Author Archives: dementedmole

Boks Club Baby Blacks: SA vs NZ Match Report

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Fleshlumpeater and Gizzardgulper share moment, lunch

Boks Club Baby Blacks; Eat Bones

South Africa sent a largely back-up team to Wellington under a vastly experienced hooker three weeks ago, and New Zealand returned the compliment yesterday. Kevin Mealamu captained a half-strength side missing a wealth of stars: Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read, Brad Thorn and Mils Muliaina, the established spine of the side, were all left cooling their heels back in New Zealand. It’s a cliche in rugby circles that there is no such thing as a bad All Blacks side, and though any team would miss players of the calibre of those listed above, Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Ali Williams and Jerome Kaino, all front-rank forwards, were present and correct. Continue reading →

Irish RWC 2011 Squad Preview

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For What It’s Worth

When journalists go about choosing a squad for the world cup – and just about all of them have done it – there’s a distinction between those who try to pre-empt Declan Kidney’s announcement by picking the ‘right’ squad i.e. the squad that will go to the world cup, and those who pick ‘their’ squad, i.e. the squad that they would choose were they manager. Continue reading →

Ireland vs France Review

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Ireland are in trouble. Despite the four point margin of defeat, this game was not close, and if the final score was in doubt until the last kick of the game, the winner was decided with half an hour left on the clock.

With eight minutes left to play in Lansdowne Road, an almost entirely full strength Irish team was losing to a half-strength French side by eighteen points. The French, playing their second and last of two warm-up games, and with their world cup squad announced more than three months ago, were more interested in getting out of Lansdowne Road uninjured than the cosmetics of the scoreline, and allowed Ireland two late, late tries to soothe the frustration of the home fans. Continue reading →

The Scrum Half Equation

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Boss, Murray, Reddan, O'Leary, Stringer: Choose Your Weapon

The Irish squad selection for RWC 2011 is due to be announced on Monday, and the smoke is clearing from one of the most hotly debated positions: scrum-half. Declan Kidney’s initial training squad selection saw the inclusion of no fewer than five scrum-halves [Isaac Boss, Conor Murray, Tomás O’Leary, Eoin Reddan and Peter Stringer], and it is widely expected that three will tavel to New Zealand. Continue reading →

Mortlock, Cipriani and the Melbourne Rebels

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The Melbourne Rebels roll into the RDS tonight, and while the Anglesea Terrace Ultras will have all eyes fixed on the performance of a young Leinster team with a number of debutants, two big names in the visitor’s side will provide another focus to the casual viewer.

Stirling Mortlock and Danny Cipriani are big names in world rugby, despite the fact that neither of them are perhaps the draw they were three years ago. Back in 2008, Mortlock was the captain of the Wallabies, and Cipriani was coming off a magnificent performance where he oversaw the dismantling of Ireland in the final game of the Six Nations at Twickenham. Within the English rugby media, the rush to acclaim Cipriani as the heir to injury-prone Jonny Wilkinson  – ‘injury-prone’ is putting it mildly; maybe ‘injury-decimated’ is more accurate – may have been unseemly, but it wasn’t totally without evidence. Cipriani’s game that day showed a rounded game management and leadership that, allied to his natural pace and footballing skills, seemed to mark him out as a potentially world class outside half.

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Connacht vs Ireland XV

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While it was never going to amount to anything much more than a disjointed trial match, there were some fine examples of openfield running, some well-taken tries and some contentious hits in tonight’s Ireland Select XV vs Connacht in Donnybrook.

For those selected on the Irish XV, it was a last shot to impress Declan Kidney before the final warm-up game against England; for Connacht, the first tentative steps of their biggest season to date, the prize of Heineken Cup rugby upping the ante from the last number of years spent contesting the Parker Pen and Amlin Cup.

Continue reading →

South Africa v New Zealand Preview

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New Zealand can put one hand on the Tri Nations trophy this weekend by winning in Port Elizabeth.

Pieter De Villiers’ term has been marked by eccentric and controversial comments. He has kept the bulk of Jake White’s 2007 team rather than putting his own stamp on things by introducing a new generation of players. If his team wins the World Cup, all of this will be glossed over. South Africa’s tour at the beginning of the tournament put paid to any chances they had of winning the Tri-Nations as de Villiers sent over his B team. This weekend, he goes with the big guns. Continue reading →

Matt Giteau and Robbie Deans

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What sort of team can afford to leave out a 92-times capped 28-year old who has twice been nominated for IRB International Player of the Year [the most recent of these nominations coming a mere 20 months ago in December 2009],  who has scored 624 international points, including a not to be sniffed at 29 tries – of halfbacks, only Joost van der Westhuizen [38] and Dan Carter [equal, on 29] can match or exceed him – and who has started international games at scrum-half, out-half and first centre? You’ve guessed it: Australia. They’re that good, apparently. Continue reading →