The Rugby World Cup 2007

Lee Coan wrote this article.
The top 10 is starting to settle down a bit with familiar faces at the top of the log. The Crusaders boys are running 1 – 2, followed by our Fantasy captain Newb.

petdr looks for clues

1 Mainlander 30.33
2 dogmaniac 29.33
3 Newb 29.00
4 chief 28.00
5 Tangawizi 27.75
6 Marto 27.50
7 SA 26.75
8 waratahjesus 26.25
9 Cheezel 26.00
10 Milly 26.00
The player of the round was, unsuprisingly, a Reds’ fan who tipped them to beat the Chiefs. Also not surprisingly, that kind of blind loyalty is seldom rewarded, so petdr is still back in 67th.
He’s in good company, though. Moses is 64th, Noddy 76th, and Gagger 80th. But don’t despair. If you can’t make the Top 10, at least you can beat The Dark Shark. He’s back in 79th, so set your sights on that.
This week, there’s no Walk of Shame (it would be too long a walk). This week, we want to draw attention to the Red Army, the Irrationals, the Nutbags, the Ferals, who tipped the Reds to beat the Chiefs. Full credit to Red Slug, PresqueVu, Eggs, petdr, Cheezel, Sandpit Fan, AGTpkt, Bobas, and Reds!!!
And remember, if you’re not in the top half, don’t chuck a sook face, keep tipping, you might win our much-prized 80 Minutes Award, for the last place tipper to get their tips in every round.

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Lee Coan wrote this article.
Despite what our Super 14 round-up says, I believe the real star of the Reds win over the Chiefs last weekend was none other than Ewen “Link” McKenzie.
Even the most rabid Reds supporters had thought that playing the rampaging Chiefs at home while missing a run-on back 3 and three of the teams’ top internationals was a bridge way too far. But while he surely wouldn’t have chosen it, I believe Link must’ve had a secret smile all last week in the lead up to the game for he knew that if this young team could execute his gameplan, there was almost no need for a back three at all.
Click here to view the embedded video.
So what was his master strategy? Well if you’re a long term listener to RuggaMatrix, you would have heard him talk several times about the way to beat a team with an exaggerated wide playing style; of which there is no better example than the Chiefs. You starve their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.
The Chiefs strengths aren’t hard to spot; they have one of, if not the world’s best broken play back three in Sivivatu, Muliaina and Masaga, combined with a backrow that thrives on scavenging and running wide. A potent mix, if they can get the ball, especially from kick returns or turnovers where defensive lines aren’t set and there is space. This was the key to the Reds game plan; to starve the Chiefs of their favourite forms of possession.
In terms of kicking, the Reds kicked a total of 14 times, almost half of the number of times they kicked the previous week versus the Blues (27). Within those kicks, the Chiefs could made only 4 kick returns, although predictably, even these few kicks were punished by the Waikato men.
To cut off the other supply of prime Chiefs ball – turnovers – the Reds opted for an extreme form of ’short-side’ rugby; close running through and around the ruck, where the new ruck interpretations and concentration of their forward power protected the ball. The Reds started 106 ruck/mauls vs 63 by the Chiefs, and numbers 1-9 made 67 runs for 236m vs 32 runs for 148m by the same players for the kiwis.
At the same time, the Chiefs style of keeping their forwards out wide meant that metres were easy to come by in close. As you can see in the video above, the Chiefs were quite happy to commit as few as 3 men to defend a rolling maul, so entrenched is their wide ball philosophy. This would surely not have gone unnoticed by other Super 14 coaches.
There’s another aspect to this gameplan, which is that by starving a team of what they love to do, you apply a mental pressure that eventually reaps dividends. While they started with a bang, as the Reds gameplan started to take hold, the Chiefs psyche gradually crumbled. By the end of the game they couldn’t take a trick, and the superb kick chase try by […]

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Lee Coan wrote this article.

Shirley.

Well that was quite the round.  Three wins from three games for the Aussie teams. For the first time since SANZAR expanded the Super 12 competition into the Super 14 competition in 2006, all Australian teams playing on the weekend won. Surely you can’t be serious? I am serious and don’t ca….well….you should know the rest.  On the face of it, it seems an amazing stat. In reality though? Well in reality the Reds have sucked since then, and the Force haven’t been too crash hot either.  But that was then! This…this is now!
It really was an interesting round. The Reds somehow beat the Chiefs after having three tries run up against them pretty damn quick. The Chiefs had just returned from South Africa, sure, but it was a rarely seen never-say-die attitude that won the day for the Reds.  Reaction to wins by the Brumbies and Waratahs was less effusive. In fact fans of both teams were not overly impressed. The Tahs copped most of the flack, as their supporters are want to do, whilst the problem at the Brumbies seems to be the non-form of the likes of Mortlock and Giteau in particular.
But enough of who wasn’t performing. This is about who was performing, and let’s get right to it.
Team of the Round
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper (BRUMBIES) 
14 Pat McCabe (BRUMBIES)
13 Morgan Turinui (REDS)
12 Anthony Faingaa (REDS)
11 Francis Fainifo (BRUMBIES)
10 Quade Cooper (REDS)
9 Will Genia (REDS)
8 Stephen Hoiles (BRUMBIES)
7 George Smith (BRUMBIES)
6 Scott Higginbotham (REDS)
5 Mark Chisholm (BRUMBIES)
4 Van Humphries (REDS)
3 Laurie Weeks (REDS)
2 Tatafu Polata-Nau (WARATAHS)
1 Ben Daley (REDS)
Eight Reds, six Brumbies and a lone Tah. Fair enough? Christian Lealiifano probably came closest to forcing his way in at 12, whilst Daniel Halangahu was solid and more consistent than Cooper, but no where near as brilliant as Quade was on occasions. Daniel Braid is not there solely as this is for Aussie players only, but he had a superb game on Friday night with many key plays. Al Baxter continues to keep himself busy both at scrum time and around the field, but the two QLD props were excellent against the Chiefs. One again there are a few question marks around the 13 jersey and this must be a real area of concern for Coach Deans.
Player of the Round
Poor old Daniel Braid. Puts in an enormous performance for the Reds but STILL unable to be recognised formally by G&GR due to his place of birth. Yet another burden a kiwi must bare. So who were the Australian Players of the Round? I feel a bit like a broken record but that man Will Genia must again be a leading candidate and marshalled his players exceptionally in Waikato. For the Tahs it was a one man show with Tatafu Polata-Nau scarily good. The power in his run leading up to his try would’ve been enough to power a small village.  For the Brumbies it is […]

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admin wrote this article.
Rugby World Cup tournament boss Martin Snedden says he feels reassured by the organisational muscle and the progress of construction projects in Auckland 18 months before the event kicks off.”We are really pleased that Auckland…

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Lee Coan wrote this article.
So were the inspirational words spoken by Russel Crowe as Maximus, one of cinema’s greatest ‘Rebels’, in the Oscar winning moving “Gladiator”.  Rod McQueen could hardly be confused for Crowe, nor a Gladiator, and it would be unfair to suggest that he had ever planned to ‘unleash hell’ on anything. However, in one week’s time, on Monday 15 March 2010, the Melbourne Rebels are free to do just that.  For that is the date the ARU have decreed is ‘Go Time’ for Rebels recruitment.  And the Australian Rugby world is holding their collective breath as to what goes down.
As it stands English fly half Danny Cipriani is currently the only player to have actually signed with the franchise.  But you get the impression that come next Monday there will be a number of signings announced.  Michael Lipman and Gareth Delve, backrowers from England and Wales respectively, have reportedly become Rebels (the Lipman signing now seems to have been vetoed by the ARU). Whilst there is also strong talk that current Super 14 squad members Richard Kingi (Reds) and Peter Betham (Waratahs) have also signed.  So that’s….five, I mean four.

Rebel, Rebel. Your face is a mess.

Plenty of others have been rumoured. Julian Salvi the latest.  And with the Rebels suggesting that they have pulled out of the race for David Pocock (although earlier reports suggest it was the other way round), then this may add strength to the Salvi gossip. But the big three of Stirling Mortlock, Rocky Elsom and Berrick Barnes (the past Wallaby skipper, the current Wallaby skipper and the originally named Wallaby vice-skipper) have all been ‘mentioned in dispatches’.
None have set the world on fire playing in the current tournament. Rocky perhaps has the excuse of a delayed start to the season because of injury, but could it be a case of having other things on their mind?  Could the imminent announcement of their signing be affecting their form? Are they worried about how they will be perceived amongst their team mates, and their fans? Either way, their current teams will be hoping, whatever their decision, they get back to full form ASAP.
It would now seem that Barnes (through his management) is playing games. Apparently McQueen has instructed his CEO Brian Waldron to stop negotiations with Barnes (has his S14 form had anything to do with it?) and focus on signing former NRL Super star Mark Gasnier, now playing with Stade Francais.  The fly in the ointment is Gaz’s relationship with Ewen McKenzie, now at the Reds, who was the leaguie’s first rugby coach in Paris.
So let’s look at the current environment and have a guess at what may happen.

Reds Academy Reunion.

The Queensland Reds were the team that suffered the most from the introduction of the Force in 2006. First of all they lost their skipper, Nathan Sharpe, who went on to play a key role in recruitment for the Force ripping the heart out of the Reds and their Academy program.  First teamers Junior Pelesasa, Luke Doherty, […]

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Lee Coan wrote this article.
The last two minutes of the Waratahs vs Sharks match have generated more than their share of controversy. First of all, in the 78th minute, faced with a two on one overlap, Kurtley Beale either failed in an intercept, or cynically knocked the ball on (depending on your point of view). You can see it in the video below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The argument from Sharks supporters and Tah detractors is that this was a professional foul that stopped a probable try, and as Paul “Skid” Marks acknowledged it as such with a penalty and yellow card, the Sharks were robbed of victory via a penalty try.
First of all, I don’t even believe it was a penalty, much less a yellow card. The letter of the law states:
Rule 12.1 (e) Intentional knock or throw forward. A player must not intentionally knock the ball forward with hand or arm, nor throw forward. Sanction: Penalty kick. A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored.
The key word here is intention to knock on. What is quite clear is that Beale intended to attempt an intercept – as the last man in the line and a 2 on 1, why wouldn’t he? I say it’s clear because in the slow motion replay you can see him watch the ball out of Terblanche’s hands, hit it in an upwards motion, and then follow it and flail at it in an unsuccessful attempt to regather.
In the classic knock down attempt, the perpetrator simply wraps his body around the passing side of the all carrier and hits downwards (we’ve all done it in touch rugby). If you want an example, see the “hand of Campo” incident in the 1991 RWC final, or indeed Will Chambers against the Chiefs on the weekend (that went unpenalised).
So it wasn’t a deliberate knock on. But even if it had been, I still don’t believe this was a cut and dried penalty try. Penalty tries are by convention awarded from 5m out or less, because it is only from this range that you can be certain of what would most likely have happened. Terblanche threw his pass while at top speed on the 30m line. I can’t remember the last time I saw a penalty try given from that range out in a Super 14 or International match. On top of this, watch his intended receiver Kankowski, who I believe has overrun Stefan’s pass. Who is to say he would have caught the ball at all
The second howl of disgust came when, in the 80th minute, the Sharks had an attacking line-out on the Tahs 5m line penalised for obstruction. What you will notice in the slow motion replay that we have created for you above, is that the Sharks number 3, Jannie Du Plessis, after lifting the number 2 jumper, immediately moves in front of that jumper as the maul forms.
The only way to legally stop a rolling […]

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Lee Coan wrote this article.

Waving his Wallaby jumper goodbye?

It is interesting to see how the on-field fortunes for these two have panned out after the first quarter of the season. After playing along side each other for the past couple of years, each is now responsible as being the go to man in their respective backlines. But just as Berrick went south for the new season, so has his form.
Which ever way you want to slice these stats, it is clear Cooper is having the more influence on his team’s performance, and having a better season in general.
Where Barnes looks erratic and distracted, Cooper looks assured and comfortable. Each has their own relative strength and weakness but based on the numbers below if you had to choose, it would be Cooper by some margin.
An argument can be made that these stats are skewed due the nature of the Tahs field position approach to games. This comes through with Barnes leading in defensive stats and kicking metres, however I think the overall comparison is  still very relevant.
What did surprise me was the error count for the two players with Barnes almost equal with Cooper, despite playing 27 minutes of rugby less. When you also consider the stats show Cooper is certainly attacking far more than Barnes, it highlights just how much the Kingaroy (or is that now Collaroy?) Kid is struggling.
Cooper is killing it in attack as his running metres and offload stats attest. It is clear that McKenzie obviously knows how to get the best out of his charge, whereas it seems Hickey is yet to arrive at that conclusion.

Quade Cooper

Minutes Played

Runs

Mtr Gained

Tackles Made

Tackles Missed

Offloads

Errors

Total Points

Success Conv/Pen %

Kicks

Kick Mtr Gained

Vs Tahs

80

8

56

7

1

2

4

13

67%

9

374

vs Saders

75

8

116

2

4

1

2

31

73%

5

155

vs Blues

81

7

76

3

1

3

3

8

60%

7

201

vs Chiefs

80

7

38

5

5

1

6

13

83%

7

224

TOTAL

316

30

286

17

11

7

15

65

71%

28

954

Berrick Barnes

Minutes Played

Runs

Mtr Gained

Tackles Made

Tackles Missed

Offloads

Errors

Total Points

Success Conv/Pen %

Kicks

Kick Mtr Gained

vs Reds

61

3

25

9

2

0

2

15

80%

6

264

vs Stormers

80

2

16

5

2

1

3

6

100%

8

311

vs Bulls

80

2

4

6

0

0

6

16

83%

8

385

vs Sharks

68

2

10

6

2

0

2

10

80%

7

307

TOTAL

289

9

55

26

6

1

13

47

83%

29

1267

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Lee Coan wrote this article.

Sanchez no ken mekim nois blong Kumul

‘Better red than dead’ was the saying in the 1940s when red stood for a socialist dictatorship of the proletariat and consequent violent regime change.
Locally, the revolution over recent weeks has been the Queensland Reds overthrow of the natural order of things. The Super 14 working class heroes against the capitalist ‘running dogs’, or maybe the Tahs and Blues.
Not quite yet the New Deal but the beginning of a winning culture that will help them retain their players from the clasp of the bolshie Vic’s.
This week, the Reds defeated the Chiefs in an upset of October Revolution proportions but finally admitted what everybody already knew; they’re in the financial shite.
Capitalism might be the system of choice but only if the numbers stack up. Amongst other disasters Suncorp v Ballymore doesn’t, by the look of it.
Reportedly, a full house at Ballymore requires at least another 10,000 or so punters at Suncorp to make the same sort of dosh, but that hasn’t been happening.
The QRU has been in decline for many a year due to poor management, poor recruitment and cumulative losses. Just like General Motors the Reds are now in ‘temporary’ administration.
There is no Clive Palmer to bankroll this mob, only John O’Neill to provide some funding and a business plan to get them out of their hole.
The ARU have done it all before and I guess will do it again but I’d imagine there’ll be a bit of pain attached.
We all know the way out: become competitive, start winning matches and deliver a professional product facilitated by competent management. Easy, isn’t it?
Without getting ahead of ourselves a glimmer of hope has emerged through the darkness in, of all places, Hamilton.
A comeback performance against an overconfident and jaded Waikato Chiefs has ignited their season as proof that the Crusaders victory wasn’t just a fluke.
In fact, they’ve been competitive in all four Super 14 matches they’ve played this year and with a bit of luck could have had four wins.
The style of rugby they’ve adopted has also been a winner and unlikely to bring a chorus of boos like you’re hearing from their southern counterparts.
Led by gun halfback Will Genia….”NO” Ian (the elderly boy) Jones, he isn’t 105kgs….which orifice did you pluck that from Kamo?
Genia, like his predecessor Big Kev Horwill is from that hotbed of junior rugby development – Brisbane Boys College and is the new sensation in Australian rugby.
Lauded by commentators across the planet ‘Sanchez’ is the form halfback of the Super 14 and leads by doing, not saying. He’s the antithesis of the Prime Minister: all action and no talk!
This side has pluck and a youthful bloom amongst a few hardheads like Van the Man, whose articulacy knows no bounds.
Having Daniel Braid in the pack is a bonus with his experience, enthusiasm and leadership a force multiplier.
Berrick Barnes must be spewing that he’s backed the wrong horse; however, judging by his form and the amount of time he actually spends on the park […]

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Lee Coan wrote this article.

TPN - a new deity

Waratahs 25 Sharks 21
It was the same old shit different year for Tahs fans as Hickey’s men dished up a crapfest. The Sharks were better but not much – they were on the nose too.
I was chatting to some members as we were lining up for the doors to open and eyeing each other as to who had the pace to race up 3 flights of stairs to get the best seats. (Old Lee had a good run too – walking the dogs every night pays off). Anyhoo, folks were expecting a bit of running rugby. Even though they leaked 6 tries to the Bulls last week, they scored 4 and it was going to be fun to watch them against the Sharks; wasn’t it?
I was more circumspect knowing my Tahs under Hickey and McKenzie in the last 4 years or so and their ability to disappoint their fans, even if they win. [If you think this is boring it is cliffhanger stuff compared to most of the game.]
The Tahs were bloody awful. The same players who dished the ball out to each other at Loftus with a bit of joy for the game played like Englishmen – an insult, I know. Instead of aiming at gaps before they got the ball they found tacklers most of the time; nor was the support play as good as last week and ditto with the passing which was too much at the man and often too hard to catch.
Then there was the ping pong. I was sitting next to Sinclair Hill, the Oz polo legend, and explained a few things to him about the game. He kept tapping me on the knee and said why didn’t that Tahs player run with the ball instead of kicking it straight to a player in a black jersey. I got a few taps from the great man and a lot of the time I was flabbergasted because I had no clue either.
It was though they were being paid to provide material for Stephen Jones’ next article in the Sunday Times.
I don’t know how it was in other parts of the ground but the members were going ballistic at the lack of enterprise of the Tahs players; some of them even booed.
There weren’t many good moments but Kankowski’s effort in intercepting a Burgess pass and racing away to score was grand rugby as was Jacobs reading the Tahs backline like a comic book and slipping in to score, almost apologetically. TPN’s charge to score was good stuff too.
I thought the Tah’s bench would have it all over the Sharks bench in the last quarter but it was the other way around. Most of the Tahs players were used too late to have effect and that was unaccountable because the starting players must have been tired after their travel from JHB. The Sharks reserves such as BdP, Beast, Deysel […]

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newsfeeds@nzherald.co.nz wrote this article.
It seemed an odd decision at first but pitting the All Blacks against Tonga in the opening game of the World Cup now makes sense.Tuesday marks the 18-month countdown to that first match and it will be significant in defining the…

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admin wrote this article.
Bowlers continue to do it tough when it comes to international cricket in New Zealand.Smaller grounds, like in Auckland, Napier and Christchurch at present, mean bigger totals as teams struggle to defend the boundaries.Looking…

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Lee Grant wrote this article.
Here’s Van Humphries’ victory speech after the Reds gutsing out a great win away at the Chiefs on Friday. The eloquence of the man – love it! Check out the smiles on the faces of his team mates when they spot the camera.
EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING
Click here to view the embedded video.

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Lee Coan wrote this article.
Here’s Van Humphries’ victory speech after the Reds gutsing out a great win away at the Chiefs on Friday. The eloquence of the man – love it! Check out the smiles on the faces of his team mates when they spot the camera.
EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING
Click here to view the embedded video.

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Lee Coan wrote this article.
Join us for kick off from 7.40pm AEDT
Tahs vs Shorks

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Lee Coan wrote this article.

Aussie Dave saves the day

In a week when there was nothing but bad news for the Reds, a very sizeable rainbow has appeared with their unlikely win over the Chiefs. To say this is the end of the storm clouds for the Reds is an over-statement but it would seem the worst of the foul weather (on-field at least) might now be a thing of the past.
The Reds displayed the kind of resolve reserved only for the best teams and fought their way back from the abyss as the Chiefs skipped merrily to a 15-0 lead after only 20-odd minutes. In fact, the only thing going right for the Reds was that Stephen Donald had a serious case of kicking yips and had missed all three conversions as well as a penalty.
A royal pantsing was in the offing at that stage, and, mug punters like me were sitting smugly in the knowledge their predictions were on the money. But from then on, the game changed and the Chiefs only scored a further three points for the rest of the match.
What happened was the Reds finally got their hands on the ball and played keepings off the Chiefs who lacked the concentration to defend for extended periods. The simple game plan of punching the short-side with close channel runs was paying dividends as the Chiefs seemed more inclined to give away penalties than challenge the Reds.
It was these penalties, and a great kicking display from Quade Cooper, that allowed the Reds back into the game and to only trail by 5 points at the half time break.
The Reds defence, which fell apart last week against the Blues, tightened up in the second half and forced the profligate Chiefs into mistakes and lateral running as they tried to get the ball to their burners on either wing.
There can be no better metaphor for the differences in attitude between the two teams than Luke Morahan’s try in the 63rd minute. The Reds, and Morahan in particular, showed an urgency to get the ball while the Chiefs seemed happy to leave it to someone else.
Why Leila Masaga chose to say “Yours, Bro…” to the ambling Liam Messam and not take responsibility to clean up the situation himself is criminal and the Reds deservedly took a match winning lead from this point.
What was most pleasing about the win, and the Reds season so far, is that as a team they are rectifying the mistakes of the week previous.
First up against the Tahs they lost despite leading into the final stages of the game, but when the same scenario presented itself a week later against the ‘Saders, the Reds held firm.
Last week against Auckland, the Reds were unable to stick to a definite game plan and through the unstructured nature of their play, allowed the Blues to triumph. This week, when all looked lost after the first quarter of the game, the Reds played to a plan, stuck with it, and saluted for the win.
The […]

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