Tag: Rugby League

NRL Round 4 Preview Warriors v Tigers

Posted on by Sam Alexander
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What: NRL Round 4
Who: New Zealand Warriors v Wests Tigers
When: Saturday 29th of March – 3:00pm
Where: Westpac Stadium
I Can Watch It On: Fox Sports
Form guide:
Warriors: LLW
Tigers: LWW

Things You Need To Know:
Coming off a spectacular away win, the Warriors will be bubbling with confidence coming in to this match. The combination of Shaun Johnson and new partner Chad Townsend proved pivotal in their win last week. Thomas Leuluai comes on to the bench in place of Feleti Mateo, while damaging forward Sione Lousi moves into the starting line-up for the Warriors. Cory Paterson makes his turn to the NRL in place of the injured Liam Fulton. Tim Simona won't play but Chris Lawrence is back.

Reason To Watch:
Young dynamic playmaker Luke Brooks, and his partnership with fellow excitement machine James Tedesco will be one to keep an eye on in this contest. Brooks will be looking to show why he is one of the brightest prospects in the game, up against Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend.

Reason To Turn Away:
Highly dependent on the weather, fixtures in New Zealand can be hopelessly sloppy, and with the two sides having attack as their strength this match could be one continuing arm-wrestle over possession. Keep an eye on the forecast and find out if this one will live up to its expectation of being one of the great attacking showpieces.

Say What:
"It is like watching Langer and Walters together and some of the great combinations, they are on the same wavelength, they know what each other is going to do." Andrew Johns on the promising combination of Brooks and Tedesco, going on to say "I just hope they play their whole career out together."

Final Word:
With two extremely attacking line-ups going head to head, points on the board are almost a certainty. The Warriors at home are notorious for being difficult to beat, but they have proved to be very hot and cold this season, losing their first two matches by considerable margins and winning the one most expected them to lose. The Tigers showed last week they are no pushover, beating the Rabbitohs in a tough contest. This is an extremely tough match to pick, however the Warriors at home are hard to overlook. Warriors by 6.

http://www.sportal.com.au/league/nrl-premiership/match-centre/314045/nrl

Fifita’s $850,000 Deal

Posted on by Sam Alexander
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Australian representative and Sharks destroyer Andrew Fifita is set to become the highest-paid prop forward in Rugby League’s 108 year history.

Continue reading “Fifita’s $850,000 Deal” →

Auckland Needs Nine Lives

Posted on by Sam Alexander

It has been hailed as the competition of a decade, where 16 teams and 256 players go head to head over a two day period, in a series of brutal, yet entertaining matches, vying for the dream prize of 2.25 million dollars.

But it prompts the question, is the competition worth the risk of injury to first team players right before the season opener? With a major injury to exciting Rabbitohs’ playmaker, Luke Keary (torn pectoral), leaving a major hole in the Rabbitohs’ plans, in which he was to form a dynamic partnership with fellow young playmaker Adam Reynolds, their season has been turned on its head. All for the shot at a big pay cheque.

Continue reading “Auckland Needs Nine Lives” →

Burgess Goes Home To Bath

Posted on by Sam Alexander

In what is the biggest rugby league story of the off-season, Rabbitohs sensation Sam Burgess has signed with English rugby union club Bath. Burgess, one of the biggest names in rugby league at the moment, has made the big money switch (a transfer fee worth more than $900,000) in which he describes as “an opportunity I had to pursue”. With the 2015 World Cup approaching, Burgess is being foreseen as the answer to Englands’ fragile backline, to which he can add some serious firepower.

Bath and England Coach Stuart Lancaster has made no secret that he would like to use Burgess at inside centre, where like the ever-successful Sonny Bill Williams, his huge frame and quality ball skills have made him a very exciting prospect.

But it prompts the question, will Burgess be able to adapt to the nuances of rugby in time for the cut-throat nature of the global tournament? Queensland Reds coach and former assistant coach at Bath Richard Graham doesn’t think so. “I think the transition will be a tough one for him. I think probably the timing will be against him,” Graham said.

All the signs of a quality athlete with the potential to make the most of the switch are there, but the pressure is on Burgess to succeed in the World Cup when he will have only had one season in the game. By comparison, Sonny Bill Williams had two seasons in France, and one in the Super 15.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a very exciting time for English rugby fans, because as we have seen in the NRL Burgess is a serious talent who could be the X-Factor in Englands World Cup hopes.
The question of Burgess’ adaptability to rugby has led us to look at others who have made the switch, and which of them succeeded, and which failed. The athletes in our ‘Tops’ and ‘Flops’ include:
Tops:

• Wendell Sailor: Sailor was one of the most dominant wingers in the NRL, having a large frame and speed to match. He played rugby league for his state and country before he made the switch to rugby in a big money deal with the Queensland Reds, soon finding himself playing for the Wallabies. Having enjoyed a successful but also controversial time in Australian rugby, he made the switch back to the NRL in 2008, where he finished his career with the Dragons and former mentor coach Wayne Bennet in 2009.

• Lote Tuqiri: Beginning his career in 1999, Tuqiri formed a deadly wing partnership with Wendell Sailor at the Broncos. Tuqiri enjoyed lots of success at the Broncos, winning a premiership, playing for his state, and also representing Australia and Fiji internationally. In 2003 he made the switch to rugby, and his speed combined with strength soon found him a place in Australia’s 2003 World Cup squad. Tuqiri was also selected in the 2007 World Cup squad after being a consistently stand-out performer for the Waratahs. After his contract was terminated in 2009, he has found himself back playing in the NRL, where he has had a tough time with injury but has now signed a one-year deal with the rampaging South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Other successful players include: Mat Rodgers, Brad Thorn and Sonny Bill Williams.

Flops:

• Willie Mason: Mason, possibly the greatest forward in the NRL at his peak, was an amazing talent for the Bulldogs in 2004 where he won a premiership and the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal. Off-field dramas and big money deals saw him move clubs often, from the Roosters to the Cowboys and then overseas to the English Super League. In April 2011 he made his switch to rugby union where he was seen as the next Sonny Bill Williams, but after an unsuccessful stint for French club Toulon, fans described him as the biggest flop in the club’s history. Mason is now back in the NRL playing for the Newcastle Knights.

Sam Alexander

Check out the article published on Sydney Tafe Media – http://www.sit.det.nsw.edu.au/sydneytafemedia/2014/02/18/burgess-goes-home-to-bath