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Wallaroos win after 956-day Test drought

(L-R) Bridie O'Gorman, Kaitlan Leaney and Adiana Talakai of the Wallaroos stand together during the national anthems prior to the start of the Women's International Test match between the Australia Wallaroos and Fijiana at Suncorp Stadium on May 06, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

The Wallaroos have celebrated ending their 956-day rugby Test match drought with an impressive 36-19 defeat of Fiji in Brisbane.

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Denied a chance to wear the Australian gold since 2019 due to COVID-19, the Wallaroos channelled the emotion of a teary national anthem in a clinical performance at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.

They were pushed by the dangerous Fijiana, who boasted a host of talent that recently romped undefeated to the Super W title in their maiden season.

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Up by seven with 20 minutes to play, Australian captain Shannon Parry boldly opted to kick for touch rather than kick a penalty.

It paid off, a clinical maul from the lineout helping hooker Ashley Marsters to a crucial try.

Fijiana almost started with 16 players, a timely head count forcing one back to the bench before kick off.

They were then down to 14 when Roela Radiniyavuni was yellow carded for a deliberate knockdown that led to a penalty try being awarded.

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The result is a boost for the rusty Wallaroos, who will face Japan on Tuesday on the Gold Coast, ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand in October.

The Wallaroos’ backline did the early damage, centre Pauline Piliae claiming player of the match, with winger Mahalia Murphy and pocket rocket winger Ivania Wong also impressive.

Piliae scored one try and and set two up two more while Murphy also crossed and veteran prop Liz Patu, in her 24th Test, bagged a try in another impressive shift.

Fijiana hooker Vika Matarugu scored two close-range tries in the first half, while Talei Wilson kept them in the contest with a try after sustained pressure in the second half.

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But the Wallaroos, anchored by backrower Parry, contained Fijiana’s dangerous backline to stave off any signs of a comeback.

Parry then iced the contest with a try of her own, plucking a pass from Georgie Friedrichs’ linebreak.

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fl 1 hour ago
‘Props are awesome…so why don’t they win prizes?’

“The reason most props don’t last the whole game is that they expend proportionally more effort than players outside the front row. Should they be penalised for that?”

No, they don’t last the whole game because they are less fit than players outside the front row. I’d be interested to know if you’d apply this logic to other positions; do PSDT and Itoje regularly last longer than other players in their positions because they put in less effort?

None of this is about “penalising” props, its about being realistic about their impact on a game.


“While scrums are a small part of the game in terms of time spent in them, they have disproportionate impact. Dominant scrums win games; feeble ones lose them.”

Strength at the breakdown wins games. Good kicking wins games. Good handling wins games. Strong defence wins games. Good lineouts win games. Ultimately, I think that of all these things, the scrum is probably the least important, because it demonstrably doesn’t correlate very well with winning games. I don’t think Rugbypass will allow me to link articles, but if you google “HG Rugby Crowning the Best Scrum in Club Rugby” you’ll get a pretty convincing analysis that ranks Toulouse and Bordeaux outside of the 10 best club sides in the scrum - and ranks Leinster outside of the top 30.


“Or there’s Joe Marler’s epic performance in the Bristol v Quins 2021 Premiership Semi-Final, in which he finally left the pitch 15 minutes into extra time having signed off with a try saving tackle.”

Yeah - that’s a good example actually, but it kind of disproves your point. Marler played 95 minutes, which is unheard of for a prop.


“Maybe we need a dedicated Hall of Fame with entry only for props, and voted for only by props.”

Well we have the World Rugby XV of the year. Its only been going for a few years, but in time it’ll be a pretty good record of who are perceived as best props - although the lack of interest most people have in scrums means that perception of who the best props are doesn’t always match reality (e.g. Tadgh Furlong was great in 2018 - but was he really the best tighthead in the world in 2021, 2022, & 2023?).

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