Tag Archives: rugby

RWC2023

Springboks Rule Supreme, Again

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So the 2023 Rugby World Cup has been decided in Paris by one point between two giants of the rugby world in South Africa and New Zealand. As the rain came down at Saint-Denis the Springboks went about their business of acquiring points through the boot of Handre Pollard to be up 12-6 at half-time. The only points in the second half was an unconverted try by Beauden Barrett that left the All Blacks one short at the end to lose by the slimmest of margins, 11-12.

After seven weeks of intense battle, the two teams that had each won the tournament three times a piece, were left to fight the final battle. The Northern Hemisphere had said that the Southern Hemisphere were not up to standard, but some performances of Fiji and Argentina, in particular, were worth taking note of. Despite this, Australia performed badly losing to Fiji for the first time in 69 years and being thumped by Wales 40-6 in the Pool stages which meant they could not reach the knockout stages for the first time in World Cup history. A lot of the blame can be laid on the coach, Eddie Jones, for not preparing his young team to do better. As a consequence, he has resigned from his position.

However, the final came down to two teams that had lost one match each in their respective Pool matches. New Zealand lost to France, 13-27, and South Africa lost to Ireland, 8-13. Ironically, those matches were reversed in the quarter-finals where New Zealand defeated Ireland, 28-24, and South Africa defeated France, 29-28. While the All Blacks had an easy route over Los Pumas, 44-6, in the semi-final the Springboks did it much harder against a determined English side to win by a single point, 16-15.

It is a true testament that the Springbok team could galvanise under Siya Kolisi to win a fourth Webb-Ellis trophy, back-to-back champions. And not just the team as Kolisi says, “Our country goes through such a lot and we are that very hope that they have”. They had plenty of support in the crowd as well, none more so than tennis great Roger Federer whose mother is South African. Well done!

Photo courtesy of Reddit

RWC2023

Wallabies Put To The Sword

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The ancient Roman city of Lugdunum (modern day Lyon) was where the Australian Wallabies met their Waterloo. And just as many martyrs have died in the various colisseums scattered throughout the city, the wounded Wallabies join this pile. Coming into the match against Wales they had suffered their first defeat in 69 years, 15-22, at the hands of their South Pacific cousins, Fiji. Being put to the sword with a 40-6 thumping by the Welsh, Australian rugby is at an all-time low and staring down the possibility of not getting out of their Pool for the first time in World Cup history.

The recriminations against their coach, the talismanic Eddie Jones, have already began with quarter-final positions not yet decided. If he did take a call from the Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU), to which he strongly denied, before the World Cup then the distractions before the important Wales match can be justified; if not then a really bad look from the Australian media. Rugby is based more and more around the coach’s instructions and if that trust is lost the team can become disorientated. This certainly looked the case when Samu Kerevi seemed to be the only Wallaby making any penetration in the first half when they had plenty of possession. Nothing they tried seemed to come to fruition and the Welsh defence was more than adequate to the task and kept the scoreboard ticking over every time they were down Australia’s end. Down 16-6 at half-time the Aussies were still in the fight, but poor judgement let them down and a masterclass by Gareth Anscombe meant the men from Gaul would be deserved victors in Lyon.

Many Wallaby fans had travelled over for the match but became disillusioned early when Gareth Davies scored in the 3rd minute and was subsequently converted by Dan Biggar. Biggar was substituted in the 12th minute by Gareth Anscombe who manged to knock over three penalties after missing the first to make the score 16-6 at the break.

CJ with Wallaby fan before the match.

The second half began as the first finished with an Anscombe penalty. By the time Nick Tompkins scored in the 48th minute the Wallaby supporters became subdued and the Welsh singing began to pick up. It was not a happy night to be wearing Green and Gold. The final score of 40-6 was a knife to the heart of diehard Wallaby fans and the possibility that they might night continue to the quarters unfathomable.

Womens Rugby

Japanese Womens Rugby Team Makes History on the Gold Coast

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Last Tuesday night at Bond University on the Gold Coast the Japanese women’s rugby team, known as the Sakura 15, defeated the Wallaroos 12 to 10. Despite 10 personnel and positional changes due to COVID Tests on the eve the match, they were able to overcome their more fancied rivals.

The first half was dominated by the decidedly larger Aussie side in both scrums and lineouts. However, the tenacious Japanese side made their tackles and held them out to keep the score at nil-all going to the sheds.

@brisbanerugby on Instagram

In the second half it was No. 10 Ayasa Otsuka that kicked through a dropped ball by the Wallaroos in their own 22 to snatch a try in the 49th minute. She successfully converted her try to put the Sakura 15 ahead 7-0.

The Wallaroos continued to work the ball downfield and off a rolling maul, Ashley Masteri, was in for the Aussies first score. The Sakura 15 put some good phases together and eventually put Kyoko Hosokawa in to extend their lead to 12-5. However, the Wallaroos were not going to give in and Adiana Talakai managed to cross out wide. Once again Lori Crammer missed the conversion so the score remained 10-12. Crammer had an easier penalty shot in the 79th minute to steal the match for the Wallaroos, but was unsuccessful. Crammer’s 0 and 3 with the boot proved decisive for the home team.

Courtesy of Japan Rugby Football Union.

The short turnaround from Friday night’s 36-19 demolition of Fijiana at Suncorp Stadium was no excuse for Jay Tregonning fielding the same 23. The last time the two sides met on the 19th of July, 2019, the Aussies won 46-3 after beating them 34-5 on the 13th of July, 2019. The only other time the two side have met was the 17th of August, 2017, at the Rugby World Cup in Ireland where the Wallaroos were also victorious winning 29-15.

It was history making on the Gold Coast for the Sakura 15 with plenty of Japanese in the crowd. This bodes well for their campaign for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year in October/November.

Photo courtesy of Nao Hirano on Facebook.
Brisbanerugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union, Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific

Reds Holdout Fijian Drua to Remain Undefeated

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Heading in to Round 5 of Super Rugby Pacific, only the Brumbies and the Reds remain undefeated. They face off against each other this Friday in Canberra to see which team remains undefeated for the 2022 season. The matchup between Tom Banks and Jordan Petaia at fullback will be interesting ahead of Wallaby selection. Petaia played a great game there for the Reds in his first chance to run on with the 15 jersey. Both in attack and defence he imposed himself as a real contender for the Wallaby role there.
Petaia’s try saving tackle courtesy of Super Rugby Pacific

An injury ravaged Reds held out Fijian Drua at the weekend, ironically, it was a Fijian in Seru Uru that saved the Reds from an embarrassing result. Up four tries to nil with 15 minutes to go it looked like the Reds were heading for a bonus point victory until the visitors scored three unanswered tries in quick succession. With less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock the scores were locked at 28-all before Uru reached over from a maul to score a five-pointer taking the score to 33-28 to the Reds. That is not where the drama ended as Uru stole a lineout off the Fijians on the Queensland line at the fulltime mark to deny them drawing level or even winning.

Coach Brad Thorn said, “For our team, a game like that can be a challenge because there’s space and there’s opportunities but you’ve almost got to rein it in a little bit.

“Keep your patience, don’t overplay – that’s probably how I would assess that.”

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 12: Seru Uru of the Reds runs the ball during the round four Super Rugby Pacific match between the Queensland Reds and the Fijian Drua at Suncorp Stadium on March 12, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Uru’s (pictured above) standout performance has made Thorn’s job a little bit harder this week with the expected return of captain Liam Wright in the position Uru was playing. It’s really a good headache to have knowing that the Reds have depth and that the guys will really put in for each other when their chance comes. That depth will be really tested on Friday when they come up against the Brumbies that are also in red hot form.

Brisbanerugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union, Super Rugby

Suncorp Sayonara

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What was billed as a double header with four nations involved turned out to be a fizzer due to coronavirus with a paltry 7335 swallowed by the cavernous 52,000-seat Suncorp Stadium. Not that the action on the field suffered. With the tenacious Sunwolves holding out the mighty crusaders in the first half nearly going to the break 7-all. It was only basic errors up against a far superior opponent that meant that the scoreline got away to14-49 loss, despite their numerical advantage of two players at the death. Jake Shatz said he was proud of the way his boys stuck it to the more fancied Kiwis and as the Japanese coach, Naoya Okubo, told me after the match that the camaraderie amongst his squad being away from their Tokyo base for so long has been great. Of course, having a few local Aussie members has helped and there has been no shortage of local clubs bending over backwards to provide training pitches non gratis.

The Reds, unaffected by the lower then normal turnout, proved my early assessment correct that this cohort will go places. Down 0-17 they dug deep to show the faithful that their 4-try haul against the Crusaders last week could be backed up scoring 41 unanswered points to win 41-17. Captain courageous, Liam Wright (picture courtesy of Brendan Hertel QRU), has put Michael Hooper on notice that his cushy multi-million dollar contract might mean he can purchase more houses on Sydney’s North Shore but he doesn’t haven’t a mortgage on the Wallabies position.

Another massive performance from Lukan Salakai-Loto, who told me after the match he prefers No. 6 for the Wallabies, and BrisbaneRugby favourite son Isaac Lucus added to the positives from this match ahead of Super Rugby going into a hiatus. And when live-wire halfback Tate McDermott came on the team lifted another notch.

CJ with Tate McDermott on Instagram @brisbanerugbycom
Global Rapid Rugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union, Super Rugby

The Sun Also Rises

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The nomadic Sunwolves should make the Sunshine State their home base in their final Super Rugby season, moreover Townsville in the north with a new 25,000-seat stadium. It would be a win-win for all parties concerned starting with their match against the Reds on April 5. The north has been crying out for a Super Rugby match, something they haven’t experienced since 2006 and, as I reported last year, there is a healthy following of rugby union up there: https://brisbanerugby.com/2019/07/09/rugby-in-the-regions/.

With the onset of coronavirus tourism has had a huge setback and I’m sure Tourism & Events Minister, Kate Jones, would bend over backwards to help the Japanese team out. The extra Japanese eyeballs on the area would be welcome, especially if they played out the rest of their ‘home’ games there and their Tokyo supporters made there way to Tropical Queensland.

Honorable Member for Ashgrove, Kate Jones. Photo courtsy of The Courier Mail.

The Sunwolves are like ronin, or masterless samurai, although they are a motley crew of ex-pat Aussie, Kiwis, South Africans and some Japanese they do have some local Queensland representatives, such as captain Jake Shatz, to build some domestic support behind moving forward especially if they evolve into a team in Global Rapid Rugby next season. I know Tim Horan’s son Alex, who debuted for the Sunwolves two weeks ago in New Zealand, has two compatriots in Townsville at James Cook University that played Colts with him in Brisbane that would be getting behind the side.

Twiggy Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby
Brisbanerugby, Global Rapid Rugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union, RWC2019

What Did We Learn from the Weekend?

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If reports out of France are true it’s au voire to Kurtley Beale as they will pay for his retirement through French Club Racing 92. Good riddance I’d say as he’s well past his use-by date, costing us a semifinal berth at RWC2019 last year. I know he had to go along to Cheika’s Waratahs swansong in Japan as reward for winning the Super Rugby title in 2014; though when is enough enough? I still remember how he lined up for that unmissable final kick at Lang Park in 2013 to defeat the British & Irish Lions in Game 1; what a disgrace. He may have slotted that 50m+ bomb at Loftus to break a Wallaby drought of wins on the high veldt, but that British & Irish Lions debacle was a bridge too far. Giving him the captaincy at the weekend didn’t change a thing, Kurtley is still Kurtley Beale; when he’s good he’s very very good, but when he’s bad he’s awful.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. “There’s a lot to like about the Reds of 2020”. With James O’Conner nursing an ankle injury, Brad Thorn gave BrisbaneRugby favourite son, Izaac Lukus (pictured with CJ), a licence to thrill in the No. 10 jersey and he didn’t disappoint. Up against All Black pivot Richie Mo’unga he was not afraid to take on the champion defence. The most successful team in the 25 years of Super Rugby were unsure of how to take the young Queenslanders; they even looked rattled in attack. Thorn knows how well they prepare at home, being a past Crusaders player himself, so he would have been delighted with the narrow loss. My daughter even noted the 20-24 loss saying that the Reds must have been ‘aweful’ and I informed her that the Reds actually scored 4 tries to 3; leaving 8 points on the field.

Along with my Souths Rugby Club compatriot, Andrew Slack, I was equally concerned why the rotation policy had meant that live-wire halfback, Tate McDermott. wasn’t in the run-on 15 for this must win clash. They opted for Samoan halfback, Scott Malolua to have over an hour of game time. Admittedly, Lukan Salakai-Loto showed his rest from the starting 15 last week earned him Green & Gold MOM this week.

Timely return to Ballymore for English kicking guru, Dave Alred. The Kiwis can, South Africa can. How good would it be to have a Leigh Halfpenny, a Dan Bigger or even Owen Farrell all banging over 100% at Twickenham over the weekend in their Round Four clash. Three tries a piece but the scoreline read England 33-30 over Wales. It’s what makes the Guinness Six Nations so attractive to corporate sponsorship. Game management by England was key to their weekend win and another Triple Crown. Raelene Castle should be checking Eddie Jones’ contractual arrangements, to try to get him back in time for France 2023 World Cup. (Full report of Six Nations RD #4: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/77206314/posts/2617244225)

With Andrew Twiggy Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby speeding up the game with shorter halves. Alan Jones wrote in The Australian on Friday about extending the time, allegedly to account for ‘time wasting’ with scrums. As with The Australian’s Rugby Editor, Wayne Smith, I too was intrigued by the novel concept of extending the halves by 5 minutes to match football, ie. soccer.

Aussie 7s in Vancouver were unlucky to go down 14-17 to the NZ 7s in the HSBC Sevens Series Cup final. Aussie 7s haven’t beaten the Kiwis in a 7s final since Brisbane 2002.

Brisbanerugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union

Revamped Reds on Kiwi Crusade

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There’s a lot to like about this 2020 Reds side despite only one win from six outings. Easing Brisbanerugby favourite Izaac Lukus back into the starting pivot as James O’Conner sits out this week with the ankle injury he sustained in last weeks loss to the Sharks at Lang Park. I like what Brad Thorn is doing over at Ballymore resting his chargers, such as livewire halfback Tate McDermott coming off the pine today in Christchurch as he has chosen to start with Samoan national rep, Scott Malolua at 9. Also, Wallaby utility forward, Lukan Salakaia-Loto is back starting replacing Izack Rodda (calf niggle) in the second row, with Angus Scott-Young retained as blind side flanker.

I’m thinking 2010 Reds under Ewen McKenzie and we all know what happened in 2011.

Brisbanerugby, NRC, Premier Rugby, Reds Rugby, Rugby Australia, rugby union, Super Rugby, U20s Rugby

Reds Ravage Hapless Sunwolves

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Almost 12,000 people (official crowd 11,798) watched the first home match for the Reds at Suncorp Stadium last night; a 37% increase from the 8,600 that last year watched this fixture against the Sunwolves. Scoring 10 tries to 1, to win 64-5, is sure to bring the faithful supporters back and Brad Thorn said he was very excited about this team. He said, having someone like Hunter Paisami coming in for the injured Jordan Petaia was a revelation. A player in the mold that Thorn likes; trains hard with a good attitude.

Thorn has said earlier this season that his younger chargers have been progressing for a number of years, whether it be Schoolboys, U19s, U20s or NRC: “90% of our players have come through the system here in Queensland, which shows what we are trying to do here.”

The prodigal son, Jame O’Conner, erased his 2015 Reds nightmare last night as he orchestrated the Reds highest ever Super Rugby score; eclipsing there previous best 53-3 in 2011 against the Rebels..

Fi
James O’Conner was the crowd favourite last night at Suncorp Stadium.
RWC2019, RWC2019Japan

Wake up Japan, this is bigger than the Olympics

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Well technically not, as it’s only the third biggest global sporting event. A mere 20 nations qualifying after an exhaustive elimination process, however, the tournament is three times longer at six-weeks and 12 venues from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The influx of foreign invaders will be the greatest since Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853 at Shimoda.

Pools RWC2019
The four Pools of five competing for a place in the knockout series.

Perennial favourites the All Blacks from New Zealand will be looking for an unprecedented three-peat, having won the last two incarnations in 2011 & 2015. Although, Ireland will go into the tournament as World No. 1, due to the quirky World Rugby algorithm that determines placings. Never before have the ‘Men in Green’ made a RWC Final, although their Quarter-Final match against RWC1991 winners, the Wallabies, at Landsdown Road will go down as ‘the one that got away‘.

The teams descending on Japan, somewhat delayed due to Typhoon Faxai, should be embraced by the Japanese populous along with the tsunami of international supporters. Rugby people are a different breed: beer-swilling aficionados as opposed to football (soccer in the English speaking world outside of England) hooligans. They will appreciate the culture, the ceremonies, the nature and the history that abounds there; as well as the onsen or hot springs, the most renowned are found in Beppu, Kyushu; with matches played in Oita, including two very important quarter-finals, these are a must-see (map below).Beppu Area Map

Visiting Japan 12 months out from the Rugby World Cup I got a sense that the ‘general’ Japanese population were somewhat unaware of the tournament. When questioned they would reply with, “Tokyo 2020?” Just last week at a theme park on the Gold Coast some university students visiting from Japan on their summer break in Australia looked puzzled when I said I was going to Japan for the Rugby World Cup (admittedly, they were from Ibaraki Prefecture, an hour or so north of Tokyo on the Joban Line, where no matches are being played). Also in Australia, when people ask why I am going to Japan the response often is, “Do they play rugby in Japan?”

Undoubtedly, when RWC2019 begins this Friday at Ajinomoto Stadium the vast majority will get on board. Not everyone is a diehard rugby fan, but when a spectacle such as the Rugby World Cup is on your doorstep you can be assured that the populous will respond and Japanese ‘omotenashi‘ (hospitality) will come to the fore. At the 2015 tournament, 25 million in Japan tuned in to watch Japan v Samoa on their television sets, so the interest is there. The other takeout from that tournament held in the UK was the 34-32 last-minute win over the Springboks by the Japanese Brave Blossoms; recreated in cinema with the just-released “Miracle in Brighton“.

CJ at Ajinomoto Stadium
CJ last year at Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo.

Rugby Union has a long history in Japan dating from 1866 in Yokohama and, while being more popular in the universities, the company based Top League has started to attract larger crowds. Unfortunately, Japan’s Super Rugby team the Sunwolves will be axed from the competition after the 2020 season, though I’m sure their company based Top League will eventually open up to international teams from Hong Kong and Perth (convincing the JRFU will be a challenge, though).

All and all this bodes well for a spectacular tournament that I am very much looking forward to attending. 楽しみですネ‼match_schedule_2019may001.jpeg