Leigh Halfpenny had a very, very long kick at the end of the game to snatch the match for the Lions. If he’d managed to get it, the Lions would have got away with robbery.
The Lions had a last minute kick to win the second test that, had it gone over, would have stolen the match from an Australian team that played all the rugby. Continue reading
“And that’s my gameplan, gentlemen.” Hmmm.
Neither coach covered himself in glory at the weekend. While Ben Mowen’s shutdown of Mike Phillips was a highly successful tactic, that has to be balanced with Deans’ selection of James O’Connor as outhalf and placekicker. Continue reading
“What should I do, God? Should I continue acting the mickey and threatening to go to league every year? If you don’t answer, I’ll take that as a yes.”
Deans has more tangible problems than a sceptical rugby public and a greedy union: he’s got a serious rash of injuries to contend with, and some of his marquee players are not just out of form on the pitch, they’re out of sorts off it. With a shallow playing pool like Australia, that’s a big deal. And it’s not as if the coach is blameless either: some of his selections – and some of his omissions – have hurt the Wallabies’ short-term prospects with little long-term pay-off. Continue reading
Robbie Deans, the former New Zealand international and current head coach of the Wallabies. It’s all his fault, apparently … except it isn’t.
When Robbie ‘Dingo’ Deans announced that he’d crossed the Tasman to take over from John Connolly as head coach of the Wallabies back in December 2007, it was pretty enormous news in New Zealand. Continue reading
Superstar Sonny-Bill Williams has brought some quality mungo offloading from the northern code, but that’s not all that league can offer union.
The Mole made an ass out of umption and was up soreheaded at 8am to watch a game that didn’t kick off for three hours. Here’s mud in yer eye, REM sleep! Continue reading
David Harris celebrates with Dave Dennis; Adam Jones is gutted. Losing in the last minute has a taste all of its own, and both Welsh and Irish players reacquainted themselves with it at the weekend.
Of all the northern hemisphere teams touring southern hemisphere countries, Wales were the most confident. A number of factors were stacked in their favour: their players are well rested, due to the Welsh clubs’ lack of success in European competition [even those players based in France like Mike Phillips and James Hook had no involvement in the business end of the Top 14]; they had an almost entirely injury-free squad, with the notable exception of Big Bopper Jamie Roberts; and they were Grand Slam champions. They should have represented the Six Nations teams’ best chance of a series victory against an injury-ravaged Australia. Instead, they haven’t even been able to take the series to a third test. Continue reading
O'Connor wants more traffic
James O’Connor is tired of life on the outside. He wants in. Continue reading
The Third Best Team In The World - Officially!
Australia – the third best team in the world! Continue reading
The Wobs: to quote Dennis Green, “they are who we thought they were.” Continue reading
Danny Blanchflower - loved a bit of fate with his greens and chips
The Mole was recently reminded by a friend who is a Spurs fan that for more than
60 years, every fan of Spurs – Tottenham Hotspur, the English football team – knew that no
matter how bad things were at White Hart Lane, it was only a question of waiting for the
year ending in the numeral 1 and things would be different. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 