Oz attempt at Kiwi humour, eh?

At the risk of offending my Kiwi (i.e. New Zealand) friends, here is a great ad that channel 7 presented after the Wallabies vs Springboks rugby game:

Even knowing it was a stunt ad, it still put the old fire in the belly that Bledisloe Cup matches need.

Go Wallabies!

Some great footage of the Australian rugby team:

My favourite player, Stirling Mortlock:

What happens if we meet the All Blacks in the semi-finals?

Rugby World Cup 2007

The Rugby World Cup 2007 is nearly upon us, and I'm looking forward to a few late nights (~midnight) and early mornings (~5am) watching the Australian games. I was planning on doing it with friends, but the weird hours mean it will probably something I end up doing alone. However it is still exciting for all that.

The Wallabies go into the cup as underdogs, just the way we like it. Most people expect New Zealand to win, but an upset by South Africa, or one of the Northern Hemisphere teams is on the cards - especially France as they will be playing at home.

Anyway, check out this cool Rugby World Cup 2007 ad:

More cool videos on Infini-Nut.

New Wallabies Jersey

The ARU and sponsor Canterbury International have revealed the new Wallaby jerseys for the Rugby World Cup 2007.


Lots of supporters that I know were saying that we should have had this sort of gear in 2003, but better late than never!

Rugby: O'Neill is back!

He says he's not the messiah but at this point he is the next best thing for the Australian Rugby Union who have re-appointed him as Managing Director/CEO.

“John will be working with a very experienced senior management team to keep things moving towards the Rugby World Cup in France later this year. I know John has strong views on where Rugby should be going and how it should go about achieving those goals. John has the support of the Board in pursuit of those goals.”
Peter McGrath, ARU Chairman

Hoorah! We might finally get the sport out of the quagmire it's been in since O'Neill left!

Wallabies 49 vs Springboks 0

The ARU Match Report says it all:

“The Wallabies have annihilated the Springboks 49-0 at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, running in six tries and keeping the South Africans scoreless for only the second time in the two teams' history.”

Soccer Sucks, Bring on the Rugby!

I can't believe how Australia was sent out of World Cup 2006 by a lousy referee decision (it was a certainty that Italy could put the penalty away). At first I blamed Lucas Neill, then Grosso for his artistic 'dive', then the ref, then finally FIFA. Finally I realised who the real culprit was ... soccer itself is to blame. Check out the end of the Italy vs Australia match:

Italy vs Australia - World Cup 2006


Not only is the game far too slow (although Australia made even that interesting), but the scoring methods are far too hard, leading to low scorelines and games that are decided far too much by luck, and the ref's decisions, than by preparation, strategy, or actual play on the day.

Personally, I find rugby union to be a far more exciting game, with a greater degree of preparation and strategy required (which probably contributes to rugby's 'minnows' finding it so hard to compete).

Finally, compare the huge rugby (union and league) tackles in the video below with the pathetic play-acting of Grosso above.

Huge Rugby Tackles