Good morning all Brisny is away so I am stepping into the breach.
In the words of the great man grab a cup of the good stuff and enjoy.
Australia A V USA
Objectively this is a difficult game to judge as being outside the test window means the US are probably down a few players who play in the either the UK or France. Any loss of player will probably affect the US more as their depth is probably thinner than Australia.
Having said that this was a good hit out for the Australians the loss of David Felluai was shown a 20-minute red in the 15th minute for an upright tackle. Despite this setback early on the Australians managed to carry a healthy half time lead. They managed to kick on in the 2nd half easing away to a comfortable 61 to 12 win.
My take aways from the game.
Nick Frost looks refreshed after a season in which I think RA and the Brumbies have looked to freshen him up after a massive season last year. With Canham Williams and LSL doing so well he has become somewhat the forgotten man of Australian Rugby,
Matt F had a captains knock doing the meat and potatoes well without fuss.
Dyllan Peitsch looked a class above with some of his touches.
Australia V Scotland Women’s
Scotland should never play in white
The Wallaroos have beaten Scotland in the WXV series
Pravda ran an excellent piece here which I would highly recommend here,
For me the lovely thing for me is seeing some of the rugby they are playing and along with that some of the players starting to rack up decent cap numbers with Eva Carpani being the latest to get her 50th.
Ausprays
The Welsh club has had a influx of Australian talent with Lalakai Foketi, Marika Koroibete, Liam Wright and Ryan Smith. The word seems to be that they wanted the overseas talent from the same country so they would have a better chance of gelling. Winning three of their last 5 they are a Welsh team on the rise.
Question What will define success on the Northern tour look like
‘Any questions?’
Australian Rugby fans are at best schizophrenic oscillating between we may never lose again (pre NZ), and we may never win again (Post NZ). IMHO in high level sport you are never as good as you best or as bad as your worst.
Australia play England Scotland and Wales. Personally I think 2 from 3 is acceptable in terms of results. I could probably accept 1 if we play well in both losses assuming they are close.
I look forward to other perspectives.
I had a few other touch points but a Sunday is actually more difficult than mid week. The featured photo is of my favourite rugby ground.
Enjoy your week all. Our Monday overlord will return next week.
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