Dissention in the air... again

Over in South Africa, Jake White put out an edict for his star Bok players to be rested during the Currie Cup so that they'd be fighting fit for touring later in the year. The Provincial Unions have aparently ignored that request...

Looks like it's all Go for the Queensland Reds next season - they're set to move to Suncorp Stadium, and they're set to name Queensland Rail as their major sponsor. Wonder if QR got it on the cheap after the Red's 2005 performance.... I must say I think that given the nature of Super 14 rugby that 'international' companies would perhaps see the most $ value in sponsorship rights.

Monday already....

It wasn't pretty to watch, but the Gold Coast Breakers got up 21-18 over Brothers at Ballymore yesterday. The Breakers will meet Sunnybank on Sunday for the Telstra Queensland Premier Rugby final. The Breakers went to the half time break leading 15-0, but managed to hold off a Brothers come back.

The NZRU guys must be feeling like Santa Claus after deciding to divvy out the extra $8 million to the provincial unions - and rightly so. Haydn Smith the CEO from Manawatu Rugby Union is one happy camper after hearing that his union will receive more than $600K as a result. Nice one!

Not so good news for Waratah Al Kanaar who has been suspended for 3 months. He's been pinged for stomping on the head of Eastwood's Ben Hand during his club rugby game for Sydney university last weekend. His timing was pretty crook, he'll miss his club rugby final (ouch!), any chance he had of going on the Wallabies tour to Europe in November, PLUS the Tahs tour of Eastern Europe. Ack! Still... the law's quite clear on stomping.....

Have a happy Monday!

Make or break day

First up good luck to the Breakers who take on Brothers in a knock-out semi at Ballymore today - kickoff 3pm. There's injuries on both sides so .... Here's the teams:-

Gold Coast: V Buatava, W Walker, J Austin, D Luki, S Thompson, L Johansson, S Batty, J Fuimaono, M Stafford, M Windle, R Fuimaono, L Caughley, D Te Moana, T McIsaac, T Tuirirangi.Reserves: B Johnston, B Neho, D Collins, A Hawkins, C Brown, A Te Puki, C Dunn.

Brothers: D Murphy, G Tagicakibau, A Pyers, W Grayson, A Sauer, S Daruda, J Maguire, A Coady, D Croft, P Beckett, N Ross, A Cox, B Delahunty, S Hardman, J Bosanquet. Reserves: D Asprey, A Bennie, J Hannan, A McLay, K Allen, T Mailata.

The Sharks apparently have their eye on Tony Brown!! Ex-highlander Brown has been playing in Japan, but what with the 2007 Rugby World Cup looming and probably a huge $$ deal on offer, he is apparently being lured back to the limelight. I just can NOT imagine seeing him trotting around in a grey and black jersey... Say it isn't so!

The NZRU is looking after the health of rugby at home - they've just announced that they're going to hand out an additional $8 million to the provincial unions after having a record year. Now that has got to be good for the sport.

Jason Robinson has no doubt sent the poms into a spin - he's announced his retirement from international rugby. Thirty-one year old Robinson has decided that with 5 kids and a wife it is time to put his family first. He will be sorely missed in the English squad.

Ins and Outs

Jeremy Paul will not be touring with the Wallabies to Europe come November. Suffering from a bulging disc in his neck, Paul will enjoy an extended off season meaning that he should be right to play for the ACT Brumbies come Super 14 2006. The Tahs have hinted that their hookers Adam Freier and Tatafu Polota-Nau will be on the European tour with the Wallabies - how do we know this you ask? Ewen McKenzie hasn't named either of them to tour with the Waratahs next month to Bahrain and eastern Europe.

Over in the shaky isles, the race is on to sign up Troy Flavell when he returns to NZ following the end of his contract with Japanese club Toyota. Apparently three Kiwi Super 14 teams - the Blues, the Crusaders and the Hurricanes are very interested in getting their mitts on Flavell. There's no mention of the Highlanders chasing him, but Graham Henry is keen on getting him back for the AB's 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign. Flavell must be a happy lad at the present :)

In other news, Fiji's winger Vilimoni Delasau - who plays for the Crusaders, has been banned for 12 months by the Fiji Rugby Union following a drug test after the Fiji/NZ test in June. According to this report, Delasau "produced a sample which tested positive for a metabolite of cannabis". Being a non-scientific type I looked up 'metabolite' - just out of curiosity, in case I have been missing something.. "In drug use, the term usually refers to the end product that remains after metabolism" (digestion). Guess that means he was busted! Silly boy!

The APC controversy continues to go on in NSW.... I guess that if the NSW powers don't kick up a stink now then it will be very difficult to complain later. I hope the ARU just expands the comp from word 'go'.

Do not drink and dance!

I do enjoy club rugby finals - a little bit too much! Surfers reserve grade got up in a top game, sadly our first grade couldn't back up, but the better team on the day won. I had fun on the bus with the third grade guys and some second grade supporters. Thanks Steve for looking after us :) I didn't consume vast amounts of alcohol but I did mix them unfortunately. Beer before leaving, a couple of cruisers on the bus down, Jim Beam UDLs during both games, a couple more cruisers on the bus back, and then a few champagnes at the club. Fuelled up I was ready to dance. I shouldn't have - all those different beverages sloshing around in my body made me feel quite ill..... eventually. Mind you, while I was dancing my main concern was trying to remain on my feet! All that spinning and twirling... but what fun :) Unfortunately the Breakers lost to Sunnybank yesterday, so now they'll play Brothers this weekend who beat GPS yesterday.

The APC comp announcement has caused bit of a stink - NSW has voiced concerns, and the QRU meanwhile are against the proposed ARU Board changes. I don't care too much about board changes, but I do think that NSW have some valid points about the APC. When I read the ARU announcement on the APC I 'assumed' that the comp would be expanded quickly - if it is a third tier comp then really there needs to 'be' a third tier :)

APC gets rubber stamped

A third tier Australian comp has been approved for 2006 by the ARU. Called the Australasian Provincial Competition, the nod to go ahead is a huge step in the direction of rugby development in Australia, bridging the step from Club premier rugby to Super 14 rugby. At this stage, the competition will only be between the four Australian Super 14 sides, but I suspect that the competition will be broadly expanded... and quickly. Yay!

The ARU is revamping by constitutional reforms and adding two more directors to the board. If you're interested.... read on.

Go Fins!

Wallabies Touring Squad

45 players have been selected to train for the European tour later this year - this number will be cut down to 30 on October 10. There's a lot of familiar names, and some of the younger players included as well; in fact seven of the U21s side have been included. Not bad. I'm hoping that most of the young guys make it through the Oct 10 'cut'!

Here they are: Adam Ashley-Cooper, Al Baxter, Alister Campbell, Brendan Cannon, Mark Chisholm, David Croft, Scott Daruda, Matt Dunning, Rocky Elsom, Scott Fava, David Fitter, Adam Freier, Mark Gerrard, Matt Giteau, George Gregan, Nic Henderson, Matt Henjak, Greg Holmes, Leroy Houston, Digby Ioane, Lloyd Johansson, Alex Kanaar, Chris Latham, David Lyons, Lachlan MacKay, Hugh McMeniman, Drew Mitchell, Stephen Moore, Stirling Mortlock, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Jeremy Paul, Clyde Rathbone, John Roe, Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor, Nathan Sharpe, Brett Sheehan, Cameron Shepherd, George Smith, Ben Tune, Lote Tuqiri, Morgan Turinui, Phil Waugh, Chris Whitaker, Bill Young.

Club rugby finals are happening all over the place in Australia... Good luck to Surfers First and Second grades tomorrow who play Palm Beach in their respective finals :) And, good luck to the Breakers on Sunday who play Sunnybank in the Telstra Premier Rugby major semi final. (yes it was just last week that they played Sunnybank). Don't know if I'll get up to Brisvegas and be a Ballymoron for the day....

Later!

George is in!

Despite all the hoo-har over George Gregan in recent times, Eddie Jones has apparently decided that he needs his main man to tour Europe with the Wallabies in November and so he will take the helm and come November he will claim the world record for being the player who has played the most test games of rugby for any country. Goodo!

Meanwhile, Jeremy Paul is waiting for MRI scan results on his neck to find out whether or not he'll be fit enough to make the tour. I can almost feel the breathing 'down' his neck from probably replacements!

Over in Perth there's a bit of a question mark over where the Force players will be once the Super 14 season is over next year. RUPA's Tony Dempsey seems to believe that the players can elect to play for any club they decide to - whether that club be Perth based or otherwise, while the Force's Peter O'Meara has said that the idea is that the boys will be playing for Perth clubs once the season is over. And..... it's not even 2006 yet :)

I don't want to talk about cricket!

Super 12 becomes Super 14 rugby

Welcome! The Super 12 Rugby competition is now kaput as we knew it - it's now the Super 14 Rugby competition.... so.... new name, new blog :)