Tuesday 4th August

Good morning GAGRs and welcome to another edition of the Tuesday News. Hopefully you all found ways to entertain yourselves over the without any test match rugby to be absorbed in. There was of course rugby played, including the very entertaining game between the Waratahs and the Blues, if you missed the game, you can catch up with Bris’s summary here.

There was club rugby in Brisbane in the Hospital cup and grade rugby for the mens’ teams, and the Founders Cup for the womens’ teams. The final round of the regular season get’s underway this week, and there is plenty to play for in both the mens and womens competitions.

Founders Cup Update

In the Founders Cup, the top 4 and the top 2 teams are locked in, but the minor premiership is up for grabs this weekend. It’s between Sunnybank and Bond for the minor premiership, and both will face tough challenges this weekend. Sunnybank travel to Easts, who will undoubtedly be looking to end their season on a high, while knowing that they can’t make the semis, whereas 2nd placed Bond Uni will host 3rd placed Wests, and both teams will be looking to take some momentum into the semis and to set a marker in they meet in the Preliminary Final in 3 weeks time.

Hospital Cup Update

It’s also the final week of the regular season for the mens’ competition this weekend, and similar to the Founders Cup, there is a lot to play for. Brothers have got the minor premiership locked in after a very dominant season, recording 14 wins from 15 starts, and picking up 13 bonus points along the way. Norths have locked in second place and a major semi final as they have 10 wins, and 14 bonus points, so even if Easts get the maximum 5 points this weekend and finish on 54 points, they will only have 9 wins.

But third place is up for grabs with Easts hosting Sunnybank, Bond Uni hosting Wests, and UQ hosting table topping Brothers.

UQ will definitely feel like they are in the fight though, having drawn with Brothers back at the end of May, the only game that Brothers didn’t win this year.

Bond and Wests have their destiny pretty much in their own hands, a win for either should, should get them into third or fourth sport

It’s easier for the Tigers, a win will lock up third place and secure a semi final.

Rounding out the Hospital Cup news, how good is this, Norths are through to the finals for the first time in 34 years, that is a ridiculous amount of time in an amateur competition, so congrats to Norths, take time to celebrate the achievement (maybe it’s lucky that Norths have a bye this week), but don’t celebrate too hard, get stuck in to training and rehab and see if you can push Brothers all the way.

Wallabies test week

It’s a Wallabies test week, so all eyes are on Les Kiss, his assistant coaches, and of course the playing squad as they arrive in Japan and prepare to take on the Japanese at Hanazona Rugby Stadium in Higashiōsaka, in the eastern outskirts of Osaka.

Les Kiss has made some changes to the coaching team, which is of course bringing in some changes to the way the team will play, including in defence, where new coach, and all around good Kiwi Scott McLeod is bringing a new voice and new focus to the defensive structure. McLeod has excellent credentials, having earned 10 caps for the All Blacks, and importantly spending 6 years as the All Blacks defensive coach. Personally, I’m looing forward to seeing the Australian defence improve, and hopefully, some of those small lost opportunities to turn the ball over, or be more organised and shut down an attacking play will be made and we’ll start to see ourselves on the right side of the close games.

The Wallabies will take on Japan this Saturday 8th August at 8pm (very friendly tv time), before heading back to do it all over again in Townsville on the 15th August. These are an important pair of tests for Les Kiss, as he looks to set up his tenure as the Wallabies coach with early success. As fans we expect for the Wallabies to win both games, and hopefully to win them well. What should our expectations be, can we expect the Wallabies to demolish Japan like Italy in their last hit out, or does that game reflect the end of a travel heavy tour, and a long year for the Italians, also missing a host of first choice players.

The Wallabies are relatively settled, Kiss didn’t make wholesale changes to the Wallabies squad for these first tests, but of course change is always possible wen he is selecting 15 starting players, and a 23 match day squad from a touring party of 34 players.

Looking at the squad above, and importantly the players that haven’t been named, it feels like we are starting to develop some depth in important roles like:

lock (Nick Frost isn’t in the squad)

Hooker (Matt Faessler is still finding form)

back row (no room for Pete Samu, Jo Brial, Charlie Gamble)

flyhalf (Tom Lynagh is yet to return, Noah is back playing, but hasn’t been called on)

halfback (Werchon has been good for the Reds this year)

Fullback (Mac Grealy has been good but can’t make the squad)

Wings (Lachie Anderson and Derby Lancaster are both good players, but injury hasn’t helped them in 2026)

However it feels like prop (both sides) where depth is a little skinnier.

I was going to write about centre and our lack of options, and where we are looking for players to step up. Ikitau is likely one of the first picked and a proven performer at 12 and 13, and on form is a true world class player. Whereas JAS is learning how to play (in the national side), while Isaac Henry is uncapped, Paisami hasn’t been able to replicate his quadruple threat (run, pass, kick, tackle) game consistently for the Wallabies, and Josh Flook has been left out. Then in terms of other players not in the squad there is Samu Kerevi, Izaia Perese is is headed back to the Reds, and Jordan Petaia is playing for Perpignan in the Top 14. That’s not mentioning the impressive Brumbies centre David Feliuai, Hamish Stewart, and Bayley Kuenzle over at the Force.

But then as I reflected more on it, we certainly have choices at centre to bring into the squad over the next 12 months before the world cup and it will be interest to see which way the coaching team go. Who should our centre pairing be, what should we be looking for as we try and build a backline or sets of backlines that can take us deep into the World Cup. Petaia and Kerevi certainly bring the most physical presence (after JAS), whereas Paisami and Perese play above their weight and Paisami brings some game management skills to the table. And then Isaac Henry and David Feliuai both bring physicality and game management skills to the table.

Picking up on last weeks theme, do any of them kick goals, and why not, look at 2003, Elton Flatley wasn’t the biggest centre in world rugby, but he was smart and he was the best goal kicker in a squad that included Joe Roff, Matt Burke, Mat Rogers, and Steve Larkham, all good goal kickers.

Why not

And because I can’t help myself, there is a lot of talk this week about some of the veteran players getting around and whether they have ambitions to play in the world cup next year. In some ways it’s unfair to ask competitive players like Cooper and Foley if they have the desire to be part of it still, because they will say yes, and then if they have any learned wisdom they will qualify it by saying something like “of course I want to say yes, what older player, or even up and coming player wouldn’t” which Foley and Cooper seem to have when interview. Truth be told, I haven’t seen anything attributed to O’Connor and the world cup, except in the instagram image below.

It’s a good thing I’m not in charge of selctions because I’d be looking at taking one of the experienced guys into the squad next year, and maybe even the world cup to provide some direction, mentoring, and maybe some important game management to close out key games.

That’s a wrap

That’s enough rambling for a Monday night / Tuesday morning, as always, thanks for making it this far, enjoy your day, and look forward to the comments.

Cheers

RAWF

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