Australian Rugby Union Season 2016 - Super 18 so far to March


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If you are an Australian Rugby Union supporter, I have no doubt you share my frustrations season by season, especially if you compare the current Australian Super 18 teams with the teams that we had in the late 90's/early 2000's. So far, I've been bewildered at the continued lack of consistency with kickers in Australian teams. It seems that for years the Australian game has focused on attacking Rugby, with an emphasis on scoring tries. This is great against weaker teams, yet when we come up against good defensive teams, and can't get adequate possession and field position, we look ordinary. The last few weeks I've seen the Queensland Reds and New South Wales Waratahs lose games by very slim margins because of poor kicking options and/or percentages.

Why does Australian Rugby not ever learn from how effective England were when they had Jonny Wilkinson and New Zealand when they had Andrew Mehrtens and Dan Carter. Have we had a decent kicker since Michael Lynagh and John Eales? I long for the day when Australia has a kicker who has a shot-for-goal average around 85% or takes 3-point field-goal options from time-to-time.

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Unfortunately I haven't seen much Super Rugby this season but I do normally enjoy it - I shall try to catch up with it over the weekend. It is interesting your point about wanting a reliable goal kicker for those tight games. From an English perspective, European teams seem desperate to play a more open attacking style of rugby that the Australians seem to find natural.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/james-oconnor-is-worlds-best-kicker-under-pressure-study-shows-20140213-32n9t.html

A slightly old yet interesting article. I had heard that 80% of statistics are made up though...

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had to check that the justin beiber article was not dated april 1.

sitting at the debacle that was reds v force and the bloke behind me is whinging about the fact that the south africans have just had an extra team added to the comp. why not us? i nearly fell onto the field. holy crap. we do not have the talent for five teams let alone six. hell, i think we have the talent for 2 1/2 super teams.

nice to hear a nsw fan on about kicking after decades of the bitching we copped with mclean and lynagh. who are still far and away the best two 5/8s this country has ever produced. daylight second. the only argument is which was better.

and they played at a time when kicking was even more important, due to the rules of the time.

it is a crucial part of the game - i know you are focusing on goalkicking (and eales really did not do that much goalkicking - in 86 tests he kicked about 30 conversions and 30 penalties). but one too often neglected.

for the first time in decades, i have not watched the reds, not just once but twice - so sick of rugby and the crap we get in so many ways. i am going to the game v nsw on sunday but i may leave early.

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South Africa do seem to have a conveyor belt producing talent to keep their sides competitive but I'm not sure they need another side in the tournament. With The Sunwolves and Jaguares being introduced I think the balance is right for a few years now.
The game is in a bit of a state at the moment and it is hard to see which direction it is going to take. The breakdown seems key at the moment, but referees aren't able to keep control of it or the mess that is the scrum. I have a feeling that attacking with ball in hand is going to become less common with big defences taking over and forcing errors. The number of times I have seen sides holding perfectly playable ball at the scrum and just waiting for a penalty to be given is infuriating.

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I watched the Reds-Rebels match a few weeks ago. The Reds were down 2 points with 2 minutes to go and they were in the Rebels quarter. Unbelievably, despite Reds kicker Jake McIntyre kicking perfectly for the game, he did not take a shot at field goal until 12 phases had been completed. When he got the ball, he shaped to kick, but then passed to the wing, where the ball was dropped and the match lost. McIntyre had kicked 5 from 5, but I guess he can't drop goal to win games. In contrast, Rebels kicker, Jack Debreczeni, kicked 5 penalties and a conversion for 20 points for the Rebels to win, which they did despite the Reds scoring 2 tries to one. Contrast this to Stephen Larkham's winning drop goal from near halfway in the 1999 World Cup Semi-final against South Africa or Jonny Wilkinson's opposite foot match-winning drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final.

Similarly, what were the Waratahs thinking in giving Kurtley Beale kicking responsibilities this year? In a match were the Waratahs were down 30-0 after 56 minutes against the Highlanders (and at Home), somehow they managed to comeback and score 4 tries. And so what...when you can't kick and you end up losing 30-26, despite scoring more tries. If Australian Rugby wants to improve, they need to address this part of their game and stop ignoring it.

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I watched the Reds-Rebels match a few weeks ago. The Reds were down 2 points with 2 minutes to go and they were in the Rebels quarter. Unbelievably, despite Reds kicker Jake McIntyre kicking perfectly for the game, he did not take a shot at field goal until 12 phases had been completed. When he got the ball, he shaped to kick, but then passed to the wing, where the ball was dropped and the match lost. McIntyre had kicked 5 from 5, but I guess he can't drop goal to win games. In contrast, Rebels kicker, Jack Debreczeni, kicked 5 penalties and a conversion for 20 points for the Rebels to win, which they did despite the Reds scoring 2 tries to one. Contrast this to Stephen Larkham's winning drop goal from near halfway in the 1999 World Cup Semi-final against South Africa or Jonny Wilkinson's opposite foot match-winning drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final.

Similarly, what were the Waratahs thinking in giving Kurtley Beale kicking responsibilities this year? In a match were the Waratahs were down 30-0 after 56 minutes against the Highlanders (and at Home), somehow they managed to comeback and score 4 tries. And so what...when you can kick you end up losing 30-26, despite scoring more tries. If Australian Rugby wants to improve, they need to address this part of their game and stop ignoring it.

john, the report on mcintyre was that he was knackered. normally apparently a good drop goal exponent but by that stage of the game he was stuffed and apparently did not feel he could guarantee the goal so they ran it.

the problem was that our former idiot-in-charge, had goramoru (or whatever) on the sideline ready to come on and the bloke is apparently a specialist but graham could not find a suitable moment to get him on the field. what a farce.

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went to the game yesterday.

I did say I’d had enough. I relented on this occasion as obviously qld v nsw is above just rugby (or used to be – the other 35 people at the ground might have thought so as well, but spare me, what a dismal crowd – although no doubt we’ll be told there were 20,000 there. Lucky to have been 20,000 in the entire suburb yesterday). Just on the crowd, a club league game sells out Suncorp. The show piece of the rugby season, outside the tests (although there was a time where for many, this game was more important than any test), gets about 100. May be a few more. Who said rugby is stuffed?

While on that, the level of skill in the two games – remembering that it was a club game v an interstate game – was not just a chasm. The Grand Canyon should be so deep. Milford, JT, Gillett, tamololo, Morgan, Roberts, Boyd, and so on. And for the rugby… thought gill outstanding for the half he played (a rumour suggests there is a chance he’ll stay – but given he is getting over a mill a year in France, hard to see) and Ready – if that kid is not going to be wallaby hooker for a decade, I’ll watch synchronised swimming. Was told about him by a highly regarded junior coach a few years ago but I don’t think they thought he’d be so good so soon. Mind you, so what do the QRU do, knowing they have this kid coming through the ranks? Sign up Moore to give him a pension for three years. You think this kid is planning on sitting on the bench for three years. I’ll bet the brumbies are already planning to sign him. So we can play against another qld star for ten years. That will be the final straw. Actually, worse would be the filth signing him. I’d burn my ticket. That would send me homicidal.

Frisby fair but some mistakes. their number 6 was impressive. Izzy of course. The overall nsw defence was good, but to be honest, it really was not challenged that much. their scrum is a cesspool. their chances of making the finals only marginally better than ours. And ours are zero.

The usual appalling ref’ing. We got a few go our way but some shockers against us – that yellow card was a disgrace. An example of a cowardly ref taking the easy option. What a crock. And he could not spell offside, let alone enforce it. Also, it is not his job to let the game flow by allowing hands in rucks and knock-ons to go unpunished. but what of the linesmen? almost made you wish for that arrogant showpony, kaplan, who likes to interfere in everything. not sure which is worse.

And of course, we made our usual quota of monumentally stupid plays and decisions. An eales, horan, loane, genia et al at half time to take control and say enough, get off, don’t cock it up. Instead? Spare me.

That said, I suspect that the game was much more of a spectacle at the ground – not sure why. Even though we lost, most people there seemed to enjoy it far more than anyone who watched on tv. Certainly the best game I’ve seen at Suncorp for a while. With Gill back, some hope that we’ll be competitive. Worth going to games to see him and Ready but beyond that, a waste of time.

Still, if the filth don’t make the finals, the season is not a total disaster.

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You'd think both the Reds and the Waratahs, in comparison to the Brumbies performance in Round 5 vs the Cheetahs in South Africa, are unlikely to feature in the finals this year.

And, what about that atmosphere and build-up at the ground at Suncorp for the Rugby (Union game)? Compare it to the Rugby League with the North Queensland Cowboys playing the Brisbane Broncos in the 2015 grand final re-match on Friday night that had the nation in 'fits of rapture' over the Easter long weekend.

Quite how the ARU has sold out the rights to their premier Rugby Union game (between the Reds and the Waratahs) has me quite bewildered as the NRL certainly got it right this weekend.

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Andrew Slack says that the old rivalry of Qld v NSW is dead. He is not wrong.

The Reds squad has 39 players in it. Of those 39, only Browning, Frisby, Kuridrani, Magnay, Greene, Gunn and Tuttle were born in Brisbane. Holmes born in Warwick and Slipper on the gold coast.

9 of the 39 are qlders. Less than one quarter. We have far more kiwis in the squad than Qlders. We probably have more from nsw though that was too depressing to consider so I didn’t check that.

So the Qld Reds have just one starter born in Brisbane. One. And a total of 3 starters born in Qld, assuming both Slipper and Holmes start.

Any wonder, no one cares any more.

If I had the time, I would check the other squads but I would be very surprised if several of them didn’t have more Qlders than the Reds.

The utter shame of allowing a situation like this to develop. The entire board should not just be sacked but waterboarded, tarred and feathered and then hung, drawn and quartered.

I suspect that even the AFL Lions have more Qlders in the team than the Reds. The board has all the administrative ability of a third rate political party only with less integrity.

sorry - just re-checked and simmons, ready and schatz fell through the cracks. Still not good.

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I managed to catch up and watch the Reds NSW. I thought It was a decent game and I'm not sure about the rivalry being gone, there seemed plenty of edge to both sides and a desire to win.

Ken your point about the lack of Queenslanders playing is interesting and one I have noticed in English sides. There is a real lack of players playing for their local clubs. I suppose it's just the growing professional nature of the game but I would like to think that 'imported' players will take an interest in a teams history and realise what some games mean to the supporters who were there before they arrived and will stick around long after they have moved on. Players who can't get fired up on derby day don't usually stick around too long.

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I managed to catch up and watch the Reds NSW. I thought It was a decent game and I'm not sure about the rivalry being gone, there seemed plenty of edge to both sides and a desire to win.

Ken your point about the lack of Queenslanders playing is interesting and one I have noticed in English sides. There is a real lack of players playing for their local clubs. I suppose it's just the growing professional nature of the game but I would like to think that 'imported' players will take an interest in a teams history and realise what some games mean to the supporters who were there before they arrived and will stick around long after they have moved on. Players who can't get fired up on derby day don't usually stick around too long.

a famous queensland coach, knuckles connolly (and an extremely successful one, as well) had the wallaby prop, andrew blades, in the qld side for a few years. blades is a great mate of one of my mates and i have met him a number of times. good bloke, for a nsw player.

he told me that all was well between him and knuckles until the annual game against nsw. knuckles made him bring an old nsw jersey to training one year and had him destroy it in front of all the qlders to prove his allegiance to the reds. tear it up and burn the remains on the field at ballymore. another year, every time he turned up for training, the rest of the squad would be getting back in their cars to go home. knuckles kept telling him the wrong time for training as he was not certain he could trust a former nsw player not to tell his old team mates the plans. and one year he confiscated blades' phone. was not having him talking to anyone from nsw. now, both sides are there, backslapping and joking before and after the game. it seems to mean far more to the old players and old fans than it does this mob.

i remember blades' face after telling me these stories. he just looked at me and said, 'god, queenslanders are weird'.

but it is this attitude that made qld, as a minor state, so unbelievably successful for so long and it also transfers across to the origin. crazy to think that the state with around 20% of the players in the NRL has been so dominant in origin.

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Yeah, well how many people in New Zealand and how good are they at Union? They learn to value winning from a young age in New Zealand playing Rugby. I wish Australian Rugby was as strong at it was in the 90's/early 2000's.

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Yeah, well how many people in New Zealand and how good are they at Union? They learn to value winning from a young age in New Zealand playing Rugby. I wish Australian Rugby was as strong at it was in the 90's/early 2000's.

actually nz has way more people playing rugby than we do. all very well for them to claim tiny nation status but they have a much bigger pool from which to chose. of course, as their number one sport, it gets the talent and the focus. fair enough. we can't whinge simply because they get more kids involved and more interest. no one to blame but ourselves.

if you are a young brizzy kid, do you want to follow in the footsteps of JT or anthony milford who played a club game in front of a sold out suncorp to endless acclaim or do you want to follow in the footsteps of jake mcintyre and the rest of the hapless water buffaloes stuck in the mud and masquerading as the reds backline, in front of about 18 bewildered fans, and this is supposed to be the jewel in the crown of non-test rugby?

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Yes exactly. The Australian Rugby League Kangaroos have no issue with their pool of talent whereas the Wallabies need to change the rules to allow players who play overseas to play for us. How did it come this you wonder?

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a famous queensland coach, knuckles connolly (and an extremely successful one, as well) had the wallaby prop, andrew blades, in the qld side for a few years. blades is a great mate of one of my mates and i have met him a number of times. good bloke, for a nsw player.

he told me that all was well between him and knuckles until the annual game against nsw. knuckles made him bring an old nsw jersey to training one year and had him destroy it in front of all the qlders to prove his allegiance to the reds. tear it up and burn the remains on the field at ballymore. another year, every time he turned up for training, the rest of the squad would be getting back in their cars to go home. knuckles kept telling him the wrong time for training as he was not certain he could trust a former nsw player not to tell his old team mates the plans. and one year he confiscated blades' phone. was not having him talking to anyone from nsw. now, both sides are there, backslapping and joking before and after the game. it seems to mean far more to the old players and old fans than it does this mob.

i remember blades' face after telling me these stories. he just looked at me and said, 'god, queenslanders are weird'.

but it is this attitude that made qld, as a minor state, so unbelievably successful for so long and it also transfers across to the origin. crazy to think that the state with around 20% of the players in the NRL has been so dominant in origin.

I love stories like this! I remember Connolly from his days with Bath rugby, he certainly was a character.

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Yes exactly. The Australian Rugby League Kangaroos have no issue with their pool of talent whereas the Wallabies need to change the rules to allow players who play overseas to play for us. How did it come this you wonder?

Sadly it goes hand in hand with the growing money coming into union. As the money increases players won't be able to stay loyal to their home club who will suddenly have the money to buy the big names. Players these days are getting unbelievably big and yet are in peak condition, it is like looking at whole sides of Lomus at times. When a sudden injury can kill a guys career before he has peaked you can't blame them for taking the big bucks in France/abroad. I'm not too sure about RL and how money in Aus compares to England etc, but I assume there isn't too big a difference if they are holding on to a lot of their talent.

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It is all about the dollars. I was thinking this when I learnt that the West Indies made the Twenty20 World Cup final this morning but have no interest in Test Cricket whatsoever!

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When the best Australian conference site, the Brumbies, loses 48-23 to the Chiefs at home in Round 6 of the Super 18, it justifies, in my mind, the view that the ARU have sold out the game by thinning our ranks so much. In Australia, there should be no more than three provisional sides, the NSW Waratahs, the Queensland Reds and the Western Force. The Melbourne Rebels will never have a 'following' because Victoria is, and always will be, AFL 'mad'. The Western Force at least have a large and faithful fan-base, they pull in a crowd, even if they are wooden spoon contenders.

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  • 2 weeks later...

interesting to see that the muppets at the ARU made a loss last year. in a world cup year. if they ran businesses like that, they'd be rightfully sacked on the spot. other codes go from strength to strength. these idiots wouldn't see a mack truck if it was about to run them down.

but even more concern? club rugby numbers - that is the kids, the grassroots of the sport. down 7% apparently. in a world cup year. they could not run a bath.

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I saw this in the news this morning and thought it interesting. Australia have reached the World Cup final and yet interest is down? I would assume that players in Australia are not paid top money either (this is an assumption purely based on the number of players who go to Europe to play for big money) so the overheads shouldn't be too big along with a comparatively smaller professional player pool. Someone at the top must be living rather comfortably...

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I saw this in the news this morning and thought it interesting. Australia have reached the World Cup final and yet interest is down? I would assume that players in Australia are not paid top money either (this is an assumption purely based on the number of players who go to Europe to play for big money) so the overheads shouldn't be too big along with a comparatively smaller professional player pool. Someone at the top must be living rather comfortably...

the ARU wallow about like pigs in the proverbial. and bleed the juniors and clubs. shortsighted, basically criminal, they way they treat the game. the players are paid very well in aussie terms which is still well in general terms but not quite the massive money they can get in europe.

rugby league, soccer and aussie rules (i know aussie rules do because i have had mates in very senior admin positions) just giggle at rugby. seen as a dying sport. not considered a threat at all.

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the ARU wallow about like pigs in the proverbial. and bleed the juniors and clubs. shortsighted, basically criminal, they way they treat the game. the players are paid very well in aussie terms which is still well in general terms but not quite the massive money they can get in europe.

rugby league, soccer and aussie rules (i know aussie rules do because i have had mates in very senior admin positions) just giggle at rugby. seen as a dying sport. not considered a threat at all.

If it is any consolation the ARU are not alone in being mindless self-serving morons. The RFU seem to only be there to ensure their coffers are kept topped up to brimming point. Their appointment of Stuart Lancaster was definitely the 'cheap' option at the time and worked out marvelously...

The top unions around the world need to sort themselves out and consider what is actually best for the game rather than their bank balances and keeping their mates in jobs. It will take a side like Japan or Argentina getting consistent results against top nations before much changes and even then I'm not too sure what they would do other than choke on their prawn sandwiches.

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