbane stagnated while all their talent headed to Sydney to the bigger money. The State of Origin boom from 1981 gave clubs outside of Sydney the impetus to move the competition out of Sydney to a larger ARL competition. The next boom was Foxtel’s attempt to take over TV rights. All that did was start the League War and massively increase the money in the game.
So if rugby in Australia goes that similar path, what gives these blokes the idea that rugby union won’t simply end up like league was in the 1950’s? There is no poker machine funding to lift their earnings, STAN or Foxtel would massively drop the coin for TV rights and which TV company would want to show club rugby on FTA? The last time it was shown on FTA, the Sydney RU had to pay the tv company. And it was so bad they almost went broke and ofc their sub-branch (ARU now called Rugby Australia) had to foot the bill.
Earth to Kearns et al, how is outer space going fellas? Any alien rugby sponsors out there or are they still probing you? 😂 😂
'Our talent is spread too thin': Ex-Wallabies captain urges Rugby Australia to cut Super teams
Week 1 bombed as I never thought the Rebels backline could be so lacking in ideas. When they had the pill they were so atrocious that they make England seem like the Hurricanes.
Tips for 1st-3rd March, the so-called Melbourne Super Round
Blues (A) to beat Highlanders by 5
Melbourne Rebels (H) to belt the Western Force
Fijian Drua (A) to crush Moana Pasifika
Crusaders (H) to flog the NSW Waratahs
Chiefs (H) too good for ACT Brumbies
Reds (A) to pip the Canes in a thriller.
Super Rugby tipping panel round 2: Brumbies' title aspirations get early test, Penney to pile pressure on old club
Why do people bang on with these pipe dreams? We had David Moffett spruiking it earlier on the Roar and 300 odd souls joined in the comments thinking it was April the 1st. Why not post a letter extolling the virtues of the Manly Rugby League organisation buying Liverpool Football club, or perhaps Balmain Tigers purchasing the San Francisco 49-ers. The probability of those two purchases/mergers is about the same as RA agreeing to marriage with the NRL.
The only thing the NRL would like to buy is to have an international footprint that rugby union has, but why would they merge or buy the Australian union which is skint and losing money big time? Even if they did merge/take over, it doesn’t open any doors to International rugby as the rest of the world would tell the merged entity to “take a hike”. I’m sorry but league will have to put more games such as NRL players with Lebanese ancestry Versus NRL players with Spanish ancestry on their World Cup Sham and I’m sure the crowds with flock in. So the NRL would get nothing except more access to the top rugby players for some pocket money.
What would the ARU get? Absolutely nowt in the long run. Yes they would get the sugar hit of more coin, except all the decent players would be moving off to play league as the NRL and lesser competitions expand. Incidentally I suspect the “marriage” would dissolve in week one when the golden child of the Betting industry, one PVL and mates at the NRL, demand the Tahs wear Tab corp sweaters, Reds wear some other betting company all over them. And ofc during all down time such as scrums and lineouts then the viewers can watch another 28 repeat ads of How Good is it to Lose your Money .
Why do you think the NRL is trying to get into the USA with the venture this weekend in the city of “Lost Wages”. It is all about getting more punters to bet on the games. 😁
Fantasy footy: How a Rugby Australia and NRL partnership could actually work
And now for my Rugby Gripe. I know, I know; call it Old man shouting at the Clouds syndrome. 😁
As a long time Tahs member (President of Them Noble Tahs aka TNT) I did my bit and bought membership and tickets for SRP2024 home matches. Bu99er me dead, Bruce! Five out of 7 matches are on a Friday night, and the remaining 2 are on a Saturday night. There is not one Sunday afternoon match. Big Q is when does dad n mum bring the kids to a rugger match? To be sure, its not freezing their butts off at SFS in the middle of a winter’s evening. I hear Melbourne Rebels matches are very much the same.
I know the broadcasters have the greater say in when matches are played and basically they want eyeballs on their screens at peak hours and couldn’t care less how many are at the ground. This hurts the clubs, whose main income is from attendance, especially with RA cutting the TV payola by around $1.7 M bucks a year.
Why so? you may ask. Friday night is directly competing against Ch9’s NRL FTA broadcasts and I suspect Saturday is booked out by Ch9 as an experiment to broadcast at least one FTA women’s NRL matches. I suspect live viewing numbers will tank, as will STAN’s next broadcast offer.
RA, if you want crowds to your games then bring back the Sat or Sunday afternoon matches. Even the NRL Raiders are going for more Sunday afternoon matches to get the larger attendances. And what are the Brumbies doing, I wonder. Tahs, if SFS is booked out by the NRL, then play at Manly or Balmain, those grounds can take your maximum of 15,000 crowds.
Moment of truth looms for Coleman’s Waratahs - and more is on the line for NSW should their season come to naught
On paper, the Tahs forwards should towel up the Reds lightweight pack. In the trial game, the Reds won the piggie battle with constant LQB to move around and disorganise the Tahs. The Tahs have countered with a pretty fast back row and likely will serve up periods of LQB themselves. the Reds have some weaknesses, mainly
– (A) The Reds’ THP Z.Nonggorr looked totally outclassed against A.Bell, who to be brutally honest is not the greatest LHP scrummager going around. Bell gets the accolades for his power running and game sense, often in the right place at the right time. I thought Bell’s size and strength plus the weight coming through from J.Holloway and Miles Amatosero gave the Tahs that 1st half dominance.
– (B) S.Uru is a pretty good player but is too lightweight to mix it with the big boys at lock. There just isn’t that power from the 2nd row to hold their scrums. Reds really need C.Vest to be there. A few years ago, the Reds had tall powerful 2nd rowers falling out of the trees, then BradT cheesed most of them off. 😔
– (C) the Reds’ centres are too small. Every top class side has a large human at inside centre and or a large fast outside centre to complement. Their size are in the wing and fb. They will miss F.Daugunu.
Any idea when we might see J.Toomaga-Allen packing down for the Reds? Almost criminal, an AB front row almost. LoL
I expect the Tahs to be leading at half time, thanks to a zillion and one scrum penalties. A smart Tah would even knock the ball on 10m out from the Reds line just to generate up another scrum penalty and likely yellow card 😛 The Tahs reserve forwards worry me though. Expect the last 25 minutes to belong to the Reds. 😢
On a brighter note, great news coming through that Lalakai Foketi is not seriously injured and there is confidence of a full recovery. So I can open up a beer and celebrate. 😛
Moment of truth looms for Coleman’s Waratahs - and more is on the line for NSW should their season come to naught
he he, Mith is filled with MIRTh today. 😛 The key words there are so far. 4 more hours and those words come home to bite ya in the bvm. LoL
Super Rugby tipping panel week 1: Brumbies to sweep Rebels, cliffhanger brewing between Tahs and Reds
Have almost the same tips as Christy (shows you all what a brilliant rugby mind he has 😛 )
So for Round 1, SRP24.
Chiefs by 10, should win this game easily, especially now that W.Jordan is out for the season to add to the Crusaders woes. Yes Chiefs have lost Retallick but the Borg have lost S.Whitelock AND R.Mo’unga and E.Blackadder. The Saders have some YUGeeeeeeeeeeee beef in the centres but I reckon Q.Tupaea and A.Lienert-Brown will cause as much havoc. As an aside, I wondered where M.Mataele went after leaving the Force. Yep, the moneybag Saders.
I really like the balance of the Rebels this year, their only weakness is at halfback. I think they will come out breathing fire and burn the donkeys at their “Burn House of Pain”. I admit I’m not terribly confident on this one. 😛
If the Force could field their #1 side, they would stand a massive chance to dent the Hurricanes but nope, too much quality cattle in sick bay.
Blues to smote the Drua. Drua have been great in the 1st half of their 2 trials against Rebels and Brumbies, in both games they led 21-7 at half time against basically the 1st XV of the opposition but their reserves were flogged in the 2nd half. Its always difficult for me with the Drua as I struggle to figure who has left and who is new to their side. I must put in more effort to get to know their players. Hopefully I may learn something when I trip over to one of their home games this year. I really need to get my head around the Fijian Drua roster but all those long syllable names melt my brain. 😔
One really wants Moana Pasifika to win more matches but as soon as a player stands out, the big Kiwi teams poach them. Highlanders looked pretty good towards the end of what was a horror SRP23 for them. With a couple of new and returned players, and ofc the coaches, they should be a force to be reckoned with this year.
Tahs should bully the Reds scrums till about the 60 minute mark, but they did that in the trial and still got flogged. This game should be tighter and its even possible the Tahs may lead at half time, sadly then its all downhill for the boys in blue. Their reserve forwards look Shute shield quality. Only surprise is Reds; Joe Brial was overlooked for John Bryant and Tahs; where is Ned? The lad is coming into his own as a quality flanker/lock reserve.
In short: Chiefs, Rebels, Hurricanes, Blues, Highlanders and the Reds.
Super Rugby tipping panel week 1: Brumbies to sweep Rebels, cliffhanger brewing between Tahs and Reds
Piru, sadly I don’t think we will ever see the NRC again unless STAN (Ch 9) drop televising half the Shute and Brisbane club games (lose all of 200 viewers but NSWRU and QRU power boys spill their gin-n-tonic in anger) and fund the NRC to run after the club boys have finished.
To be effective, clubs will have to start their seasons around early March and finish around mid August (like they always did till recently). Once club games are over, a form of NRC can start.
The reason for my pessimism is the RA chair (D.Herbert) and CEO (P.Waugh) expressed their desire to get an Australian CLUB championship competition going. Who is going to fund all the travel and hotel bills for a game at club level, for mine it fails its purpose of raising the bar to a higher level. The only winners would be a couple of Sydney and Brisbane club sides, while everyone else (including every other club in Oz and the people funding this scheme) can go Fkkkk themselves. 😡
'Our system is failing': The 'crisis' sinking Australian rugby - and the 'crucified' coach that shows it
“coach” EddieJ dissed C.Gordon on the basis that he couldn’t play unstructured headless chook rugby against Fiji despite getting monstered with massive hits from slow ball. Eddie then selected his Randwick “love-in” B.Donaldson to show them how to play the Randwick way in the Wales match. That went well! The last sight of poor befuddled Eddie was him in the stands sobbing that he couldn’t get his mate Jorgo’s son a run in the side.
I found it strange that everyone raved about Donaldson’s match against Georgia on the basis that he scored two tries gifted to him. The 1st was from a nice C.Gordon cut-out pass about 5 metres from the Georgia line and the 2nd was the freakish intercept and run from T.Tupou, who then passed to Donaldson for a clear run to the line. Give Ben some kudos as he got into the position to receive those passes but his job was “catch ball and run”.
To me B.Donaldson is a good player at times but he is a “confidence” player. When he first played for the Tahs, he was a breath of fresh air as he kept putting players through gaps with neat short passes. I felt it more to do with finally some structure in the Tahs’ attack and a #10 (BenD) who understood and was capable of seeing the plays. If he can get to that level and keep it there then he is a big chance of the gold jersey.
C.Gordon, he got the raves and selection on the basis of his play at the Rebels, which depended on the team playing team rugby, everyone was on the same page. Poor Gordon gets into the WB and the team is told “just run like the Ella boys at Randwick, doing your own thing and the defences will go up in smoke”. We all know how well that went. 😱 😡
Carter 'stitched up', Noah's 'blessing in disguise': Ex-Wallaby 10's verdict on 'personal' duel and World Cup fallout
What can I say? Did you not see that the Reds’ flyhalf was substituted very soon after the grub late hit.
And I agree with you that calling for a red card is pure stupidity, but its a dead set yellow card offence no matter who put the hit on. Getting away with it just gives a green light to more late hits, and what I am saying in my post is the Chiefs’ #10 might be targeted if they see that green light. In the Rebels’ match against Fijian Drua last year in Fiji, the Rebels’ flyhalf, Carter Gordon, was smashed about 4 times by airborne tacklers. One hit was a rip snorter and legal, the others were all off the ball and/or late.
What comes around, goes around. 😱
The Roar's Super Rugby expert tips, Round 4: After a week where we all felt like Tane, here's to six out of six