The Reds take on the Waratahs at Ballymore in Brisbane tonight. The Reds are fielding a strong team with Elton Flatley, Wendell Sailor, Nick Stiles and Sean Hardman all back in the team. It'll be good to see Nathan Sharpe and Daniel Heenan take the field from kick off as well.

Steve Kefu and Junior Pelesasa (who had a top game last week against the Brumbies) are in the centres, and Ben Tune is expected to play in the centres in the second half.

Meanwhile the Waratahs are planning on giving everybody a run - their team will be led by Brendan Cannon. You can read more about the Waratah's team here on their web site.

Other news: The tsunami game.. the one that I won't GET to... wah.. Chris Latham will be going from the Reds and Phil Waugh from the Waratahs will also be heading over to Twickenham.
I could go and do oranges at half time? And my Under 11s really enjoyed the chocolate chip muffins I cooked for them for full time treats. I'd be more than happy to provide oranges and muffins for the big boys :)

I'm off - sign on day at the local rugby club.

G'day!

Hmmm.. notice that toptipper still hasn't included the Super 12 2005 tipping comp in their upcoming competitions. I'll give them another week, and if they don't have something organised I'll set up a different Super 12 tipping competition.

Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Super12 Rugby history you can find over here on the ARU web site. Most of you would be familiar with the set up and know that if a team scores 4 tries or more they get a bonus point. See? You can lose a game and still score a point.

Gold Coast Reds player Caleb Brown is out of the Super12 this season before it even gets started - I read about it on the Gold Coast Bulletin web site. Apparently the teenager has had to undergo a shoulder reconstruction (yes, at the tender age of 17!). He injured it initially at an AIS camp a year ago, and then aggravated the condition when playing in the Australian schoolboys against Ireland later in the year. Let's hope he makes a swift and full recovery.

That's it for now!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I just read that the Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere tsunami charity match will be held at Twickenham next month. What happened to Sydney in June? Sydney in June... Twickenham in March? They're not even close! Tell me there's going to be two games....

If anyone wants to shout me a plane fare and ticket please feel free to contact me :)

Well darn it, Lleyton Hewitt didn't win the Australian Open, but he sure did give it a good crack! Marat Safin simply played better, and he is a gracious drop-dead handsome winner! Congratulations to both of them on a fine tournament.

Justin Harrison has reportedly been offered a whopping $2m three year deal by Irish club Ulster. Noooooooo, don't go! Of course, that's entirely selfish of me to say, I've just always had a soft spot for the gigantic lock. He's been playing fine rugby and is an asset to Australia's forwards.

On another note, I am told that the QRU are no longer selling general admission tickets for kids, they have to be seated in a grandstand because the Hill areas are licensed and so children are not allowed in. That's one of those things that makes me go hmmmmmm.....

While I'm on the topic of tickets, one things really stuck in my craw last year during the world cup and when I was buying tickets for the Australia / England clash in Brisbane last June. You can only purchase up to 4 tickets in the one go. While I know that the logic behind the limit is sound, it poses a constant dilemma for families of more than four. You either leave one of the family out, unpopular choice, or get two lots of tickets and end up sitting nowhere near each other. Yeah that's fun... not! It's also kind of annoying when both parents are coaches and the kids play rugby - you like to sit with them to talk about different plays etc during a game, and you also like to sit with another coach for the same reasons.

Anyway, that's just an issue that I would like to see the ARU address.

Other Super 12 warm up news - the Stormers had an easy win over Boland in their pre-season friendly last Friday night winning 43-15

The Cats are having injury troubles before the season has even started - You can read more about that here.

Meanwhile over in the Shaky Isles, the Hurricanes have joined forces with the NZ Red Cross to help them out with fund raising and other benefit activities throughout the season. Nice going guys!

Signing off!

The Reds cruised to victory over the Brumbies 43-5 in their first trial match of the 2005 Super 12 season at Ballymore last night. Yay!

Okay, the Brumbies were minus nine Wallaby players for the game, but it was great to see the Reds get off to a good start - something that anyone who follows the Reds knows is rare! For some reason they usually take more than half the season to get going at all, puhleeeeeeze let 2005 be different :)

Ben Tune was wonderful! All maroon supporters are glad to see him back, and Huxley showed great vision at flyhalf in the first half.

Try scorers for the Reds were Pelesasa (2), Mitchell, Huxley, Tune, Croft, Hynes <- not a bad lineup huh? and Huxley aand Daruda converted tries twice each. Horua posted the five pointer for the Brumbies.

Just 26 days to go until Super 12 starts... not that I'm counting... much!!

Cheers! I'm off to watch some boxing - Tommy Browne from Sydney is fighting In-Jin Chi in Seoul to try and knock off the World Featherweight Boxing title.. and then of course tonight Lleyton Hewitt takes on Marat Safin in the Australian Open Tennis final. C'mon!!