Good move. Plenty of other stuff on the shelves!
Dan Murphy's and BWS to pull ALL Russian vodka from shelves in major boycott against Ukraine invasion.
Brendan Cannon:
“Rugby Australia’s decision to sack Dave Rennie as coach after his first World Cup camp in January this year, which followed three years of planning and building depth, in order to parachute Jones into the role, sabotaged the entire campaign.”
Brendan Cannon:
“While everyone seems to be calling for the head of Eddie Jones, the first person who must walk away from Rugby Australia is chairman Hamish McLennan.”
Seems a positive move from RA 👍
Former State of Origin star and NRL premiership winner Mark Gasnier has signed a contract with Rugby Australia to make his non-contact version of union, Tri Tag, the official sport used in schools and clubs across the country.
My son had a surprise guest at his cafe in The Entrance this morning. He is staying with in laws at Tumbi and apparently can’t wait to rip in with Eddie & the Wallabies this week.
A Wallabies win in the big city and it’s nice to wake up with the cornflakes and read some positive feedback on a new era in Oz rugby; the Schmidt era.
Congratulations Harry 👏👏👏
Twelve months after taking the field for Brothers in their Hospital Cup final, Harry Wilson is set to be announced as the Wallabies’ captain for their Rugby Championship clash against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
What a game. What a relief 😅
It’s so good to get a win and will do so much for the whole team’s confidence going forward. You can see the difference already with the new coaching team and the focus on the ruck.
Carter Gordon has played 3 games for the Titans reserve grade team, 2 at centre, one at 5/8. So far he has produced;
*A try in each game
* 3 try assists
*4 line-break assists
*missed 1 tackle
He & Marky might see NRL THIS season.
So RA ran a formal wide-ranging process & lo and behold they found another guy from Mosman 🙄
Former Wallabies captain Phil Waugh set to be named Rugby Australia CEO.
Hard to disagree.
“Super Rugby’s finals system needs to be changed.
Awarding a spot in the playoffs to any team that finishes eighth in a 12-team competition has become a running joke because it rewards mediocrity.”
Won’t that be a change if we pull this off!
One of the most famous names in Australian rugby league could become a Waratah. Zach Fittler, the son of former Kangaroos captain Brad Fittler, considering an offer from the Waratahs and Rugby Australia.
Big Wallabies news;
Western Force backrower Carlo Tizzano is tipped to be named in the Wallabies No. 7 jersey against the South Africans.
* Ben Donaldson to start with Jake Gordon.
*Taniela Tupou to miss the Test match due to a death in his family.
New Zealand’s NPC competition will have an international feel this year with players from Japan, Wales, England & Namibia but the major influx has come from Australia, with more than a dozen players swapping their thongs for jandals to have a crack in NZ.
Isaac Aedo Kailea is half-Tongan, half-Chilean, a rookie who has only been playing in the front row for four years. Now, he is in line to make his Wallabies debut.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has indicated he won’t make mass changes to the team that was hammered by South Africa in Brisbane, saying they need to stick to a long-term plan.
Brendan Cannon:
“My heart bleeds for this group of Wallabies players, who now don’t know who to trust and have been set up to fail by inept decision-makers who should do the right thing and step down.
The eagerly-anticipated decision on which Australian city will be chosen to host the final of the 2027 Rugby World Cup has been put on hold until next year because of a dramatic late twist that could see the word’s third biggest sport event expand even further.
Old mate Jake White has not missed with this no holds barred account where Australia have got it wrong with our rugby.
Jake White: 'I feel for Joe Schmidt, the problems run so much deeper'
And herein lies the problem with our contracting. Does anyone believe Jorgo is worth 3x Kailea?
“Max Jorgensen (500k), who accepted a deal more than three times what Kailea has been offered, continues to raise eyebrows, especially in the current market.”
Four-time John Eales Medalist and Wallabies legend Michael Hooper has confirmed his move to Sevens in 2024.
Hooper will join the Sevens program on January 1, potentially debuting at the inaugural Perth Sevens on January 26-28.
Disparaging comments from Penrith Panthers boss saying they would have done better than the Wallabies at WC.
No doubt the Panfers would have done better than the Kangaroos too who were smashed 30-0 by NZ in Australia's heaviest loss in 395 Test matches played since 1908. Dope.
Simon Cron targeting Jordan Petaia & former All Black Shaun Stevenson for Western Force.
“We are definitely looking for back three players, and Jordie Petaia is a good kid and would be an obvious target for people”
There is still a big season to come, but in his decade at the helm, David Nucifora has transformed Irish Rugby. We cannot thank you enough, David! 🤝
#IrishRugby
The leaks are back baby!
Max Jorgensen to debut from the bench. Koroibete & Seru Uru in the mix
Front row, Angus Bell Josh Nasser and Wallabies skipper Allan Alaalatoa.
Locks,Blyth & LSL
9 & 10, White & Lolesio
Rugby can only dream 💭
The Matildas are Australian sport’s most lucrative brand right now – and are about to help the sport kick its TV broadcast deal to $200 million.
Rugby has its issues in Australia but that doesn’t apply to the women’s sevens team. Maddison Levi ranked at 19 in Insight Sport’s top 50 female athletes of 2023 beating NRLW & AFLW players. Kaylee McKeown was ranked 1 edging out Sam Kerr.
Lucky REDS
One of the country’s best young second-row prospects will stay in Australian rugby, with Josh Canham signing a two-year deal to join the Queensland Reds from the Rebels.
NSW Waratahs confirm new coaches with assistant coaches Mike Catt OBE, Dan Palmer, and Lachlan McCaffrey appointed for 3 years.
Tom Carter will be head of athletic performance after doing a great job with our 7’s women’s team.
Things are looking up 👍
The Waratahs’ season of disappointment is suddenly about to turn a new corner, with Dan McKellar set to welcome Test stars Taniela Tupou and Rob Leota at the franchise. And they’re doing a 10 day tour to Japan 🇯🇵 ✈️ at the end of the year 👌
Love it.
“Schmidt’s methodical approach to the game means that at training as players walk through attacking plays, if either a support player, or next-in-rotation pass option isn’t standing on exactly the right spot, the move will be practised again. And again. Ten times over.”
Wearing Wallaby gold is the “dream” and the clear aim for former Waverley College student 21-year-old giant Miles Amatosero who is returning from nearly four years in France to play for the NSW Waratahs.
I hope he performs to the level of his pay packet but I'd prefer to see Jorgo have a full preseason training building his body in preparation of SRP
'Hype and expectation': How 'bloody tough' Jorgo solved Joe's Wallabies 'conundrum' to achieve world first
A flying Filipo Daugunu saved Australia from a Welsh uprising with two spectacular tries in a gritty 36-28 win, but some of the Wallabies’ old issues resurfaced.
And crikey a mediocre crowd of 21,932. That would have given heart flutters to WC organisers 😳
Dan Herbert: “We haven’t had a system that’s been developing coaches, so we’ve got a pretty shallow pool in my view of ready-to-go international coaches. My personal view, and I haven’t discussed this at a board level, is it doesn’t matter if the next coach is an Australian.”
Tim Horan: “If I’m RA, I’m putting as much resources as I can behind the sevens programs. It’s an important pathway to understand the game of rugby, and then they say to mum & dad, ‘I want to go and watch the Reds, I want to go and watch the Wallabies’.”
A conga-line of the NRL’s finest are again fronting up at the US consulate today in a mad scramble to secure their visas for the Las Vegas double header. Embarrassing.
Paris had a charter that said 60% of food in the village had to be vegan friendly & the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options because they hadn’t anticipated so many athletes choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan friendly ones.
Ten five-eighths in 11 years. That’s how many playmakers the Wallabies have used since the British & Irish Lions came to these shores.
James O’Connor who wore 10 in that series, has made the stunning admission that he “didn’t know s...” about playmaking” at the time.
Even the world’s best rugby player has jumped on the Wahs bandwagon.
There’s even a suggestion they will be renamed the ‘wah wahs’ to attract more rugby folk 😝
Hmmm…
Adam Ashley-Cooper: “Im talking to players who are finding out they are getting on a plane to go to a World Cup 12 hours before boarding a flight, talking to reps that are watching training that are seeing chaos. We’re seeing chaos in a game.”
Big story breaking.
The Melbourne Rebels, one of Australia’s five Super Rugby clubs, is struggling to pay its tax bill and even the fees to use its own stadium AAMI Park, as it attempts to manage ongoing financial issues.
Oh dear. Not good Wallabies news;
Hunter Paisami set to miss the rest of the TRC tournament. A host of contenders to take his place.
Charlie Cale is expected to go under the knife to fix a shoulder injury and will miss the rest of the season.
Alan Jones:
“Surely the future of Australian rugby is now in the hands of the gifted former Wallaby Joe Roff. As president of Rugby Australia, he must call an emergency meeting of the board and prosecute a vote of no confidence in the chairman and the “coach”.
Isaac Kailea talking about Wallabies scrum doctor Mike Cron: “Oh, man, just his attention to detail and really nailing down the fundamentals every step of the way. He’s really good at breaking down the scrum and making sure each step, you’re consistent.”
Hear hear Eddie 👍
“And we’ve got to look out for the future of Australian rugby and that’s why having a young captain like Tate and having Carter there has its risks and its foils but also for the future of our sport it’s important.”
A small piece on the rugby league debut of Mark Nawaqanitawase for the Roosters reserve grade team this arvo on channel Nine news just now. He scored a try & had 1 try assist.
Christy: “Carter Gordon’s two left-to-right passes which sent Lachie Anderson in to score twice were straight from the Quade Cooper playbook. No other pass in Australia has matched Cooper’s since he burst onto the scene in 2007.” 👌
Rugby Australia is finally going to get a strategic plan thru to 2032 that will include goals to increase community participation, a blueprint for club rugby & the introduction of a new non-contact form of the game. 🥳
Amid AFLW and NRLW interest, prodigious athlete Maddison Levi has declared her commitment to Australia’s rugby sevens outfit, with her focus firmly fixed on Olympic redemption at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. 👍👌
That’s QLD & now the Brumbies.
“What we don’t support is Rugby Australia’s takeover of our commercial and corporate functions and intellectual property. The Brumbies belong to the people of the ACT and Southern NSW.”
What dope Phil Slothfield failed to mention was the money 💰 league had to pay RA for the early release of the 2 players. Never let the facts ruin a slanted story.
Ruck you! Say rugby women. Australia’s female rugby players have taken an extraordinary stand against Rugby Australia by breaching their contracts to call out a lack of funding for their game.
Directors for the Melbourne Rebels have secured a major victory against Rugby Australia after creditors voted to support a rescue deal to save the debt-laden Super Rugby club.
Buzz Slothfield putting his spin on why Brad Fittler’s son Zach may join the Waratahs. Things like; “there will be less expectations on Zach in union” & “The Roosters are refusing to enter a bidding war with RA”
Perhaps he just wants to play rugby Buzz 💡
New Zealand gold medal 🥇 sevens player Stacey Waaka has been selected as centre for Brisbane Broncos against the Gold Coast Titans where she will oppose former NZ teammate Niall Williams (SBW’s sister).
The Tele recognising our
@Aussie7s
women 👍
And just wow ⬇️
“Maddison Levi, scored 13 of Australia’s 21 tries in Madrid, including three hat-tricks in five games, with 69 tries for the season THE SECOND-BEST TOTAL IN SERIES HISTORY, among men and women.”
Fitzsimons: “I chatted to Eddie Jones off the record before his departure was official and his broad answer was that it was because he had lost belief that Rugby Australia would deliver the resources he needed to turn the Wallabies around.”
A couple of interesting charts here from the SMH today. One shows the Sprinboks away record against major rugby nations. Since 1995, the Boks have won 4 World Cups but only five of 33 Tests in Australia.
The other one is the Wallabies' fortress ranker that shows Suncorp is No. 1
Wouldn’t it have been good if we had a metre eater like Grace Hamilton along with Millie Boyle, Simaima Taufa & Grace Kemp. Speed in Evania Pelite, Yasmin Clydsdale, Emma Tonegato. But we can’t afford a few bob to keep them in rugby. But can afford $1.6M for Crichton 👎🏼
JOC anyone?
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt: “It’s a mental issue with our young 10’s” – BUT says he’ll resist the temptation of parachuting in an experienced No.10.