I can only assume that op-ed pundit/pop historian Peter FitzSimons must have been wrapping his trademark red vanity hijab too tightly around his head and cutting off the blood supply to the brain. It is the only plausible explanation for this idiotic piece: At the very same ti...
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It was a sign of things to come perhaps. As the All Blacks performed their pre-match war dance with its stamping, grunting, eye-bulging and tongue lolling, the camera cut away to a shot of Australia's Radike Samo. His face shiny with perspiration, was framed by a 'do that look...
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I grew up playing rugby union and rugby league in northern beaches Sydney. But you couldn't call rugby (union) Australia's national game, especially after tonight's depressing tryless loss by the Wallabies to Ireland. A top class rugby game exhibits all the skills, as we saw i...
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A few weeks ago, on the 30th of Sept to be precise, I gave a speech to 'science leaders' in CSIRO. Science leaders are early mid career scientists from around the world whom CSIRO have recruited. As the speech explains, Jim Peacock, the Chief Scientist whom I met when on the I...
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What a lot of nonsense has been talked about the defection to French rugby of rugby league star Bobby Sue Billy Jo Sonny Bill Williams! First, the NRL isn't going to succeed in getting an injunction to restrain Sonny Bill's defection, still less get a French court to enforce i...
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Robbie Deans' tweaked team lineup for the upcoming second rugby test against France seems pretty sound to me. Neither speedster Lachie Turner for the injured Tuqiri nor Stephen Hoiles for Wycliff Palu will weaken the team, and Turner might even add desirable speed on the flank...
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For rugby fans who've been watching with increasingly frustrated bemusement Ewen McKenzie's bizarre coaching of the NSW Waratahs to play stereotypical 10 man rugby despite boasting one of the most potent backlines in the Super 14 and despite the fact that the Crusaders and eve...
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Australian rugby guru Rod Macqueen, one of the architects of the Stellenbosch rules Missing Link arts editor and Sidelined sports pundit Amanda Rose habitually refers to rugby as "yawnion", and this commenter received short shrift from Chris Sheil for expressing similar sentim...
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During yesterday's Constitutional Law lecture, I noticed that one of my students was quite distracted and continually fiddling with his mobile phone. I wasn't entirely surprised, because I was talking about section 109 inconsistency, which isn't the world's most rivetting topi...
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( crossposted at sidelined ) I am almost too disappointed to write this. Frankly, what a waste of a game. I suggested before that the backline selection was illogical, and indeed two people who had never played together in the centres before turned out, against arguably the be...
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also featuring: Ireland A v Australia A, Limerick, 15 November 2006 cross-posted for the first time to sidelined . Australia A v Ireland, 15 November 2006 Australia A play the Ireland A tonight, which might not seem like big news but in the greater scheme of things will be a p...
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Perhaps the most embarrassing part is that they will probably out-scrum us, but that should be it. Our scrum should really use this as valuable training since they can be confident that even if they fall apart the backs will carry this one. For the record I expect we won't con...
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also featuring: France v New Zealand, 11 November 2006, Lyon Ireland v South Africa, 11 November 2006, Dublin I should be embarrassed to admit this but I am getting up for the second of these matches! Italy v Australia Who really cares how many points we score against Italy, e...
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Interesting article in SMH wth which I agree. Especially this part. Yet this bedrock of the game - the Sydney and Brisbane club competitions - the source of most of the players for the four state teams, and most of the Wallabies, is never allowed its day in the sun, never allo...
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This match really looks like being the crux match of the Wallabies' 2006 campaign. Perhaps if we do win here then the final Bledisloe will get all the headlines, and if the Boks get their act together then winning in the Republic has traditionally been a hurdle for Australian...
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Well, were to start? With an expletive you say? Been there done that! More productively, let's start with the quick wrap: First, the media seem to have taken leave of their senses, and frankly I think that a lot of the criticism directed at the Wallabies by the Sydney papers w...
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Well, although for family reasons I am obliged to say that the soccer world cup is far from over, nothing stops me from pointing out that a) it is stating the obvious to say that the refereeing in that game is an absurd relic of the pre-television age, b) I would rather watch...
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Belated Match Report, I know. But, having finally caught up with the tape, I do have a few thoughts to share, not all about that match (video highlights here now). Match Highlights: Matt Rogers : Sure, he went off and would have been sick to do it, but he's a sure thing to sta...
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I only have a few observations to make, and won't have an after match report this time - I won't even be able to see this match live. Which is a shame because it will surely be worth watching! I think it will be a great contest, and I wouldn't be surprised if Australia win by...
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On Saturday I mentioned that our U21s beat NZ (21-17), for the second year running in the last round of pool matches, although unlike last year, NZ progress to the semis anyway, to play South Africa, who beat France (14-10) on Saturday as well. In their turn, the French are no...
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What a weird match! Yet wonderful because Australia were stronger, more creative and more organised and accordingly won , weird because the scrums were an odd battle until, without anyone at the ground understanding, they were no battle at all as England's props succumbed to i...
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Australian Squad: I must say I think Connolly's forward picks are a little odd. Start with the front row: clearly (I think) Paul is on the bench because he has booked his flight to the RWC, but then does that mean that Baxter is also booked? I suspect it does. Now what about t...
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I would wake up and thank God that I am not only a professional rugby coach but the coach of the potential triple-RWC champions. On that note, I would quickly down my morning nip before my thoughts went any further! As it is I am not he, and so I shall merely speculate as to w...
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Firstly, my thanks to Ken Parish for the offer to post rugby reviews here. As someone with a more than middling interest in the game, I am delighted to try my hand. In case I might lack any incentive, I have the luck to be starting at a really crucial and fascinating period fo...
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Wendell. No, it's not a mug shot though it might as well be Yes, I know Wendell Sailor is a brainless dickhead , having apparently been caught with coke in his bloodstream after previously running foul of ARU rules on more than one occasion for alcohol-related behavioural infr...
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Along with its habit of sucking remorselessly on the federal fiscal teat, Darwin may soon have another sin to answer for if my wors fears are confirmed. The Wallabies' new coach John "Knuckles" Connolly began his coaching career just across the creek from where I'm writing thi...
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Former Queensland rugby coach John Connolly comprehensively demonstrated yesterday why it's lucky he was never made Wallabies coach. Connolly reckons the Australian rugby team and/or its coach shouldn't be criticised for the current record run of test losses: But Connolly, now...
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I'm too depressed to talk about last night's Wallabies versus Springboks Tri-Nations decider. Fortunately Chris Sheil has fought off the after-loss lethargy and written a brief post-mortem update, and I managed to raise enough enthusiasm to insert some thoughts in his comment...
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I've been idly following the discussion in rugby league circles about the possibility of adding two new teams to the NRL, probably one on the Gold Coast and one on the NSW Central Coast. Rupert Online reported yesterday that the Gold Coast consortium was totally opposed to shi...
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Chris Sheil's match preview ended up being pretty well spot on. The All Blacks tried to play the grinding, possession-based rugby they've reverted to this season with such success. However, except for the first 20 minutes, the Wallabies matched and then outpointed them 23-15....
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Newspaper reports this morning suggest rugby league's greatest current player Andrew "Joey" Johns is about to switch rugby codes and sign a two season contract to play rugby union for the NSW Waratahs for a reported fee of $2 million. Ah the benefits of an ARU awash with cash...
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Last Christmas I attended a farewell function in Manly for my brother Gordon's best mate, a Welshman named David, and his wife Bridget and their 2 kids. They'd decided to go back to Britain to live after 8 years in Sydney. The kids were reaching high school age, and David thou...
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45 - 8 after 50 minutes Wallabies v Romania. But a sub-standard effort against sub-standard opposition. Too many penalties conceded, far too many dropped balls in the backs and a continuing lack of fluency and combination. Matthew Burke's having a great game at centre, but tha...
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This article from News Online may say more about Australia's World Cup prospects than all the pundit analysis to date: Rugby league recruit Lote Tuquiri jumped up on to the canopy. Matt Dunning and Matt Burke were "up close" at the front of the boat when the crocodile lunged....
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For those of us married to Kiwis, last night's smashing 48-22 NRL win by the NZ Warriors over the Canterbury Bulldogs raised seriously for the first time the depressing prospect that Kiwi teams might well take out both the Rugby World Cup and the NRL premiership. Sux months of...
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Well, we now know what previously we just strongly suspected. The Wallabies are so far behind New Zealand they can only hear the thump of their own reputations hitting the tarmac. The largest loss to the All Blacks ever at 50-21 says most of it. John Connolly in the SMH someho...
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I'll leave the detailed rugby post-mortem to Christopher Sheil or Wayne Wood. However my own immediate reaction is that, although England had a decisive victory over the Wallabies (25-14), things weren't as bad as I feared. Australia clearly needs to improve in numerous areas,...
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