If you're with Telstra you can get 2 months for $5 which is better than the 14 day free trial
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If you're with Telstra you can get 2 months for $5 which is better than the 14 day free trial
Thanks Jargs, I am with Telstra and will give it a go.
I mentioned this Oldham tour on the PR forum, and one of the guys well involved with rugby over there gave a bit of info on them.
http://forum.planetrugby.com/viewtop...78101#p6078085
Sinkers is a knowlegable guy on the Singapore scene - add a post yourself if you'd like to post a question.
Whats going on with Waynes Smith- some positive input from him on GRR.
Familiar faces in GRR’s east coast debut
Henry Stowers of the Force runs the ball into the Samoan defence during a Global Rapid Rugby match in Perth last month. Picture: Getty Images
Henry Stowers of the Force runs the ball into the Samoan defence during a Global Rapid Rugby match in Perth last month. Picture: Getty Images
WAYNE SMITH
SENIOR SPORT WRITER
12:00AM JUNE 15, 20193 COMMENTS
Global Rapid Rugby comes to the Australian east coast for the first time — and at an approved Rugby Australia hour — when the Western Force takes on the Kagifa Samoa side at Ballymore this afternoon.
In order to get permission from RA to stage the series, Andrew Forrest’s GRR were obliged to make a commitment that they would not cut across any of the four Australian Super Rugby matches, so the debut east coast match has been targeted for 3.30pm, well in advance of the evening’s only Super Rugby fixture involving local sides, the Brumbies against the Queensland Reds in Canberra.
That’s not to say that the match will not impact on Premier Rugby fixtures but with the GRR hiring the ground, that was a trade-off the cash-strapped Queensland Rugby Union was happy to accept.
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The GRR format — with clever use of pre-match entertainment, games limited to 70 minutes and the tedious scrum posturing dramatically curtailed — might not be familiar to Queensland fans but chances are they will warm to it quickly. No doubt the same will apply to the free admission.
For Rod Davies, the Force’s *dynamic left winger, it will be a long-awaited homecoming. He started out at the Reds in 2009 and was one of the most prominent contributors to their historic Super Rugby title in 2011, on the back of which he was selected for his one and only Test, against — funnily enough — Samoa. He scored two tries against Kagifa Samoa off the bench at the end of last month when the Rebels inflicted a 63-5 defeat on the islanders and now that he has been promoted to the starting side, he will be hoping to at least emulate that this afternoon.
Another familiar face returning to his home state is reserve hooker Andrew Ready, one of the players let go by Reds boss Brad Thorn. There was a time when it seemed he could even press for Wallabies status and he will surely be keen to demonstrate to Queenslanders how the move to Perth has benefited him.
Tighthead Kieran Longbottom, a member of the Force side from their days in Super Rugby, is the glue binding the Perth pack *together and certainly they will need to stay tight and solid if they are to repulse the Samoan maul.
“They maul a lot, so for us we need to take that apart,” Longbottom said. “They use that as a weapon and we need to take that away from them.”
There is nothing at all secret about the Samoans’ other primary weapon. From the days of Brian Lima, known throughout the rugby world as The Chiropractor — because of the way he rearranges the bones of people he tackles — the Samoans have always been renowned for their defence and though the scoreline in the first match suggests it was a cakewalk, for long periods the islanders defended their line courageously.
WAYNE SMITHSENIOR SPORT WRITER
Sounds pretty good and the sort of thing a new professional organisation could usefully get behind and support, rather than either try to take over or duplicate. Some assistance and encouragement could go a very long way in helping bed in a new team and establish a development structure.
Did I hear Sean Maloney doing commentary on one of the games? Thought I was imagining it but just read that he has been let go by Fox as part of their cuts. Great pickup if that’s the case, I always liked his commentary and was a force supporter when in the box.
Has anyone been keeping or know where some stats around line outs per game could be found for the exhibition series so far. At least anecdotally it appears to me to be roughly a halving of the overall line outs in the game. Which when you consider that each line out tends to take around a minute. Knowing the numbers could give us an indicator on any increase in ball in play time.